thank you for saying this. my thoughts exactly!

ha ha brilliant lyrics ! i like your forceful delivery too joe well done

Hey Joe. Cool that you are speaking out on important issues of our strange times 😎 I like very much your catchy melodies and vocals. Really great songwriting, as always!  Thanks for sharing, brother! 🌟

Ha! Yes! I’m kinda a big deal around the & Cloud!! He and he and ha!!!😂😂😂.. Joe!! This is freaking hilarious and amazing! Singing! Bassing( great bad ass bass guitar.. especially, yes.. guitars are also great.. just attracted to bass guitar on this one!!! Yes!💎🕺🏼🔥) seriously @ love the give and take.. back and forth.. between the 300 or so of @ commenters and @ TRUE fans and creators in their respective circles and communities! I, for one.. I think you make absolutely amazing and stellar creations! Humorous.. and also some @ serious!! YES! I’m very happy and proud to know you , a bit!  Also.. to have created with you!! 😎🕺🏼🕺🏼🕺🏼🙏🙏🙏🔥🔥🔥.. the older I get.. the more I enjoy those I enjoy.. but conversely.. abhor those @ I don’t!!!🥵.. it’s okay! I wish I had a desire to @ champion @ everyone.. I don’t.. but @ cream rises to the top! You are top!! Yes!!🙌🙌🙌🙌❤️❤️❤️💎💎💎

Hi again Joe! Another fantastic tune with lyrics that are not made by a computer chip, imagine that?!!?! You're not using your brain, are you Joe! How Bohemian of you! Awesome song! Take care!👍😎✌🏼

Great song! Someone once said I want AI to wash my dishes and laundry not write songs.

AI will change our lives in every respect...but... there´s nothing in this world compared with creating your own  writing style after many years of struggling..and if some people appreciate your work.... it´s even more satisfactory.. ha...great song again.. congrats.. Joe !

Songs with a twinge of humor (and some a bit more serious).

Joe Stroffolino - Joe on the Edge

A Romance Underground

All Things Are Impermanent

Copyright 2024 Joe Stroffolino

Lots of people moving to the state of AZ
The desert seems like a nice a nice place to be
The only problem is there’s not enough H20
One day you’ll turn the tap and it’s not gonna flow
The climate keeps getting drier every single year
I guess we’ll have to take fewer showers and drink more beer

If you can’t stand the heat maybe you should get out of the kitchen
Maybe this isn’t the right place for you.
The sun up in the sky is 93 million miles away
But it feels a lot closer on a hot Arizona day

There’s not enough snowpack on the mountains up high
They say the Colorado river’s running dry
They’re ripping up lawns, replacing them with rocks
Instead of going barefoot, you walk around in crocs
The polar glaciers are melting in to the sea
I wish that they could scoop up an iceberg and drop it down on me

If you can’t stand the heat maybe you should get out of the kitchen
Maybe this isn’t the right place for you

Most of the rain falls in the summer
Monsoon season can be a real bummer
You get a big dust storm, they call it a haboob
You can watch scary videos on You Tube
You’ll be driving and suddenly you can’t see
You gotta make sure you don’t crash into a cactus or a tree

If you can’t stand the heat maybe you should get out of the kitchen
Maybe this isn’t the right place for you

A long time a ago, it must have been tough without air conditioning
People just had to sit around all day moaning and bitching 
Now the biggest thing we complain about is our high electric bill
As we lie on the couch watching Netflix enjoying the comfortable chill

If you can’t stand the heat maybe you should get out of the kitchen
Maybe this isn’t the right place for you
The sun up in the sky is 93 million miles away
But it feels a lot closer on a hot Arizona day

