Tool: Songtell
If you have ever wondered what what the lyrics in your favorite song are about, Songtell is an AI-powered tool that tries to do just that. Super easy to use, all you need to do is enter the title of the song into the Search bar, and Songtell will list every song that has those words in the title. When you find the song you’re looking for, just click on it (you might have to include the name of the band if it’s a popular song title) and you’ll get an AI interpretation of the lyrics. Is it always accurate? Definitely not. Is it really fast at analyzing what the lyrics themselves mean - partially void of any nuanced back story references? Definitely. Here are a few examples so you can judge for yourself:
Cassidy by The Grateful Dead (one of my favorite songs)
Is Songtell’s interpretation of what the lyrics themselves mean from a literal perspective? Sure. Is Songtell even close to the actual meaning of the song? Not by a MILE. Cassidy is actually a song written by Bob Weir and John Perry Barlow about Neal Cassady - a well known 60’s icon and the newborn daughter of the band’s office manager Eileen Law. That said, here are the actual lyrics that the AI algorithm behind Songtell actually analyzed:
I have seen where the wolf has slept by the silver stream
I can tell by the mark he left, you were in his dream
Ah child of countless trees
Ah child of boundless seasWhat you are, and what you're meant to be
Speaks his name, though you were born to me
Born to me
CassidyLost now on the country miles in his Cadillac
I can tell by the way you smile, he is rolling back
Come wash the nighttime clean
Come grow the scorched ground greenBlow the horn, and tap the tambourine
Close the gap of the dark years in between
You and me
CassidyQuick beats in an icy heart
Catch colt draws a coffin cart
There he goes and now here she starts
Hear her cryFlight of the seabirds
Scattered like lost words
Wield to the storm and flyFare thee well now
Let your life proceed by it's own design
Nothing to tell now
Let the words be yours, I'm done with mineFare thee well now
Let your life proceed by it's own design
Nothing to tell now
Let the words be yours, I'm done with mineFare thee well now
Let your life proceed by it's own design
Nothing to tell now
Let the words be yours, I'm done with mine
I'm done with mineFlight of the seabirds
Scattered like lost words
Wield to the storm and fly
Maybe it is unfair to test out Songtell on such a personally meaningful song with a pretty deep meaning. So how about when you ask it to analyze something a little simpler but with hidden meaning - like Blackbird by The Beatles?
That’s pretty impressive if you ask me. Rather than analyzing a song about a bird, it dug right into the deeper meaning of the song. Well documented for sure, but Songtell figured it out.
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these sunken eyes and learn to see
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to be free
Blackbird fly, blackbird fly
Into the light of a dark black night
Blackbird fly, blackbird fly
Into the light of a dark black night
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
All your life
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
You were only waiting for this moment to arise
What about even simpler pop songs? Here is what it came up with for Hello by Adele:
Much better in my opinion! With this in mind, Songtell is perfect for demonstrating a few different things to your students:
For most folk and patriotic songs, Songtell is right on target. Here is what it came up with for Yankee Doodle.
For most pop songs, Songtell is a perfect tool for analyzing the meaning of the songs. Let’s face it, with some exceptions, most pop song lyrics are relatively simple.
Be careful when using Songtell to analyze songs with explicit lyrics! I tried out a few songs that fit into this category, and while the analysis is really good, some colorful language might appear in the analysis.
In addition to the lyric analysis, most song results will also provide a direct link to an audio track of the song which is really pretty slick. When you remind yourself that this tool is actually powered by AI and the results aren’t produced by someone typing in the results for every song, it is really impressive. I tend to like simple tools when teaching. Songtell is a great way to analyze lyrics with students. I would suggest using it as a teacher tool and projecting results on the board for class discussion, bearing in mind that you should always preview results before sharing them with the class. Songtell is also a great example of how fast and accurate AI can be with analyzing text.