Artificial Intelligence Bot Writes a Nirvana Song From Band’s Lyrics

Kurt Cobain may be gone, but is there something to be learned from his songwriting? YouTuber Funk Turkey (real name Kirt Connor) has been gaining some notoriety of late providing catalogs of lyrics from popular bands and seeing what artificial intelligence will spit out for a newly constructed song. His latest A.I. song project features the words of Nirvana, reconstructed to create the song "Smother."

"Using lyrics.rip to scrape the Genius Lyrics Database, I made a Markov Chain write Nirvana lyrics," says Funk Turkey, who previously used A.I. to create AC/DC and Metallica songs. "This is the end result- 'Smother.'" With the Markov Chain then spitting out the new lyrics, Funk Turkey then set about creating a song around the words.

As for the lyrics to "Smother," like previous attempts it's a little jumbled, pulling out some familiar lyrical phrases while mashing other frequently used words together. The song starts, "I learned to shoot his gun / Truth covered in security / But I think I'm having fun / I'll wear this gazeless stare and when / This friend you face to prove / I could eat your heart-shaped box for food."

Meanwhile, the chorus, sounding very similar to the "About a Girl" musical structure, comes out, "He said I know you're right / You never lost control / In the pines where did you smother me?"

Funk Turkey performed all the music and vocals, mixed and mastered the song in his kitchen on "a sparkly red cheap Stratocaster, a crappy mic and an old copy of ProTools." While guitar and bass were played live, Funk Turkey admitted, "Percussion is Superior Drummer 2. I know Dave Grohl hates computer drums but it's the best thing I got, soooo…. Sorry Dave. I still love you."

The video featuring the A.I.-created Nirvana lyrics was closing in on 134,000 views at press time. Fans, of course, left their reactions in the comments section. One wrote, "I know it’s a Nirvana song, because he mentions meat out of nowhere." Another offered, "I’ll wear this gazeless stare. Man if thats not a mood I don’t know what is." Yet another suggested, "If Kurt could see this, he'd be laughing his ass off."

Have a listen below and see what you think. Meanwhile, fans were encouraged to pre-save the song on Spotify by Funk Turkey.