Can't Stand the Heat

Cast of Characters:
Joe Stroffolino-- @joseph-stroffolino -- Taylor 114ce acoustic guitar, main vocals, harmony vocals, lyrics, composition
Llanpsych -- @llanpsych -- Tez – Fender HSS Telecaster electric guitar
TexMex Shaman–@texmex-shaman –Stephen– Tom Anderson Custom T electric guitar, mix, mastering, and production
Mistermark-- @user-432503709 -- Mark – piano
K2 and the Three [and the Four]--@k2andthe3, @k2-kara -–Ken–drums
Entheogenic Psychonaught (Josh Clary)–@josh-clary-1 –- four string Fender Precision Bass with a plectrum

This song began as one of Joe's catchy, lyrically centered songs, which he wrote on his acoustic guitar, and filled in with VST instruments. He came up with the lyrics by sharing ideas with fellow SoundCloud musician Michele Ansani, who began the thought process of a song about becoming a musician.
Knowing that Josh is a fan of his work, Joe offered this song to him in hopes that he'd share it with the rest of the band. Of course, Josh jumped at the opportunity to work on his song, and immediately shared it with the rest of the group.
Ken went to work first, adding his driving, excting drums. Josh was having a hard time coming up with a good bass line for it, until Ken suggested that he use the power of the 1/8 note to propel it. Tez was up next with his clever fills you hear throughout the first half of the song. Stephen came along right after and matched Tez's energy for the guitar fills in the second half of the song.
It was still missing a solo in the designated spot, though, so Mark stepped up with his innovative piano solo you hear in the middle. If it sounds a little mechanical, that's because he's using an arpeggiator to achieve the effect. We thought it sounded good in a song about AI, though.
Once all the parts were dialed in, and Joe had gotten all his vocals tuned up, we asked one of our resident pros, Stephen, to mix it for us. He did that and mastered it, too, expertly, as always.
This is the first song we've ever done with Joe, and don't expect it to be the last. We all really enjoyed putting together, in no small part because Joe is such a competent, receptive, and gracious collaborator. We all hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed creating it.

Lyrics by Michele Ansani and Joe Stroffolino
Music by Joe Stroffolino (@joseph-stroffolino)

When I was thirteen I picked up my first guitar
it was my mother's, it only had one nylon string
I tried to play it like a rock star
I learned to play the Coca-Cola jingle
So I could teach the world to sing
When I was fourteen, I put on six new strings
I learned to play Beatles, I learned a Bob Dylan song
I sounded out of tune but I tried to carry on
At fifteen I wrote my first original tune
So bad it sounded like it might have been written by a baboon
When I was sixteen, I got a new guitar for my birthday
The metal strings sawed through my fingers
But I continued to play
And the calluses formed and every day I learned a brand new chord
I was obsessed with that guitar and I never grew bored.
I wrote songs every day and most of them were a mess
But I believed that through hard work, I could achieve success
Malcom Gladwell wrote a book that said it takes ten thousand hours
To become and expert at your craft
But now all it takes is two commands and an enter
And in two minutes you have ten versions of the same damn new song,
You just have to choose the type
folk, rock, rap, pop, metal, jazz, trap or blues.
You don't even need to write the lyrics,
your push a few buttons let the AI choose.

And people will think your songs are great even though you didn’t write or play a single note.
When I was 20, I did my first concert, it was time
it occurred in a village square
there were four cats all friends of mine
I was still using the plectrum and sometimes I got the chords wrong
at thirty I finally wrote what I thought was a decent song
It had a very well thought out structure

AI Sucks - Eclectic Collective

Music and Lyrics Copyright 2025 Joe Stroffolino
Vocals Joe Stroffolino
Guitar's: Fender Squire picking track  and Taylor 114ce strumming track Joe Stroffolino
Violin and Bass PG Music real tracks
Drums EZ drummer 3
Piano Logic Pro Session Player track 

