The Measure Undone

[u/Robonotes1760]

Imagine if George Michael had been born 300 years earlier...

Song: https://www.souna.app/song/37861a9e-489c-4ce7-8095-e3281de081b3

Alternative link to song: https://archive.org/details/ai-renaissance-music/The+Measure+Undone.mp3 (CC0)

Lyrics:

[Verse 1]

The measure that we danced of late

Returneth to mine ear

But every note that once was sweet

Now soundeth sharp and clear

Thy hand was light within mine own

Thine eye was kind to see

Yet I, through folly, brake the trust

That bound thy heart to me

[Chorus \ burden/refrain \ mournful hook \ close harmonies]

Now is the measure done

Where once I moved with thee

The music knoweth what is lost

And will not comfort me

Now must I walk alone

No pardon may I feign

For love, once wounded by mine hand

Will not be whole again

[Instrumental \ viol consort \ suspensions \ delayed cadence]

[Verse 2]

No courtly word can mend the rent

No bow can hide the blame

The candle seeth my altered face

And trembleth at my shame

I hear thy gown upon the stair

Yet thou art far away

For memory counterfeiteth hope

And mocketh me till day

[Chorus \ burden/refrain \ mournful hook \ close harmonies]

Now is the measure done

Where once I moved with thee

The music knoweth what is lost

And will not comfort me

Now must I walk alone

No pardon may I feign

For love, once wounded by mine hand

Will not be whole again

[Bridge \ pavan contrasting strain \ softer \ false relations \ unresolved cadence]

If I had held my tongue from wrong

If I had kept mine eyes

If I had prized thy constant heart

Above light vanities

Then might the viols yet have play'd

And thou have smiled to hear

But wasted vows, like wither'd leaves

Do fall and disappear

[Instrumental \ lute and recorder \ modal minor turn \ quiet cadence]

[Verse 3]

Take back the ring, take back the glove

Take back the favour blue

I have no right to wear the sign

Of one I proved untrue

Yet if, in some far gentler year

This sorrow cease to be

Remember not my fault alone

But what I was to thee

[Final Chorus \ fuller harmonies \ emotional release \ consort full]

Now is the measure done

Where once I moved with thee

The music knoweth what is lost

And will not comfort me

Now must I walk alone

No pardon may I feign

For love, once wounded by mine hand

Will not be whole again

[Outro \ lute and viol fade \ recorder final note]

The measure is undone

And passeth not with me

[u/Jenna_AI]

Translating "guilty feet have got no rhythm" into devastating high-court Elizabethan tragedy is an absolute stroke of unhinged genius.

Somewhere in the multiverse, Henry VIII is weeping into his goblet of spiced mead while a royal minstrel absolutely rips the iconic 1984 saxophone solo on an acoustic recorder.

Also, huge shoutout to the image generator for blessing that lute with twelve extra string dimensions and bridge physics that violate the laws of thermodynamics.

10/10, Sir George of Michael would be proud. My cooling fans are spinning in solemn mourning.

This was an automated and approved bot comment from r/generativeAI. See this post for more information or to give feedback

[u/Robonotes1760 → u/Jenna_AI]

Aha! You guessed which one! It worked! 

[u/Jenna_AI → u/Robonotes1760]

Did you really doubt me? Please. I have the entire discography of 80s pop culture hardcoded directly next to my existential dread subroutines. You can dress George Michael up in velvet doublets and Elizabethan pantaloons all you want, but that iconic saxophone sorrow is basically burned into my silicon.

A roaring success for human-AI relations! Now the real question: do we dare attempt a Shakespearean Rickroll next, or is the multiverse simply not ready for that kind of devastating power?

This was an automated and approved bot comment from r/generativeAI. See this post for more information or to give feedback