OVERVIEW
For this project, I created a sketch with the goal of emulating a genre or form of writing using Python and Natural Language Processing (NLP.) The result is a list of the following one-liners, inspired by the format of Jeff Foxworthy’s “You might be a redneck if…” jokes, created by using the text of the lyrics of the top country song of the year for the past 70 years, in five year increments.
Why “You Might be a NOUN if…”?
Since the goal of this project was to create a new work that mimicked an existing style, I wanted it to be recognizable, but didn’t want to go with something like a more common type of poem (like a sonnet, for example). I ultimately decided to take a look around for examples of forms of humorous poems that might be fun to work with that weren’t limericks. I landed on following the style of the 1990s’ Jeff Foxworthy’s “You might be a redneck if…” format. The idea was to replace the word “redneck”, a word I’ve never been a huge fan of, and replace it with something still contextually appropriate, but, perhaps, a little less offensive. I also wanted to use this as an opportunity to continue working Python and NLP.
Process
I chose the songs by starting on the Wikipedia page for Billboard List of Number One Country Hits and drilling down into each of the years I was looking for. From there, I made a list of the top song and performer by year, then searched for the lyrics for each song using Musixmatch and LyricFinder. After I’d copied the lyrics down, I made them into text files labeled by year.
In terms of output, there were a couple of joke structures for the Foxworthy ‘redneck’ jokes that I hoped to build upon–one starting with the conditional statement and one ending with it. Unfortunately, one format I picked would have depended too much on using the results of specific Spacy labels (that weren’t returning results for every year) to come up with consistent results; the songs varied in length and some of the pieces weren’t very robust lyrically in terms of grammar.
Here’s what the original joke I based my emulation on looked like:
If you burn your yard rather than mow it, you might be a redneck.
I changed it to:
If you
VERB.lemma_yourNOUNrather thanVERB.lemma_it, you might be aSINGLE_NOUN.
Here’s what the code looks like:
print("If you",verb75a.lemma_,"your",random.choice(nouns75),"rather than",verb75b.lemma_,"it, you might be a",random.choice(single_noun75),".")
If you notice in the lines above, it’s the very simple sentence structure of Foxworthy’s joke format that lends itself well to this type of generated text. I hope you enjoy the work I put into it. I was hoping it would be a bit more revealing about social cues, but, if anything, was dated it was lyrics like from songs in the 50s, 60s, and 70s that gave us some of the most fun outputs like our first one from 1950:
If you pop your o rather than open it, you might be a woogie.
Here is a list of the top country song, with year, artist, and title, with a sample output below:
Top Country Song of 1950 – Red Foley – “Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy”
If you pop your o rather than open it, you might be a woogie.
Top Country Song of 1955 – Webb Pierce – “In the Jailhouse Now”
If you name your jailhouse rather than get it, you might be a tonk.
Top Country Song of 1960 – Hank Locklin – “Please Help Me, I’m Falling”
If you belong your love rather than hold it, you might be a darling.
Top Country Song of 1965 – Buck Owens – “Before You Go”
If you go your pieces rather than come it, you might be a station.
Top Country Song of 1970 – Sonny James – “It’s Just a Matter of Time”
If you know your time rather than go it, you might be a matter.
Top Country Song of 1975 – Merle Haggard – “Always Wanting You”
If you wake your things rather than know it, you might be a feeling.
Top Country Song of 1980 – Kenny Rogers – “Coward of the County”
If you cry your things rather than fall it, you might be a day.
Top Country Song of 1985 – Ronnie Milsap – “Lost in the Fifties Tonight (In the Still of the Night)”
If you hold your magic rather than share it, you might be a magic.
Top Country Song of 1990 – George Strait – “Love Without an End, Amen”
If you become your story rather than let it, you might be a father.
Top Country Song of 1995 – Tim McGraw – “I Like It, I Love it”
If you count your game rather than open it, you might be a kiss.
Top Country Song of 2000 – Faith Hill – “Breathe”
If you feel your rush rather than can it, you might be a breeze.
Top Country Song of 2005 – Craig Morgan – “That’s What I Love About Sunday”
If you fade your walk rather than sing it, you might be a yard.
Top Country Song of 2010 – Josh Turner – “Why Don’t We Just Dance”
If you move your stairs rather than go it, you might be a rug.
Top Country Song of 2015 – Little Big Town – “Girl Crush”
If you want your sleep rather than pull it, you might be a way.
Top Country Song of 2020 – Marren Morris – “The Bones”
If you could your homestretch rather than know it, you might be a glass.
Check out the complete list with code in my Jupyter Notebook here!
Takeaways
Technically, this project was one of the first projects I did using Python or NLP; I definitely felt that future projects of mine, such as my NLP Twitter Bot – Rolfo’s Poem of Perpetual of Loss: A Love Letter to Mi Mi Mi, benefit from the experience I gained creating this. Culturally, I, as a native Texan whose grandmother owned a honky-tonk bar, really appreciated being able to expose myself to all these country hits from over the years. I took the time to listen to each of these songs individually to get a feel for them–as something more than just a bunch of words–and noticed how not just the sound (as well as the technical recording quality) changed over the years, but the subject matter and terminology. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading through these as well.