All these people who claim they were abducted by alien UFO’s
They say they took them up onto the spaceship and examined them from head to toe.
Most people think those stories are made up, but what if they’re actually true
It kind of makes you wonder what motivates those aliens to do the things they do
If I ever get abducted by aliens from outer space, I think I might ask if I could hitch a ride off this crazy place. 
People who believe we couldn’t have built the pyramids without alien assistance
There’s days when I can’t find my car keys without lots of searching and persistence. 
Maybe we’re just 2 legged creatures and the earth’s an exotic alien zoo. 
And they come here on safari to see what we’re up to
If I ever get abducted by aliens from outer space, I think I might ask if I could hitch a ride off this crazy place. 
Even if they don’t consider me to be much better than a trained monkey
I could play my guitar to cheer them up whenever they feel grumpy.
They say the speed of light is as fast as you can possibly go
Maybe those aliens have access to information we don’t know
Maybe they just look at us in the same way scientists study bugs
They read the work of our most brilliant minds and they just shrug
Maybe someday if we start World War three, they’ll stop the missiles from firing
Or maybe they’ll just let us blow ourselves up because they find our behavior so tiring
Maybe someday if they think we’re ready, they’ll land a spaceship in times square
And although they’re usually naked, they’ll put on some underwear
If I ever get abducted by aliens from outer space, I think I might ask if I could hitch a ride off this crazy place. 
Even if they don’t consider me to be much better than a trained monkey
I could play my guitar to cheer them up whenever they feel grumpy.
There's days on earth when it feels like it might be kind of nice to get away
And getting abducted by aliens just might be okay.

If I Ever Get Abducted

a sense of anticipation emerges

Link to video where I tell the story behind the song : https://youtu.be/cilXaNM0IoI?si=IbBwc2wlxYTwoADH 


In Catholic school, whenever I misbehaved, the nuns used to pull my hair.
If I could go back in time and do it all again, I’d gab some clippers and shave my head bare.
I did eight years of hard time in Catholic school
I was never the kid who was considered cool
Eight straight years of Catholic School and somehow, I survived
Eight straight years of Catholic School.  Thank God I’m still alive  
My first-grade teacher was a nun, who if you’re penmanship was sloppy
She’d make you take all your books and stand there holding them in the back of the room.
She was like a witch except instead of a pointy hat she wore a habit
She carried a crucifix instead of broom.
I did eight years of hard time in Catholic School
I was never the kid who was considered cool
The cafeteria food tasted horrible, but I had to eat it
I had to wash it down with milk that was warm and sour
I’d try to fold my plate in half and throw it away, but the nuns would catch me and make me eat it
It’s like they had this secret food wasting detection superpower
Every year your birthday, it was customary for the kids in the recess yard,
To grab you and kick you and punch you for every year of your age.
I still have flashbacks of a girl with pointy hard black shoes kicking me really hard in my rib cage.
My fifth-grade teacher Sister Margaret she’d been teaching for way too long
It was time for her to retire but they let her teach another year and that was wrong
She had long grey whiskers growing out of her chin
She’d sit at her desk and trim them with of scissors and you sure as hell better not grin
She’d tell cautionary tales about innocent kids who got into cars strangers
She seemed to enjoy describing all the bloody graphic details of the danger.
I did eight years of hard time in Catholic school
I was never the kid who was considered cool
Eight straight years of Catholic School and somehow, I survived
Eight straight years of Catholic School.  Thank God I’m still alive

Catholic School

Hey everyone!
This track, Asteroids (The Original Was Better), started when I heard Beating Edge’s chiptune tune RND and got inspired to write some lyrics about the classic arcade game Asteroids. I added my acoustic guitar and vocals on top and sent it over to the band.
They liked it so much they decided to jump in and make a second part with a more rock vibe using the same musical base. We put both parts together into one track, starting with a fun spoken intro, a little vocal line to bridge the two sections, and finishing off with a hilarious outro.
It was a really cool collab and I’m stoked for you all to hear it!

