The Drive Safe Missoula Song 

The Story and how you can do it to.

I decided to give this a go after watching a YouTube Video about Udio.com.  Udio, like Studio without the "St", is a AI website that can generate full songs just based off a text prompt.   I chose to use ChatGPT to help write the lyrics and then I just pasted the lyrics into Udio.com.   Udio did the rest.  (If you are looking to do something similar, I suggest heading directly over to YouTube and search "How to make a song with Udio")

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Here's the exact prompt I entered into ChatGPT

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"Help me write a song about how guys and girls who drive pickup trucks in Missoula look their best when the are buckled up, 100% sober, and focused on the road. Mention Drive Safe Missoula and how proud we are of safe drivers in this town."

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(Note:  in a previous prompt, I had ChatGPT confirm that it understands what a positive framework is and that it also understands what Psychological Reactance is and how to avoid when writing song lyrics.  To learn more a about positive frameworks and psychological reactance check The Center for Health and Safety Culture.   They are the worldwide experts and I just try and implement their research.)

Here are the lyrics that ChatGPT produced:

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(Verse 1)

Rollin' down the streets of Missoula town,

Pickup trucks gleaming, we're holdin' it down.

From the mountains to the valleys, we roam,

But safety's our style, wherever we roam.

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(Chorus)

Buckle up, Missoula, in your pickup truck,

Looking fly, yeah, you're in luck.

100% sober, eyes on the road,

Drive Safe Missoula, that's how we roll!

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(Verse 2)

Windows down, breeze in our hair,

But safety's our priority, that's our flair.

In our pickups, we're a sight to see,

When we're safe and sound, we're wild and free.

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(Chorus)

Buckle up, Missoula, in your pickup truck,

Looking fly, yeah, you're in luck.

100% sober, eyes on the road,

Drive Safe Missoula, that's how we roll!

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(Bridge)

From Main Street to the back roads we cruise,

Safe driving habits, we never lose.

Drive Safe Missoula, we're proud to say,

In our pickup trucks, we lead the way.

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(Chorus)

Buckle up, Missoula, in your pickup truck,

Looking fly, yeah, you're in luck.

100% sober, eyes on the road,

Drive Safe Missoula, that's how we roll!

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​I simply copied and pasted the first verse and chorus section of the lyrics into the "Custom lyrics" tab within Udio and let Udio go to work.   It first produces two 30-second versions of the song.   I liked one version and extended it, by pasting in the second verse and chorus and letting Udio do it's magic.   I then repeated that a couple more times until the song was ultimately what you hear today.

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How long did it take?

From start to finish, with very little knowledge of how Udio really works, it took me 40 minutes.  Yes, only 40 minutes.

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What would I change?

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Some of the words.   If you notice in the first verse, the last two lines are both "roam" and it sounds a bit funny to me.   Also, 100% sober is a lot of syllables, I would have like to have changed that to "Totally Sober" because it would have flowed better.

Why didn't you make the change?

I tried, but at the time Udio didn't have the ability to change the words in a song after it was produced.   There is some aspects of that as of June 2024 within the program, but when I tried to change the words it sounded really weird so I left it alone.   If I tried to recreate the song from scratch, it would sound completely different.   The version that you hear, was the best version out of about 30 re-tries.   Nothing even sounded half as good.  Maybe as AI advances, I'll hop in and make the change.

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Why do you mention Pick Ups and not other cars?

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Over the last several years, I've stood out at eleven different intersections throughout Missoula County conducting what are called "Seat Belt Surveys" where I try and count the number of seatbelt users compared to the number of non-seat belt users.  Here in Missoula, just over 93% of people are wearing a seatbelt, however, when it comes to pickup trucks, it's only 88%.   Therefore, I wanted my target audience to be pickup truck occupants.

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Psychological Reactance?  What is that?

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First let me ask, do you like to be "Told" what to do?   There's a good chance you don't like to be told what to do.   Most of us don't and when we are "Told" to do something, we have a tendency to resist or psychologically react to the message.   In fact, we have a tendency to do just the opposite for no other reason than, "Don't tell me what to do!"   That means that traffic safety messages like "Click it or Ticket" and "Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over" often cause Psychological Reactance.   To clarify further, it means that those messages often cause the exact behavior they are trying to prevent.    This song is about utilizing a positive framework and celebrating the "Positive Behaviors" that most of us demonstrate on a daily basis.

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