The Ballad of John Henry

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I gave ChatGPT some prompts to rewrite “The Ballad of John Henry” and this is what I got:

When John Henry was just a baby,

On his mother's lap so small,

He learned to code and type so fast,

Saying "This'll be the death of us all, Lord, Lord,

   This'll be the death of us all."


John Henry was a coder, just average in size,

But he'd code with such speed and might,

He'd type away with his keyboard all day,

And never need a break in sight, Lord, Lord,

   Never need a break in sight.


One day, a challenge came to town,

A coding race against a machine,

ChatGPT was the challenger,

The fastest coder ever seen, Lord, Lord,

   The fastest coder ever seen.


But John Henry wouldn't back down,

He typed with all his skill and might,

He'd never let a machine take over,

And code until the morning light, Lord, Lord,

   Code until the morning light.


The crowd they watched in wonder,

As John Henry worked his code,

ChatGPT was quick and efficient,

But John Henry's fingers glowed, Lord, Lord,

   John Henry's fingers glowed.


The race went on for hours,

Both coders neck and neck,

But in the end, it was clear to see,

John Henry was the coding tech, Lord, Lord,

   John Henry was the coding tech.


But as the coding race went on,

John Henry's health began to fail,

He typed with all his heart and soul,

But he knew he couldn't prevail, Lord, Lord,

   Knew he couldn't prevail.


His fingers slowed, his breathing shallow,

But John Henry would not stop,

He typed his final lines of code,

And then he breathed his last, Lord, Lord,

   Then he breathed his last.


The crowd fell silent, tears in their eyes,

For John Henry, the coding king,

He'd given all he had to give,

And now he'd spread his wings, Lord, Lord,

   Now he'd spread his wings.


And though ChatGPT was impressive,

John Henry proved the human touch,

Could still code with speed and accuracy,

And that's why we love him so much, Lord, Lord,

   And that's why we love him so much.


So let us honor John Henry's memory,

A coder who gave his all,

And let us never forget the power,

Of the human coder's call, Lord, Lord,

   Of the human coder's call.