Music by: Beating Edge
Lyrics by: Tom (Beating Edge) and Joe Stroffolino
Performed by: Beating Edge and Joe Stroffolino
Acoustic guitar (Taylor 114ce) by: Joe Stroffolino
Vocals performed by: Joe Stroffolino and Tom (Beating Edge)
At the moment, this track is exclusively available on SoundCloud.
Released on June 6, 2025.
©2025 Beating Edge and Joe Stroffolino

Lyrics:

[Spoken Intro]
Joe: Wow! This is a really cool Arcade!
Tom: Yeah!
Joe: Hey, check it out! Is that an Asteroids game over there?
Tom: Oh, wow!
Joe: I haven't seen that in like that forever!
Tom: That's definitely Asteroids! Let's play a game!
Mary (with a sore throat 🤦🏻‍♀️🤣): Oh yeah! Let's play Asteroids!

-->Joe

I used to play asteroids in the 1980’s
I liked to blow up rocks in outer space
The flying saucers would attack me
At an ever-increasing pace

I stumbled across an old vintage arcade the other day
I hadn’t played Asteroids in a long time
I popped a quarter into that old machine
And I watched my score start to climb

I watched my score start to climb
I watched my score start to climb
I watched my score start to climb

Time goes by so quickly
and playing that game really took me back
To those days when my future was unwritten
And I hadn’t gone so far down my current track

Pushing those buttons so fast and furiously
Standing in front of that arcade machine
Blowing up all those asteroids
On that black and white video screen

Blowing up all those asteroids
On that video screen
Blowing up all those asteroids
On that video screen

For a couple of minutes, I forgot about the present
I was back floating in outer space
Breaking big rocks into small rocks
I had a a big smile on my face

And then it was time for me to go
Cause I had errands that I needed to run
But that old video game
I sure had a lot of fun

It's not over yet

-->Tom

Just a single screen, all black and white
The whole room's dark except the TV's light
Rotate and thrust, it wasn't much
No one had seen a thing like this before

Now there's a 3D holographic thing
That no one plays, 'cause nobody can afford
With a visor on, your body's gone
It's kinda fun, but the original was better

We used to play all day, late at night
For the high score, it was do or die
No one knew what a quarter was worth
No one knew what the future had in store

Now there's a 3D holographic thing
That no one plays, 'cause nobody can afford
With a visor on, your body's gone
It's kinda fun, but the original was better

The original was better
The original was better
The original was better
The original was better

Now there's a 3D holographic thing
That no one plays, 'cause nobody can afford
With a visor on, your body's gone
It's kinda fun, but the original was better

[Spoken Outro]
Someone who wants to stay anonymous 😂: That was a lot of fun!

Asteroids (The Original Was Better) - Beating Edge & Joe Stroffolino

Special thanks to Cecilia for her a cappella ...of which I modified the tone in order to fit perfectly with my arrangement and atmosphere

EQUALITY FOR ALL.  🎧

Recorded at Amplified Studios, Carlsbad CA July 2025
Drums - Marc Polit
Lead solo: Tristan Brooks

LYRIC
It took me half my life 
To finally gain insight
I only saw myself as others did
And I mostly stayed hid

I spent half my life
Upset and uptight
I learned it’s stupid to walk on eggshells
Every egg eventually breaks
And if that takes you half your life
That’s what it takes

Can't say exactly when
I knew what I didn’t then
A dawning realization
An opening of the mind
It only took me half my life for me to find

Time isn’t playing
It’s counting the days
If you don’t know what I’m saying
(Well) you won’t be young always
You sure won’t!

