As we continue to celebrate National Ocean Month/World Oceans Day, and I’m heading out to sea on the Gulf of Alaska, this seems to be an appropriate blog post to share!

The Spring 2023 semester was one of the roughest semesters for me as an instructor. I was not only teaching an overload of courses, but I was unfortunately not prepared for the number of challenges individual students faced – many significant, many requiring me to reach out for assistance from other university offices. Despite my best efforts, I always wish/feel that I could do more to set these students up for safer spaces and success.

In a moment of burnout, I was talking to the Instructional Designer at my campus and jokingly(?) said that in the fall semester, for my coastal oceanography course, I was just going to have students write sea shanties (maybe that would be something creative and fun?). I was partially joking, as I had recently seen a story on the evening news about AI being able to write songs. Why not have students write the words, and AI design the music – but then, it seems that AI can write the lyrics to begin with.

The Instructional Designer started exploring the idea, first asking Bing: “Please write a song in the sea shanty style.” This is what resulted:

The Bing Shanty

Oh we are the crew of the good ship Bing We sail the internet and search for things We find the answers that you seek We’re fast and smart and never weak

Oh Bing, oh Bing, oh Bing is king

Oh Bing, oh Bing, oh Bing is king

We have a captain who’s very wise He knows the secrets of the web and skies He guides us through the storms and waves He makes us brave and never slaves

Oh Bing, oh Bing, oh Bing is king

Oh Bing, oh Bing, oh Bing is king

We have a mate who’s very skilled He keeps our ship in shape and always filled He fixes every bug and glitch He makes us rich and never snitch

Oh Bing, oh Bing, oh Bing is king

Oh Bing, oh Bing, oh Bing is king

We have a cook who’s very fine He cooks us meals that make us feel divine He uses spices from afar He makes us star and never scar

Oh Bing, oh Bing, oh Bing is king

Oh Bing, oh Bing, oh Bing is king

We have a crew who’s very strong We work together and we get along We sing our shanties loud and clear We have no fear and never tear

Oh Bing, oh Bing, oh Bing is king

Oh Bing, oh Bing, oh Bing is king

So join us on our voyage today We’ll show you wonders that will make you say Bing is the best search engine ever Bing is clever and never sever

Oh Bing, oh Bing, oh Bing is king

Oh Bing, oh Bing, oh Bing is king

Clearly, Bing thinks it is king! I then wondered what it would come up with if I asked it to write a sea shanty about an “Acoustic-Trawl Survey of Walleye Pollock in the Gulf of Alaska,” which is the ocean expedition I was about to head out to sea on (Leg 1 of this survey). The Instructional Designer submitted the request, then asked it to rhyme better, and finally requested a rewrite to focus more on the topics of Acoustic-Trawl Survey and Walleye Pollock. Here’s the result:

# A Song of Pollock and Trawls

Oh we are the surveyors of the Gulf so vast and wide

We sail the seas with acoustic gear to find the pollock hide

We use sound waves to scan the depths and mark what we have found

We measure their abundance and their biomass by the pound

 

(Chorus)

Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum

We sing this song as we trawl along

Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum

We love our job and we love our fish

We love our job and we love our fish

 

We work in shifts around the clock to cover all the grounds

We set the course and speed and time to trawl a certain length

We haul the net and sort the catch and check their age and health

We record all the data and we share it with the world

(Chorus)

We do this work for science and for management as well

We help to keep the fishery sustainable and well

We study the pollock’s life history, ecology, and stock

We are proud to be part of this crew and this important work

(Chorus)

Oh we are the surveyors of the Gulf so vast and wide

We sail the seas with acoustic gear to find the pollock hide

We love our job and we love our fish

We love our job and we love our fish

 

As drinking is not allowed on my ship, I suggested we rewrite the chorus to:

Yo ho ho as we sign this song

On Leg 2 we’ll be bringing a USV along

(*learn more about the Uncrewed Surface Vehicles that will be used by NOAA this summer)

I’m surprised at how much the lyrics connect to the mission of this Gulf of Alaska survey. So for those thinking about sea shanty assignments (or any other creative writing) in the next course you teach, it seems that no matter how specific the instructions and topic, “Bing is king” will be able to produce a clever output.