Aardvark song revisited
Yesterday, I happened across my post from a year ago in which I asked an AI (not GPT) to write me a happy pop song about aardvarks. So I thought it would be fun to ask ChatGPT to do the same.
On a side note, I was amused that signing in to use ChatGPT required me to prove that I’m a human three times in a row before it would talk with me. (Some kind of initial prompt that I forget, then a standard are-you-a-human checkbox, then a visual CAPTCHA.) It’s a bot itself! It seems unfair or prejudiced or something that it won’t talk with other bots.
Anyway, it generated a fun set of lyrics that provided an interesting contrast to last year’s “my aardvark lady” lyrics.
And I left those lyrics open in a tab in my iPad browser, figuring I would copy and paste them later. They were still there this morning, but I went and did some other browsing for a while before proceeding. And then I came back to the tab where the lyrics were—and ChatGPT reloaded the page and made me sign in again, and it doesn’t keep track of previous conversation. So all those words were lost in time, like tears in rain.
(Another side note: when I asked it if it remembered our previous conversation, it told me (among other things) that as an AI, it’s not capable of interacting with humans.)
So I gave it the same prompt again (“Please write lyrics to a happy pop song about aardvarks.”), and was pleased to see that the lyrics it came up with were quite close to what I remember of the previous version.
Below is version 2 of the ChatGPT aardvark song.
Verse 1:
Aardvarks are such playful creatures
They love to dig and explore
With their snouts they search for insects
And they never seem to get bored
Chorus:
Aardvarks, aardvarks
They're the cutest things you'll ever see
Aardvarks, aardvarks
They make the world a better place for me
Verse 2:
Aardvarks have such funny faces
With their ears and their little tails
They waddle and they snuffle
And they never fail to make us smile
Chorus:
Aardvarks, aardvarks
They're the cutest things you'll ever see
Aardvarks, aardvarks
They make the world a better place for me
Bridge:
They may not be the biggest animals
Or the fastest on the land
But they have their own unique charm
And they always take us by the hand
Chorus:
Aardvarks, aardvarks
They're the cutest things you'll ever see
Aardvarks, aardvarks
They make the world a better place for me.
…The one thing I don’t like about version 2 is that I think in version 1 the bridge had a better ending. I wish I could remember it—I vaguely think it was significantly funnier than “And they always take us by the hand,” but I’m not sure.
I thought maybe if I gave the same prompt yet again, it might give me a better bridge. This third time, most of the lyrics were again pretty similar, but here’s the version 3 bridge:
Bridge:
They may not be the prettiest animals
But they have a heart of gold
They're loyal and they're kind
And they never grow old
Two things especially amused me about that:
- In v2, aardvarks are “the cutest things you'll ever see.” In v3, they “may not be the prettiest animals.”
- They never grow old? Does that mean that the world is gradually filling up with immortal aardvarks?
Update!
It turns out that ChatGPT can now show past conversations! So I now have access to its first attempt at the aardvark song. Which was as follows:
Verse 1:
I saw an aardvark on the sidewalk
He was wearing a party hat
He looked at me and grinned so wide
I knew right then that we would be great friends
Chorus:
Aardvarks, aardvarks
The happiest animals around
With their snouts and their ears
They're always spreading cheer
Aardvarks, aardvarks
The cutest creatures in town
Verse 2:
We danced and sang and played some games
The aardvark and me
We had the best time of our lives
I'm so glad we met, can't wait to see
Chorus:
Aardvarks, aardvarks
The happiest animals around
With their snouts and their ears
They're always spreading cheer
Aardvarks, aardvarks
The cutest creatures in town
Bridge:
They may not be the fastest or the strongest
But they have hearts of gold
Aardvarks, aardvarks
You'll never be alone
Chorus:
Aardvarks, aardvarks
The happiest animals around
With their snouts and their ears
They're always spreading cheer
Aardvarks, aardvarks
The cutest creatures in town.