A NEW "OLD TIME" FAVORITE FEMINIST BLUES SINGER - INTRODUCING BERTHA MAE
- rhapsodydmb
- Oct 23
- 2 min read
Updated: Oct 23
For real, I heard this song today and fell in love with a 40s style jazz singer whom I thought I had heard before! At least I recognized her name I was sure: Bertha Mae Lightening. Take a listen.....
But it wasn't real!
Some trickster group called "Dumpster Grooves" applied their clever musical talents to writing lyrics and creating "Bertha Mae," coraling AI to produce the final version along with "Bertha Mae's" album cover "picture" above.
Amazing.
But...a commentator tipped me off that something was wrong....check out the six fingers on her right hand...not to mention the too-perfect sound track for a 40s recording. Not to mention the inflection, accent, and other elements of a 40s Black jazz singer that are absent.
I admit I'm conflicted. That's because I see the dangers of present-day AI -- unregulated, driven by profit mongering par excellence, and implemented by hogging energy and threatening the environment and perhaps even human survival. And in this case, AI commiting what seems to be "black face" resurrected from the past.
Art created by AI is anathema to me.
And yet, the humor of it all intrigues me.
Here is what Dumster Grooves says about "Bertha Mae:"
Discovered on a forgotten mono tape marked “Handle Me - May 1950,” this juke-joint scorcher captures the unstoppable blues powerhouse Bertha Mae Lightning - a woman who could outplay, outsing, and outdrink half the Delta.
Backed by a smokin’ Southern electric blues combo with slide guitar, harmonica, and a rhythm section that could burn a hole through the floor, Ain’t No Man Alive Can Handle Me is pure grit, sass, and soul. Lovingly remastered from the original tape - raw, wild, and 100% unfiltered blues attitude.
Note: Caveat Emptor. Human-written. AI-performed. Fictional artist. Real music.
Chapeau to them at the very least, for revealing the AI source.
I'll cut this short and let you be the judge about the quality of the song and the lyrics plus the ethics of fooling some of us.
I admit I'm in love with the uber-feminist and poetic lyrics and rhyming: internal, slant and perfect end-line rhyming.
On that basis alone I will argue that this qualifies for a blog topic on my music and poetry website, right? Someone wrote those lyics and they are great.
If not your cup of tea, please pardon me, suppress a guffaw, and then decide if you want to explore some other AI-created songs and lyrics listed on Dumpster's website --- but a critical warning:
others will blow the top of your head off with their perversity and profanity.
Still and all, listening to one other forever nameless song on their website, I found myself rotflmao....
Remember: I didn't write or compose this; I'm just the messenger here, so you know what not to do. Just check out my other sedate blogs instead, and pray that I'll soon come back to my musical senses.
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I don’t like at all that AI takes liberty with its music and arts in general. I’m so afraid to comment on so much art because I question whether they were AI created or painted by an artist
I’m not big on AI music that presents a false front. I.e. black woman singing a false black song. More appropriation. They could have put it out there on its own merits but chose to go with the lie.
Going with the lie seems to be the big thing in America these days.
You might want to check out some real black women. Listed here is just the blues genre.
https://www.udiscovermusic.com/stories/female-blues-musicians-singers-feature/
Enjoy,
Raven