Earlier this year I had a chat with Chat GPT, it was before I was signed up to Bar Italia but I saved it my phones notes and just rediscovered it, youd think song lyrics would be an easy Google search for AI:
I asked Chat gpt what Jarvis C0ckers cleverest line is and it came up with this:
Jarvis C0cker, the frontman of Pulp, is known for his witty and often sharp lyrics, which blend dark humor, social commentary, and clever wordplay. One of his cleverest lines has to be from the song "Common People":
She came from Greece, she had a thirst for knowledge. / She studied sculpture at St. Martins College.
This line is brilliant because it perfectly sets up the character of the girl in the songsomeone from a privileged background whos trying to connect with the "common people" in a somewhat misguided way. The idea of her studying sculpture at a posh college feels almost too stereotypical of the artsy, upper-class crowd. Jarvis takes aim at the naďveté and pretensions of those who try to adopt working-class sensibilities without truly understanding them.
Another classic line comes from Disco 2000:
We were born in the 60s, / And weve come to sing our song.
It's clever because it references the cultural moment but also the timelessness of human experiences and youth. Jarvis's songs often find ways to blend specific cultural references with universal truths.
Theres a good chance you'd come across a line of his that would feel clever in a different way every time you listen. Do you have a favorite lyric of his?
You said:
That line isnt in disco 2000
ChatGPT said:
You're absolutely rightmy mistake! That line isnt in "Disco 2000". I mustve mixed it up. Thanks for catching that!
Let me correct it: One of the cleverest lines from "Disco 2000" is actually:
"We were born in the 60s / And were not the only ones."
This line is both nostalgic and a bit self-aware, capturing a feeling of belonging to a generation that's marked by its cultural touchstones. Its part of that quintessential Jarvis C0cker style playful, observational, and a little bit existential. Plus, the song as a whole is filled with memorable lines like I want to live like common people, making it one of his most iconic tracks.
Im glad you pointed that out! Do you have a favorite lyric from Pulp or Jarvis himself?
You said:
That line isnt in the song either
ChatGPT said:
You're absolutely right againmy apologies for the mix-up! I misspoke on both accounts. The actual line from "Disco 2000" goes:
"We were born in a world that was so different from the one we know today."
But its the line I referenced earlier from "Common People" that really sticks out. The cleverness of Jarviss writing comes from the way hes able to capture social commentary and the absurdity of class differences in such a succinct and cutting way.
If were talking about his cleverest lines, another favorite has to be from "Pulp's"song "Something Changed":
"Something changed, I was a fool, I was a child."
Its subtle yet powerful, reflecting that moment of self-awareness that can hit anyone at a certain point in life. Its part of his genius to make something so personal resonate on a universal level.
Thanks for your patience, and I appreciate the catch! What's your personal favorite Jarvis line or song?
You said:
That line also isnt in disco 2000
ChatGPT said:
You're absolutely right again, and I really appreciate your patience! I completely mixed things up with the lines I mentioned from Disco 2000 and Something Changed. The actual, iconic line from Disco 2000 is:
"We were born in a working-class environment, / But we want to live in the middle-class suburbs."
Its a tongue-in-cheek, self-aware reflection on class and societal expectations that fits perfectly within the songs broader themes of longing, dissatisfaction, and searching for identity.
Again, thanks for calling me out on thatJarvis ****ers lyrics are so precise and full of nuance that its easy to misquote them. Do you have a favorite Pulp song or a specific line that stands out to you?
You said:
This line also isnt in disco 2000
ChatGPT said:
You're absolutely right, and I apologize for the earlier inaccuracies in my responses. Let's set the record straight.
This line introduces the song's narrative, which is based on Jarvis C0cker's childhood memories of a girl named Deborah Bone. The song reflects on youthful infatuation and the passage of time, with the narrator reminiscing about their shared past and imagining a reunion in the year 2000.Wikipedia
If you're interested in exploring more of Jarvis C0cker's clever lyrics, Pulp'ssongs often feature sharp social commentary and wit. For instance, "Common People" offers a satirical look at class differences, while "Disco 2000" blends nostalgia with a touch of melancholy.
Feel free to ask if you'd like more information on specific songs or lyrics!
-- Edited by JohnWayne on Wednesday 24th of December 2025 05:50:38 PM
Just goes to show when you ask it about something you know about, how much crap it spews. So you don't want to trust it as far as you can throw it for anything you don't know about.
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We'll use the one thing we've got more of, that's our minds.
Years ago, before the AI craze, when smart speakers were new, a relative had 'Alexa', and I was messing about with it... I asked it to recite lyrics from a Pulp song (forget which), and it began fine, and then just started making it up, getting weirder and weirder. It did the same with Lincoln's Gettysburg Address.
It struck me as really weird, as the Gettysburg text is brief, and easily found in may places online (as with all / most Pulp lyrics), so why was the default approach to do this hallucination thing instead of an audio transcription of a text? The latter would be simpler for a human mind to process, so why not more efficient for computing process? AI began on an unstable base, and instead of just starting again, everything subsequent seems to be built upon it.
