Related tracks: Ramona

Alternative Facts

Their American Dream?

Don’t impede the greed stampede.

From earlier this year.

The Greed $$$tampede

Enjoy the BRAND NEW single from Shock the Algorithm, "RAMONA".
Taken from the forthcoming debut album (Slated to be released mid-2024).
Go grab it digitally via #bandcamp y'all>>> https://shockthealgorithm.bandcamp.com/

Youtube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGvWZ_Gp7Ao&ab_channel=ShockTheAlgorithm

(p) & (c) 2023, All rights reserved.
-----------------------------------------------
lyrics:
Ramona? is this what u really wanna?
Is this the life you have always dreamed of?
Listen your heart and go on!

Ramona? you gotta fight for what u really wanna
maybe you're the new madona
a mother, an actor in "Lavapies"

You don't need to get scared, don't be afraid you're almost there
these bright lights, the diamonds on your dress

Forget the past and make it last, we are getting old you gotta move fast
the whole universe is almost on your feet

Rock and Roll Kills

Ramona

This one sprung from the mind of eddyoffline when he sent the cool reggae guitar line over.  we’d talked about doing another jam to follow up ‘Reggae-ish’ and this is it. 
Enjoy 

Lyrix :
Hi. Get high
Lalala
Keep on Walkin
Don’t look Back

Check out our other collabs expertly aggregated at the following location 

https://on.soundcloud.com/GMwpNiMTYn8CPYDR9

when he’s not offline Eddy is here 

https://on.soundcloud.com/GgtkQXckjpeJp7ta7

Don't look back - w/ eddyoffline

An unfinished work.  The kind of track that stays sleeping till a time comes and you make the magick.

Not Me

Baseball hotdogs and apple pie
He waves the flag likes to hold it high
He says he’s the voice of the common man
He feels your pain and he understands

He eats fast food from a silver plate 
He lives in a compound with a fence and a gate
And he wants you to know that he 
cares about the little people

And he’s dreaming of a better day when the people he hates have been locked away
He says vote for me I’m your man.
I can’t tell you what it is but I’ve got a plan
He says you and me.  
We’re goanna take this country back

Sharks in the water and he’s tossing red meat
And we’re jumping in with both feet
He’s goanna make our country great again
He’s goanna be the second coming of George Washington

He likes to talk about the good old days
When people had values and everyone behaved.
He says my way’s the only way listen to me
There’s no place for you if you disagree
He admires dictators cause they get things done
Some people believe he’s the chosen one
And he wants you to know that he 
cares about the little people

And he’s dreaming of a better day when the people he hates have been locked away
He says vote for me I’m your man.
I can’t tell you what it is but I’ve got a plan
He says you and me.  
We’re goanna take this country back

Sharks in the water and he’s tossing red meat
And we’re jumping in with both feet
He’s goanna make our country great again
He’s goanna be the second coming of George Washington

Sharks in the water and he’s tossing red meat
And we’re jumping in with both feet
He’s goanna make our country great again
He’s goanna be the second coming of George Washington

Take This Country Back

All of the people throughout history
Who used the earth so thoughtlessly
Now there’s not much left for us at all
Cause our shortsighted ancestors dropped the ball

A hundred years ago the experts predicted
That we would ruin the earth
But the people persisted 
If we could turn back time and do it all again
Maybe this time the earth would be our friend

What a terrible awful mess we’ve made

The old people speak with a gleam in their eyes
Of childhood memories and clear crystal skies
They say that once the sky was blue
And children played upon the land

A hundred years ago the experts predicted
That we would ruin the earth
But the people persisted 
If we could turn back time and do it all again
Maybe this time the earth would be our friend

What a terrible awful mess we’ve made

They made such a mess such a godawful mess
I hope they at least had a good time
They lived so large off the fat of the land 
And now it’s payback time 

Our ancestors were shortsighted and now their children pay
Awakening each morning to greet the tainted day
Gazing out across an endless barren plain
No more amber waves of grain

