MICHAEL WALSH SPECIAL: The genesis of many of history’s greatest ballads started as a poem inspired by a feeling, a woman, an event, a war or by love.

They may well have stayed as unread words on a piece of paper had music not been composed to give the words extra meaning.

There is the catch

It takes a singer capable of transferring words to music to catch the moment and perhaps take one’s breath away. It seemed to me to be a catch-22 situation, and ruefully I learnt that a poem is only half a ballad.

People Love Poetry

And people have a soft spot for poets and poems. Creating ballads without music became my abiding passion. For over 60 years I set down my thoughts without reward other than acclaim.

Having penned more than 2,000 soliloquies, poems, sonnets and odes, I presume to be Britain and Europe’s most prolific and successful poet.

Were they good?

When I published collections, those small illustrated books sold in the thousands. I posed for photos, did book signings, appeared on local and international TV and radio.

Many were compliments

My favorites were from a master mariner who smiled and said: ‘You have a gift for putting into words what my heart wants to say but cannot.’

My favourite was in response to my ode, The Cattle in the Lea​.’ The erudite scholar of English literature, Tom Roberts, murmured: ‘There is nothing in English literature to rival that.’

Salvation

I did try to get musicians interested in creating ballads from my verse, but sadly there were no takers. The ballads stayed as poems; popular, well commented on, but sonnets.

If human intelligence couldn’t see the potential of my verse-ballads, then perhaps artificial intelligence (AI) would come to my rescue.

‘Send one or two of your poems’

My friend Andrew is a songwriter. He does have a natural ability to use his ‘string orchestra’ to create ballads from his lyrics. ‘Michael, send one or two of your poems’, he suggested.

Having no idea what my friend’s intentions were, I selected at random a few poems that had been penned over the years past; some by hand, typewritten, and all penned long before computers were invented.

God Created Artificial Intelligence

By return post arrived ‘The Nation of the Downcast Eye’ followed by others such as ‘The Embers of Europe are Dying’ and similar lyrics put to music.

Artificial Intelligence provides the musical backdrop with anonymous singers that put the poem into ballad form.

So, the poems or lyrics are man-made, or rather poet-made. The music is a creation of AI.

From my perspective, it couldn’t get better.  Metaphorically, I was standing on the same stage as the country greats like Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, George Jones and Tammy Wynette.

Eureka!

Poems, many of which had been penned decades earlier and read by few, were now reaching thousands of people worldwide and in a format that was as pleasing to the ear as to the heart and soul.

Does it get better? Not for me. By chance, I had stumbled upon friends who could partner with me by turning my lyrics into music and getting the Michael Walsh ballads on YouTube.

Genesis

Today, and hopefully in the future, my ballads will follow a trajectory that circles the earth and create a symphony of verse, bringing joy and nostalgia, wistfulness and longing to people everywhere who are also experiencing a mortal experience. Michael Walsh

THANKS FOR SHARING WITH FRIENDS AND SOCIAL MEDIA