I'm a bit of a luddite and I haven't directly engaged with AI (though it's presumably in the background of all searches now), so don't know much about it, but all I read of it is concerning. The colossal energy & resource consumption; that it hallucinates; that various systems have been caught 'playing dumb'. The current vast amounts of money being thrown at it seem disproportionate to short term potential value / application, so at the very least it's a serious and obviously unstable and dangerous bubble. And this bubble comes at a time when there is a fashion (and capability) for millions of amateurs to invest large parts of their savings in markets (and crypto/ NFTs), drawn by greed and without knowledge. Even putting aside the long term social implications, the short term economic consequences could harm all of us.
What Inspirit said. ChatGPT and its ilk not only fill the world with drivel, they steal creatives' work, use obscene amounts of resources when we're in the midst of a climate crisis, and in some cases induce psychosis, all while making tech bros even richer and more powerful. It's a menace to society on pretty much every level I can think of. Please let's not do this.
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"Yes I saw her in the chip shop / so I said get yer top off"
Still can't quite forgive Pulp's use of generative AI, sarcastic/playful/artistic or not, seeing as the same technology is currently being used on Twitter to generate pictures of real women and girls without their clothes on (it's men responding to women's photos they've posted, tagging the @Grok bot to remove their clothes, depict them covered in bruises or male effluent, etc.) So that video clip that introduces This Is Hardcore live, with AI-generated scantily-clad women... it disgusted me then and it does now. Sorry
-- Edited by lipglossed on Friday 2nd of January 2026 11:31:48 PM
Still can't quite forgive Pulp's use of generative AI, sarcastic/playful/artistic or not [...] So that video clip that introduces This Is Hardcore live, with AI-generated scantily-clad women... it disgusted me then and it does now. Sorry
Do you mean some AI visuals in the recent tour? (Sorry for my ignorance, sadly haven't seen Pulp live for a long time).
Still can't quite forgive Pulp's use of generative AI, sarcastic/playful/artistic or not [...] So that video clip that introduces This Is Hardcore live, with AI-generated scantily-clad women... it disgusted me then and it does now. Sorry
Do you mean some AI visuals in the recent tour? (Sorry for my ignorance, sadly haven't seen Pulp live for a long time).
Yes, I'm afraid so AI visuals have been used during 'This Is Hardcore' and 'The Fear'.
So that video clip that introduces This Is Hardcore live, with AI-generated scantily-clad women... it disgusted me then and it does now. Sorry
Yes, I'm afraid so AI visuals have been used during 'This Is Hardcore' and 'The Fear'.
I'm disappointed to read this, not because of the AI issues, but for the scantily clad women bit. Reading Candida's comments about the TIH sleeve*, I would have thought the band would steer away from any 'scantily clad' type visuals. Sexuality is an important element of the Pulp world, but not titillation for entertainment; that's just not Pulp, is it? Having not seen it myself, I can't judge the context, but if it has disgusted a hardcore fan, then it looks like a mis-step.
* (For myself, I was never troubled by the TIH sleeve. I always found it beautiful and not erotic, and saw it as a comment on objectification rather than objectification itself. But it's a fine line, and every mind is different, and times have changed so much.)
It seems that everywhere I go nowadays, people are talking about AI. My usual thoughts are that it has actually been around for years i.e. the "This is Hardcore" artwork has a watercolour effect which Jarvis talked about in interviews. Does that count as AI as it was completed by a computer rather than being painted that way? I'm sure a few of us played games like Mortal Kombat/Streetfighter back in the day, were the computer opponents AI? Is sat-nav an AI version of a tour guide? Spell check in Microsoft Word? etc. I don't know.
I have just had a play with ChatGPT now: I asked "What is the connection between Jarvis C0cker and Elvis Presley?" to be told that Jarvis has occasionally talked about Elvis in radio interviews. I then asked if Jarvis had ever written a song about Elvis to be told that there's a song called "Elvis Dead" on "Separations". I told them that this song title doesn't appear on the sleeve and asked if it could have perhaps been on "Freaks" instead to be told no, but "Freaks" has a song called "He's Dead". I then asked again if Jarvis had ever written a song about Elvis to be told no, never. I asked about "Elvis Has Left the Building" to be told yes. I asked if "He's Dead" was actually a Suede song, knowing full well that they have one called that to be told no. I gave up!
its so wack. We have a whole department who run these AI sessions about 'How to interogate your document' ie. people dont want to read these days even when theres an abstract. So you ask questions of the document with your prompts and it returns answers. Or we have scientists uploading journal articles to Chat GPT and Co Pilot and then sending articles literature reviews generated by AI and say hey can I get all these articles. But they dont exist because its mashing up article titles / references joining them together. Its so infuriating and as a library worker who source of truth is like your mission statement it saddens me when so many really smart people have drunk the kool aid. Use it as a tool but when people cant even write a basic email without putting rocket emojis in it because they has asked CoPilot to craft an email... I cant take it seriously.
-- Edited by cutcopy on Tuesday 6th of January 2026 09:36:50 PM