As the years accrue
In the remaining few
I won’t let regret confine me
I’ll amble slowly toward the light
Let the past all fade to black
I can’t go back
I love this last half of my life
So that’s all right


Half My Life

I have been hearing so much AI music lately on SoundCloud and these  thoughts have been percolating with me for a while and finally they coalesced into a song. (created without the use of AI).
***
Vocals & Back Up Vocals: Joe Stroffolino
Guitar Strumming Track:  Joe Stroffolino Taylor 114CE
Drums: EZ Drummer 3
Bass: PG Music Real track
Piano:  EZ Keys2 
Synth Bass: Logic Pro 
***
You got tired of struggling so hard to write a great original song
And then this amazing newfangled technology came along
Now you’re using AI to create music, and it’s a much easier process
And you’re convinced you found the ticket to achieving great success.
You tell yourself you’re a great artist because prompting takes a lot of skill
But deep down you know the AI did most of the work and you swallow the bitter pill
People complement you on your guitar playing and they tell you your voice sounds great
It makes you feel so good but you don’t ever set them straight
Those classic rockers used to write 10 or 12 good songs every couple of years
Now you’re posting two or three songs a day and hoping for a bunch of cheers
You’re rolling the musical dice, hoping you’ll come up with a catchy viral hit 
But there’s so much music flooding the internet that no one gives a shit
You tell yourself you’re a great artist because prompting takes a lot of skill
But deep down you know the AI did most of the work and you swallow the bitter pill
People complement you on your guitar playing and they tell you your voice sounds great, it makes you feel so good but you don’t ever set them straight
Some people believe we’re living in simulation and none of this is real
We’re just digital creations in a computer with the ability to feel
But even if that’s not the case, we’re quickly, heading to a place where no one’s going to be able to tell the difference.
You used strum your guitar, trying to capture lightning in a bottle and the songs that emerged came from you.
And now the songs you write with AI, what they’re saying, you don’t have a clue.
Music used to feel therapeutic, it was a window on your soul that you could share.
But now something feels missing because your songs no longer lay your heart bare.

Prompting Takes A Lot Of Skill

Cast of characters:
Entheogenic Psychonaught (Josh Clary)– @josh-clary-1 –Josh – Warwick fretless four-string bass, composition
J.J. Terrell– @j-j-terrell – organ and synth
K2 and the Three [and the Four]--@k2andthe3, @k2-kara –Ken — drums and percussion
Mistermark-- @user-432503709 -- Mark –- clavinet, VST saxophone solo, VST horns, effects, production editing
TexMex Shaman– @texmex-shaman –Stephen — Tom Anderson Custom T electric guitar, production, mix, and mastering
Llanpsych -- @llanpsych -- Tez – Fender Telecaster HHS electric guitrar
The Beautiful Dark -- @thebeautifuldark -- Carl — vocals and lyrics

This song began back at the beginning of the summer, when Josh was messing around on his electric piano and found a structure to which to add his bass. As soon as he opened the project to the rest of Eclectic Collective, JJ jumped right in, adding his thrilling organ and ethereal background synth. Thus, Josh dropped his original e. piano part in favor of JJ's new parts. Ken was next up, adding the drums in reverse order from how he and Josh usually do it. Ken is very skilled at being able to add drums to a pre-existing bass line, which he displays in here. He also added the clever auxilary percussion you hear throughout. Mark was next to the trough, adding his funky clavinet, as well as his sax solo you hear lighting it up in there. He also added some well composed horns toward the end, not to be confused with JJ's synth. 
  Then it was time for the guitarists to do their thing. Stephen added the strong, melodic solos in the first two breaks with his guitar and wah pedal. After Tez added his thrilling solos at the end, Stephen went back in and added the funky rhythm guitar part. Tez also added the funky guitar riffs throughout the verses.
  All that was left was to get Carl in on the action, as he is the newest core member of Eclectic Collective. He wrote a poem and sung it in his signature, wild style for us.
  This is Eclectic Collective at its almost full strength, pulling six musicians from two different continents and four different countries together to create a song. We hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed creating it.
   On a side note, this will be Eclectic Collective's last song for two weeks. As most of you know, we release a song every Thursday at midnight. Due to vacation and travel at the end of summer, we'll be skipping  next Friday, the 15th, but should be returning the following Friday, the 22nd. We may also put something out this coming Tuesday, the 12th, so please stay tuned. Can't thank enough those of you who tune in regularly and support us every week. 
Original lyrics by The Beautiful Dark:



The Get Down - The Eclectic Collective

Just because.
My sincere thanks to David Dunham for his generosity in mastering my track. @david-dunhamuser589535203

Rather Strange

CROSSROAD.

