AI Illustrates Rock Lyrics: The Answers
How Well Do You Know Your Rock?
This is a test of how much of your brain is clogged with useless data about popular songs. But I’m not giving you audio, or a snippet of the lyrics! Those are too easy for a sophisticated pop historian like you.
Oh no, these are AI illustrations of some part of the lyrics. I took a few lines and asked ChatGPT to draw an image of it. Occasionally I had to ask it to tweak the result, but most of these are its first takes.
They’re not illustrations of the songs or the titles, e.g. “Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes” or “I Want to Hold Your Hand” or “Hound Dog” would be way too easy. These are mostly lines from the middle of the songs.
I try to show a live performance when possible, just because I prefer those, and you might not have seen them. For Bob Dylan, though: there aren’t many period live videos of him, only recent ones where he’s murdering the lyrics.
Song 1
Truckin’
Sittin' and starin' out of the hotel window
Got a tip they're gonna kick the door in again
I'd like to get some sleep before I travel
But if you got a warrant, I guess you're gonna come in
Skip to 3:41.
Song 2
This one should be easy. This is the one I’m leaving for you to figure out. Hint: think old blues classic covered by English rockers.
Song 3
It’s a Man’s, Man’s, Man’s, Man’s World (James Brown)
You see, man made the cars
To take us over the road
Man made the train
To carry the heavy load
Man made the electrolight
To take us out of the dark
Man made the boat for the water
Like Noah made The Ark
skip to 2:00
Song 4
Prodigal Son (Reverend Gary Davis, Rolling Stones)
Well, man said, "I'll give you a job for to feed my swine
For to feed my swine
I'll give you a job for to feed my swine"
Boy stood there and hung his head and cried
Cause that is no way to get along.
skip to 0:59
Song 5
Aqualung (Jethro Tull)
Do you still remember
The December's foggy freeze
When the ice that
Clings on to your beard was
Screaming agony.
skip to 2:18:
Song 6
Pretzel Logic (Steely Dan)
I stepped up on the platform
The man gave me the news
He said, You must be joking son
Where did you get those shoes?
skip to 4:49
Song 7
Hands on the Wheel (Willie Nelson)
An' in the shade of an oak down by the river,
Sit an old man an' a boy,
Settin' sail, spinnin' tales an' fishin' for whales,
With a lady they both enjoy.
skip to 1:56
Song 8
Walkin’ in Memphis (Marc Cohn)
Now Muriel plays piano
Every Friday at the Hollywood
And they brought me down to see her
And they asked me if I would
Do a little number And I sang with all my might.
This one should be easy, too, but apparently it wasn’t.
skip to 2:22
Song 9
When I Paint My Masterpiece (Dylan)
newspapermen eating candy
had to be held down by big police.
skip to 2:44
Song 10
Kid Charlemagne (Steely Dan)
Everyone stopped to stare at your technicolor motor home
skip to 0:51
Song 11
got this one right, congratulations!Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again (Dylan)
Now Shakespeare, he’s in the alley,
With his pointed shoes and his bells
skip to 0:53
Song 12
Bad Sneakers (Steely Dan)
You fellah, you tearin' up the street
You wear that white tuxedo
How you gonna beat the heat?
Skip to 1:04
I asked Grok (not the AI that generated the images) to decode the Prodigal Son one. I had to give it somewhat more hints than you guys got, so it's not really accurate to say it "succeeded.'
But anywhere, here's the dialog:
Here's another classic blues song. Covered by an English band.
The image shows a rural scene at sunset with an older man and a younger boy near a fence, surrounded by pigs in a pen. The setting evokes a sense of hard work, rural life, and generational connection, fitting for a classic blues song. Since you mentioned it’s a classic blues song covered by an English band, let’s analyze the imagery and genre.
The rural farm setting with pigs and the interaction between the two figures suggest themes of toil, simplicity, and perhaps a lesson or story being passed down—common in blues music. A classic blues song that fits this vibe and was famously covered by an English band is "Hoochie Coochie Man," originally written by Willie Dixon and first recorded by Muddy Waters in 1954. The song was later covered by the English band The Rolling Stones in 1964.
The lyrics of "Hoochie Coochie Man" don’t directly mention pigs or farming, but the bluesy, earthy feel of the song captures the grit of rural life depicted in the image. Lines like "I got a black cat bone, I got a mojo too" evoke a sense of folklore and rural mysticism, which resonates with the timeless, rustic atmosphere of the scene. The interaction between the older man and the boy could symbolize the passing down of wisdom or "mojo," much like the song’s confident, larger-than-life persona. The Rolling Stones’ cover adds a raw, gritty energy that complements the hardworking, grounded nature of the farm setting.
Here are the opening lyrics to "Hoochie Coochie Man" (Muddy Waters’ version, later covered by The Rolling Stones):
The gypsy woman told my mother
Before I was born
I got a boy child’s comin’
He’s gonna be a son of a gun
He gonna make pretty women
Jump and shout
Then the world wanna know
What this all about
But you know I’m him
Everybody knows I’m him
Well, you know I’m the hoochie coochie man
Everybody knows I’m him
The song’s blues roots and its cover by an English band like The Rolling Stones make it a strong match for your criteria and the image’s mood.
good, but no. Think of a song based on a bible story
The image depicts a rural farm scene at sunset with an older man and a younger boy near a fence, surrounded by pigs in a pen, suggesting themes of rural life, guidance, and possibly a lesson being taught. Since you’re looking for a classic blues song based on a Bible story, covered by an English band, let’s focus on that.
A classic blues song that fits this description is "The Prodigal Son," often associated with the biblical parable of the same name from Luke 15:11-32. The story tells of a son who leaves his father, squanders his inheritance, ends up feeding pigs in a desperate state, and eventually returns home to be welcomed by his father. This parable resonates with the image: the boy and older man could represent the son and father, and the pigs in the pen directly tie to the story’s moment of the son’s lowest point, working among swine.
While "The Prodigal Son" has been interpreted in various blues and gospel songs, a notable version is by Reverend Robert Wilkins, a blues guitarist who recorded "The Prodigal Son" in 1964, drawing directly from the Bible story. This song was famously covered by the English band The Rolling Stones in 1968 on their album Beggars Banquet. The Stones’ version is a stripped-down, bluesy rendition that captures the raw emotion of the parable.
The lyrics of Wilkins’ original (and the Stones’ cover) reflect the biblical narrative. Here’s an excerpt of the essence of the song, based on the traditional blues interpretation:
Well, a poor boy took his father’s bread
He went far away from home
Spent all he had, then he began to roam
He said, "I will arise and go back to my father’s door
I’ll say, ‘Father, I have sinned, I won’t leave no more’"
The Prodigal Son came back home again
His father saw him comin’, he was so glad
He said, "My son was lost, but now he’s found
He was dead, but now he’s alive, let’s have a feast in town"
The image’s depiction of pigs, the rural setting, and the interaction between the older man and boy align with the parable’s themes of waywardness, repentance, and reconciliation. The Stones’ bluesy cover fits the classic blues criterion while meeting the requirement of being covered by an English band.
The backstory is that in high school in the late 90s, my brother made a cassette mix tape of classic 60s songs from The Byrds, Simon & Garfunkel, Bob Dylan, and Don McLean and others. We had a Super Nintendo in the basement and I'd sit in front of an old RCA TV with no remote (I was the remote), on a rug which was on ceramic tiles, playing an entire Ken Griffey Jr baseball season, and he also had a CD of "Blond on Blond". One of the songs was Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again, so I would play those CDs and tapes, sometimes on loop.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Griffey_Jr._Presents_Major_League_Baseball