If we could turn back time and do it all again
Maybe this time the earth would be our friend

What a terrible awful mess we’ve made

They made such a mess such a godawful mess
I hope they at least had a good time
They lived so large off the fat of the land 
And now it’s payback time

If We Could Turn Back Time

He spent his whole life. He tried to do right
He gave them his best years. 
He worked late each night
He ruined his eyesight. 
Trying to get ahead

He was a company man through to the bone.  
He was always at work even when he was at home.
But like a commodity to be bought and liquidated
They had to let him go when the economy deflated

Hot prospects turn cold some say he’s too old
To start all over again
There’s too much free time he just can’t unwind
He’s forgotten how to play

He gave them his heart he gave them his soul  
and then they turned around and let him go
They said they had to watch the bottom line
It was getting pretty close to corporate bonus time
They said here’s wishing you the best of luck it’s nothing personal

He sits on a park bench smelling the stench 
of his broken dreams
And people they walk past no flags at half-mast 
for the demise of the company man

He was a company man through to the bone.  
He was always at work even when he was at home.
But like a commodity to be bought and liquidated
They had to let him go when the economy deflated
They had to let him go and now he needs to be sedated
He gave them his heart he gave them his soul  
and then they turned around and let him go
They said they had to watch the bottom line
It was getting pretty close to corporate bonus time
They said here’s wishing you the best of luck it’s nothing personal
They said here’s wishing you the best of luck it’s nothing personal

Company Man

Three hundred thirty million people in this country 
And we had to pick these two
Three hundred thirty million people in this country 
You’d think we could find somebody new

You say you really want to exercise your right to vote 
But if either of these guys was captain of a boat
You’d be afraid to set foot on that ship
You wouldn’t take that trip

Commercial jet pilots retire at 65
Cause after that age they’re afraid they’ll nosedive.
But there’s no age limit for the president of the USA
It’s perfectly okay

What are you supposed to do when both choices stink
You’ve got two glasses of Kool Aide
You’re not sure which one to drink

They get up on stage and we watch them a debate
Instead of rising to the occasion, they punch below their weight
We keep hoping that one of them will say something profound
But they let us down

They get asked hard questions and their answers are simple
Preventing World War three it’s like popping a pimple
And those budget deficits will magically disappear
We’ll be in the clear

Every four years we’re told that the situation is so dire
It’s like the country’s a giant gallon of milk 
And it’s about to expire
They say a broken clock is right two times a day
You never know we might pick the wrong guy and things might not turn out okay

What are you supposed to do when both choices stink
You’ve got two glasses of Kool Aide and you’re not sure which one to drink
Three hundred thirty million people in this country 
And we had to pick these two
Three hundred thirty million people in this country 
You’d think we could find somebody new

Two Bad Choices

Copyright 2024 Joe Stroffolino

I hold my cards close to my vest
Don’t like to share my political views. 
There’s people out there who poke at me and try to light my fuse
They say we’re in a downward spiral, the world’s spinning out of control
They try to get me fired up, pull me down their rabbit hole

I roll with the punches; I try to do the best I can
The world’s a complicated place and I’m just a simple man
But one thing that I’m a hundred percent certain about
I’m sick and tired all these angry people who like to scream and shout

They say one guys goanna drive us off the cliff, the other one's goanna lead us to the promised land.
And there’s books I have no desire to read, that they say should be banned.
They say it’s bad to be woke, but I’m not even sure what that means
And the reason I’m living paycheck to paycheck is because we have too many drag queens.

I roll with the punches; I try to do the best I can
The world’s a complicated place and I’m just a simple man

All these people trying to shove their views down my throat
I wish I could dig a virtual moat
Encircle myself and live in a cone of silence, that would be nice
I’m not interested in joining a cult
I wish that I had a catapult
So I could take all that stuff they’ve been shoveling and throw it back at them. That would be great.