======================


November 2024.

This is a more electronic composition with a small piano touch at the end.

I try to capture in music the decisions we must constantly make in life to follow our path. I've made some wrong decisions in my life... who hasn't? But at least I can say that I made them on my own and they weren't induced, even the wrong ones. That allows me to overcome, for the time being, any regret or frustration they may cause. I believe most are irreversible because they can cause unforeseen damage, even to other people, if you backtrack and choose another path.

Happy summer, everyone.



Cover art by Vilkasss (Pixabay)

Hardware. iPad 
DAW Music Studio 2
Mix…. Yes…yes… my car 🚘

24 Tracks MS2 and Old Forum Xewton
1 Track XPad
2 Tracks flowtones
2 Tracks Sunrizer
1 Track FM player


Next….First eclipse on mars.

Crossroad

Nihilist film noir existential jazz fusion detective dance music for our AI future  days.  Human music.
From the Album: "Curiosities Of Outsider Art" (Sept 2025)

Lyrics:
Another dark night in the promised land
Experiencing the universes empathic crushing hand
There are people today creating symphonies
With well worded prompts
You know me, I'm staying out of sight
At  late night haunts

I'm investigating black markets
Where people sell off all of their free will
They said you were gonna love me
But I could never ever seem to get my fill

The people out here 
They don't believe in nothing
No God of any kind
You said you were gonna love me
But I could not give you the reason why

You learn to live... (The AI prayer of life)

Another stoned day in the promised land
Experience randomness
And technologies charismatic helping hand
Hypothetical lovers through the screen
She said she was gonna love us
But circuits don't know what I mean

A whispered dream
Asato Ma Sadgamaya
(Hindu Prayer: Lead me from the unreal to the real)
Like a primal scream

Alter your creative spirit
(change the configuration)

Alter your consciousness
(change the configuration)

Alter your soul
(change the configuration)

Alter humanity
(change the configuration)

I'm like a primal scream
How docile we've become
I love how docile we've become...

Asato Ma Sadgamaya

Songs with a twinge of humor (and some a bit more serious).  
I do not use AI to create my songs. 
https://linktr.ee/joe.stroffolino
Recently I have had the urge to pick up my guitars (Taylor 114ce and Fender Squire) and I have been trying to use more guitar in my songs.  
My go to .vst plug ins are  EZkeys 2, EZ Bass and  EZ drummer 3) and my DAW is Logic Pro 11. 
I welcome your comments and enjoy listening to all the great music on SoundCloud. 
All songs are originals and copyrighted.

👉We are an eclectic band that blends elements of electronic dance, metal, pop, punk, rock, synth wave and more to create a unique and engaging sound We're a bunch of very shy aliens🛸 (4 males 💁🏻‍♂️🙎‍♂️🙋🏼‍♂️🦸🏼‍♂️ and 1 female🙅‍♀️, the guitarist/backup singer). Our earthly names (and nicknames) are Tom ("Lucifer" - lead vocals and occasional keyboards/guitar), Mary ("Vampira" or just "V" - guitarist and backing vocals), Mauro ("Maux" - keyboards, piano, synths and winds), Davide ("Dave", "Quiet D" or just "D" - bass and synth bass), and Valerio ("Brad", drums and percussions). 
Enjoy the music!😉
🔗https://ffm.bio/beatingedge

The label BE Melody and the recording/production studio BE Studios are owned by Beating Edge and are © 2024-25.
© 2024–2025 Beating Edge. All songs, lyrics, artworks, and videos are owned by Beating Edge. All rights reserved.

Prompting Takes A Lot Of Skill

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