We Had ChatGPT Write Additional Verses To Phish Songs
There’s no way these robots write as well as Trey and Tom.
By Team JamBase Dec 15, 2022 • 12:39 pm PST
The universe of Artificial Intelligence is having a moment in 2022. Whether it is the AI-generated selfie images you see going around your social feeds, or it is screenshots of people interacting with a new generation of chatbots, you simply cannot escape seeing the growth of these emerging technologies.
We here at JamBase welcome our new robot overlords and wanted to engage with them directly in the language that most interests us, so we have been having extensive music-related chats with Open AI’s ChatGPT, “which interacts in a conversational way. The dialogue format makes it possible for ChatGPT to answer follow-up questions, admit its mistakes, challenge incorrect premises, and reject inappropriate requests.”
Oh, and it can also write lyrics for new songs and add verses to existing ones!
Sounds like fun right? You can lose yourself for hours in this thing, oftentimes to hilarious results. One exercise we found particularly amusing was feeding ChatGPT Phish lyrics and asking it to add a few verses. Below you can find our prompts to the chatbot as well as their responses.
Limb By Limb
We start off with feeding it the verses of Phish’s “Limb By Limb” and seeing if it can follow the pattern
Our Prompt
Write three more verses like what is below:
Never want my hand cut off
Never want a hacking cough
Never need a cliffside push
Never turn my brain to mush
Always give me what I lack
Always take the best parts back
Always recognize your fate
Always just a moment late
Left is where I always turn
Left is how I’m forced to learn
Left the route my walking takes
Left alone with my mistakes
ChatGPT’s Response
Right is where I never stand
Right is always in demand
Right is what I never take
Right is always in the wake
Up is where I’m meant to be
Up is where I’m meant to see
Up is where my dreams take flight
Up is where my heart feels light
Down is where I never go
Down is where I never know
Down is where I fear to tread
Down is where my dreams lie dead
Wow, all right ChatGPT, down is where my dreams lie dead is a little dark, but well, part of the lyrics we didn’t feed you from the song were, “Up from the hell the answer blew,” so it seems like you are on the right track.
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My Friend, My Friend
One thing that we noticed interacting with ChatGPT in a songwriting context is that it does generally have a tendency to take things in a positive direction. Even when feeding it the lyrics to Phish’s “My Friend, My Friend” where things seem to be ending trending towards violence, we have ChatGPT continue the song.
Our Prompt
Write more verses to this song:
My friend, my friend he’s got a knife
A statement from his former life
When he was easy but alone
Beside him was an empty throne
But what of silver silken blade
Affix his gaze, his features staid
Grasps the handle, clips the cable
One steps up, sits at his table
My friend, my friend, he’s got a knife
My friend, my friend, he’s got a wife
My friend, my friend, the clever ruse
Persuasion through his thoughts peruse
A hidden relic from his past
That wasn’t there when he looked last
He feels it ticking like a bomb
Feeding fear, assaulting calm
Takes the object, starts the game
Moves it closer to the flame
My friend, my friend, the clever ruse
My friend, my friend, he lights the fuse
ChatGPT’s Response
And where does ChatGPT take it from there?
My friend, my friend, he’s on the brink
A momentary pause to think
The knife he holds, a deadly weight
That could end it all, or seal his fate
He hesitates, then makes a choice
To set the knife aside, and raise his voice
He speaks the truth, and seeks the light
Leaving darkness behind, for a brighter night
My friend, my friend, he’s on the brink
My friend, my friend, he chose to think
He chose to rise, and make a change
To find a better way, and rearrange
His life, his path, his future bright
With love and hope, and truth in sight
My friend, my friend, he’s on the rise
My friend, my friend, he’s seen the light.
It’s Ice
Staying on the album Rift, we fed ChatGPT the plot of “It’s Ice” to see if it would pick up on the battle that takes place in the song.
Our Prompt
Write more verses to this song:
I press on the elastic sheet, I’m breathing through a slice
’Are they worms or are they serpents?’ bubbles through the ice
The source was quite invisible, the ever-present voice
While skating, both legs tracing different shapes, I made my choice
I’m mimicking the image in whose radiance I bask
I’m tied to him, or him to me, depending who you ask
None the less reluctantly reflections tumble in
I slide with all the other on the wrong side of the skin
He’s fallen on the ice, it cracks
Will he plunge in and join me here?