It took a long time for us to get into this mess
And if you say you have a simple fix
I suspect it’s probably just a bunch of smoke and mirror tricks
Politics is the new religion
But unlike belief in heaven and hell
You don’t need to die to find out if your choices turn out well

Roll With The Punches

Ancient people used to believe that the planets were gods that ruled from above.
And if we misbehaved, they’d send thunder and lightning to give us a shove.
They didn’t understand that germs were what caused people to get sick.
They didn’t understand what made the natural world tick.

We have all this scientific knowledge, but we ignore it, we resist.
We live our lives in the moment like gorillas in the mist.
We ignore the dire warnings, we go with our guts instead of our heads.
We search for conspiracy theories and believe them instead.

People who believe that we faked the moon landing in 1969.
People who believe if you get the Flu shot you’ll turn into Frankenstein.
People who believe that the world is ruled by lizards that eat human flesh.
And the reason we exist is to provide meat that’s very fresh.

All this progress that we’ve made.
We’ve travelled so far.
But sometimes it feels like the world’s a circus.
And we’re riding in a clown car.

In the 1600's Galileo said that the earth revolved around the sun.
They put him under house arrest and it wasn’t very much fun.
When science start to challenge the way that everybody else is  thinking.
People with blind faith, they feel like they're on a ship that's sinking.

You strike up a conversation.
You say crazy things with a nod and a wink.
Then you realize the guy you’re talking to.
That’s the way he really thinks.

Alternative facts are like an infection.
If enough people believe them.
We can reach and inflection.

We have all this scientific knowledge, but we ignore it, we resist.
We live our lives in the moment like gorillas in the mist.
We ignore the dire warnings, we go with our guts instead of our heads.
We search for conspiracy theories and believe them instead.

All this progress that we’ve made.
We’ve travelled so far.
But sometimes it feels like the world’s a circus.
And we’re riding in a clown car.

Cover picture: Albert Bierstadt, "Emigrants Crossing the Plains" (1869): an oil on canvas painting of emigrants on their way to Oregon, inspired by a fifty-wagon train of German emigrants who crossed Bierstadt's path during his 1863 expedition.

Although it is very difficult to estimate the total number of European emigrants, it is thought that from the beginning of the 19th century to the middle of the 20th century, around 30 million people left Europe for the United States.

I reworked in the last days on this not particularly original piece, whose first draft is from 2018.
Femal vocals courtesy by La Boutique Studios Dakar; harmonica by Dust Bowl - Vintage Country.
Composed by Michele Ansani (2018-2025).
Posted on SoundCloud: 2025, March 26

Their American dream *

Inspired by “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus, 1883.
Copyright 2025

They got on boats, and they sailed across the ocean hoping for a better life
They left behind poverty, famine, hardship and strife
She lifted her lamp behind the golden door
She welcomed them with open arms 
But we don’t need those people any more 
We’ll use robots to tend our farms
There’s an angry mob wearing red caps
And they’re pulling on a rope
They’re trying to knock down that statue that gave so many people hope.
They say a rising tide lifts all boats but now it’s every nation for itself
As the billionaires and oligarchs accumulate more wealth
We’re all just living on this rock floating in the vastness of space
You’d think we’d find a way to co-exist as one human race
There’s an angry mob wearing red caps
And they’re pulling on a rope
They’re trying to knock down that statue that gave so many people hope.
Someday if you’re standing there waiting at the pearly gates
With a bunch of other people waiting in line to get into heaven
And you’re filling out God’s paperwork so you can immigrate 
How will answer that question did you love or did you hate 
There are people who call themselves Christians who don’t practice what they preach
They see a man whose down on his luck, and they consider him a human leech
There’s an angry mob wearing red caps
And they’re pulling on a rope
They’re trying to knock down that statue that gave so many people hope.
There’s an angry mob wearing red caps
And they’re pulling on a rope
They’re trying to knock down that statue that gave so many people hope.

Angry Mob Wearing Red Caps

Songs with a twinge of humor (and some a bit more serious).  
I do not use AI to create my songs. 
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.