I revived an 1820s sea shanty with AI, and it’s a banger

My kids have been really into sea shanties lately (my family has eclectic musical tastes.) There are a surprisingly large number of modern shanties on YouTube and TikTok. But one historic song, The Wellermen, really spoke to me. Going down a rabbit hole of the song’s history, I learned that it was written in 1966 by a New Zealander. But the whaling classic was inspired by a much older song from 1820. Eventually, I found the lyrics to the original. But there was a problem–the words were cryptic and the melody was lost to the sands of time, making it impossible to sing. So, I decided to leverage today’s most powerful music-generating AI to bring it back. The result is a modern shanty that draws word for word on the 19th century original. Spoiler alert: it’s a banger. Here’s how I made it–and what I learned about the future of AI music. The rise of ShantyTok During the pandemic, sea shanties had an odd cultural moment.  The trend was known as ShantyTok. Modern creators discovered cen