He meets my eyes, to my surprise
He laughs in full light of my frown
My double wants to pull me down
Slipping on the friction slide, my skin peels to the bone
The flesh I leave behind, is something that is not my own
I beg my mirror image for a moment with my soul
He’s leaning back, time to attack, it’s me who’s in control
And every move I make he’s got a hand up just in time
He’s throwing several punches, and he’s blocking most of mine
Defeated now I sulk and squirm above the frozen heights
Waiting, calculating ’til he ventures onto the ice.
ChatGPT’s Response
ChatGPT is definitely on the side of our protagonist and wants to see it shed its mirror image.
The ice is getting thinner, he’s starting to sink down
I see the fear in his eyes, he knows he’ll soon drown
But I don’t reach out to help him, I just watch him fade
I’m getting stronger now, and I’ll never be afraid
He’s fading fast, I’m feeling free
No more shadow dogging me
I’m skating on my own again
And I’ll never look back again
I’m strong and bold and I can see
That I don’t need his company
I’m my own person, I’ll decide
What path I take, where I will glide
I’m moving on, I’ll leave him behind
In the depths of the frozen lake he’ll find
That he can’t control me anymore
I’m free to be who I was meant to be.
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Contact
Since AI seems to be taking over our cars, we thought it appropriate to see what ChatGPT thought of Contact.
Our Prompt
Write more lyrics to this song:
The tires are the things on your car
That make contact with the road
The tires are the things on your car
That make contact with the road
The tires are the things on your car
That make contact with the road
The car is the thing on the road
That takes you back to your abode
The tires are the things on your car
That make contact with the road
The tires are the things on your car
That make contact with the road
The tires are the things on your car
That make contact with the road
Bummed is what you are
When you go out to your car, and it’s been towed
ChatGPT’s Response
Engines, headlights, steering wheels, and brakes… indeed ChatGTP knows the various parts of a car.
The engine is the thing on your car
That makes it go and go
The engine is the thing on your car
That makes it go and go
It burns the gas and makes the spark
That drives the wheels and takes you far
The headlights are the things on your car
That help you see at night
The headlights are the things on your car
That help you see at night
They light up the road ahead
So you can drive with ease instead
The steering wheel is the thing on your car
That helps you turn and twist
The steering wheel is the thing on your car
That helps you turn and twist
It controls the front wheels
And guides you where you want to go
The brakes are the things on your car
That slow you down and stop
The brakes are the things on your car
That slow you down and stop
They keep you safe and in control
And help you avoid a big hole.
Say It To Me S.A.N.T.O.S.
Although technically a Kasvot Växt song, ChatGPT was up to the task and took on the Scandinavian rocker formidably.
Our Prompt
Write more verses to this song:
My thoughts are frozen
Like everyone else
You will always be remembered
Even life itself
Say it to me S.A.N.T.O.S.
And try to make it rhyme
Say it to me S.A.N.T.O.S.
In normal moving time
Say it to me S.A.N.T.O.S.
It’s off to work we go
Say it to me S.A.N.T.O.S.
Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, heigh-ho!
This is what space smells like (Dangling in thin air)
You will always remember where you were
This is what space smells like (Dangling in thin air)
You will always remember where you were
My thoughts are frozen
Like everything else
You will always be remembered
Even life itself
Say it to me S.A.N.T.O.S.
And try to make it rhyme
Say it to me S.A.N.T.O.S.
In normal moving time
Say it to me S.A.N.T.O.S.
It’s off to work we go
Say it to me S.A.N.T.O.S.
Heigh-ho, heigh-ho, heigh-ho!
This is what space smells like (Dangling in thin air)
You will always remember where you were
This is what space smells like (Dangling in thin air)
You will always remember where you were
ChatGPT’s Response
My mind is racing
As I float through space
I wonder what’s out there
In this endless place
Say it to me S.A.N.T.O.S.
As I look up to the sky
Say it to me S.A.N.T.O.S.
As I fly on by
Say it to me S.A.N.T.O.S.
As I leave the Earth behind
Say it to me S.A.N.T.O.S.
It’s just me and time
This is what space smells like (Dangling in thin air)
You will always remember where you were
This is what space smells like (Dangling in thin air)
You will always remember where you were
As you can see, it’s unlikely ChatGPT is going to put many songwriters out of a job, but it’s certainly a fun and engaging way to play with their work.
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