July Friends

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

Joe Stroffolino - Joe on the Edge

Recorded in Modesto, Ca. Featuring Gibson 335 Electric Guitar solo. Alto Saxophone solo. Steinway Brothers Acoustic Piano Rhythm. Gibson L5 Electric Guitar Rhythm. Fender Electric Bass. Roland Synthesizer Bass. Drums full kit. Percussion, Cow Bell, Ago go Bells, Tambourine, 22" Zildjan Ride & Crash Cymbal. Congas, Bongos.

Cannery Row

Dashing Out

Dedicated to 29 years old police officer Rouven Laur who lost his life today in Mannheim being stabbed down by an islamistic attacker while trying to save the life of another victim of this terror attack. Rest in peace, may you be never forgotten.
written in 1994

Pulseless (2024)

Cast of characters:
J.J. Terrell-- @j-j-terrell—JJ—piano, synth, lead vocals, lyrics, seed idea 
TexMex Shaman– @texmex-shaman –Stephen–electric and acoustic guitar, slide guitar intro 
mistermark-- @user-432503709 -- Mark – backing vocals, organ, vst sax, mix, and production
K2 and the Three [and the Four]--@k2andthe3, @k2-kara –Ken–drums
Entheogenic Psychonaught (Josh Clary)– @josh-clary-1 – four-string fretless bass
Composition--The Eclectic Collective

  This song began as an idea JJ came up with during one of his Saturday night creative sessions, fleshed out on the piano, drums, and bass. I was first on this by coming up with a new bass line to go with it, but Ken was also an integral part of that process, as always, too, adding his perfectly suited drums to it. Once we had the rhythm section down, Stephen added his electric guitar, which adds a great howling at the moon esthetic to it, and his acoustic guitar as a foundational element. He also added the cool slide guitar you hear in the intro. 
  At this point, JJ decided it needed some vocals, too. So, he wrote up some lyrics and sang them, giving his typically light, gentle voice some rough swagger. Mark then came along and added the rich backing vocals you hear in there. He also added the sax solo and the organ, too He also was able to correct some timing issues we were having, by using his able hand in the DAW. Then, of course as every good song needs a good mix, Mark did the honors for us with this one, too.
  This is a true Eclectic Collective song, and we hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed making it.   Also, in case you were wondering where Josh and Tez have been, they've both just returned from vacations in North Carolina and Ireland, but are excited to be back making music with the team.
Original lyrics by JJ Terrell:
That fog around the mountain

is getting set to rise

pulling these wheels on down the road lord

is pulling my heart right out


If you really love someone now

wouldn't you want it to be a hundred to none?

instead of traveling around with a scorecard by your side


ooooh oh yeah

gonna set you free


ooooh, oh yeah

gonna leave you be
that fog around the mountain
it's like a dream
my heart, it has soon forgotten
a rolling stone like me

saxophone
looking down that dusty road
sun's beatin' down

pulling these wheels on down the road lord
has got me down
until I see you again. 




That Dusty Road (Eclectic Collective)

Cast of characters: 

Quanah Stewart --vocals, lyrics
TexMex Shaman– @texmex-shaman –Stephen–electric guitar, synths, arrangement, composition, mix, and production 
K2 and the Three [and the Four]--@k2andthe3, @k2-kara –Ken–drums
Entheogenic Psychonaught (Josh Clary)– @josh-clary-1 – four-string fretless bass
 
This song began with Stephen and his friend and bandmate, Quanah Stewart who also sings this version, and who wrote the lyrics. They were in a band together for about 7 years in the early 2000s. When the band broke up, they went many years without playing together. Until, in 2018 Stephen started his TexMex shaman project and this was one of the first songs he wrote.  Quanah had moved to Austin in the meantime but on a visit back to Dallas, Stephen asked him to come over and add the vocal track you hear on the song.  
 
Fast forward to 2024 and Stephen wanted to remix this along with a few other older tunes. He asked his good friends and teammates Ken and me if we'd like to help, and of course, we were super enthusiastic.  This is what Stephen had to say about the finished product. "Their parts blew me away.  Beyond what I expected and it made it a whole new song.  Very grateful to them both for their time and talent." As are Ken and I very grateful to Stephen for sharing his awesome rocker with us.  
  The title comes from trying to think of the stupidest song title Stephen could come up with, on a bet. And it’s close. 
  Of course, Stephen did the honors of mixing and producing it. Ken and Josh had a lot of fun brining this song back to life with him, whose creativity and skill are unparalleled. We all hope you (and Quanah) enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed creating it. 
Original Lyrics by Quanah Stewart:
1212 still like to dance still like to sing deep cover elevator parking lot bring yeah THEY don't know about IT THEY aint seen we squeakin tweakin but were bufferin th stream yeah favorite stories favorite songs hey check th timeline might be gettin mighty long now my mind expanded my mind IS blown my head exploded but I dont know what it shown yeah (unknowable silence) NOW ITS some bullshit we went through who knew th
CHASMS came & got you 2 still sayin fuck you still stayin high still makin me believe that Bon Scott never died rye whens the punchline when
IS IT near nobody laughin said that no one shed o tear NOW so whats th story what th eff we gonna have to make IT with what little we got left yeah yeah

Tallywhacker OMG! (with Stephen and Ken of Eclectic Collective, and sung by Qhanah Stewart)

Album Summer Of The Seasonal Optimist 2024 
...with a little help from my friends...

Summer Of The Seasonal Optimist

Copyright 2024 Joe Stroffolino

The universe is big, it makes you feel small.   
So many stars you can’t count them all

The signals came from outer space
Signs of an alien intelligence
We reacted with joy and mounted a mission
To investigate their presence

The messages were old and somewhat primitive
But surely by now they’d matured
We rejoiced that we were no longer alone
In the cold sterile universe

We packed our ships and traveled there
On a mission of friendship and peace
But all we found was the empty shell 
Of a world that lost its lease

A desert world no sign of life, craters scar the land
All evidence has been swept away by the cruel and shifting sand
I wonder what happened, they really screwed up
I’m glad I wasn’t there when their world blew up
I’m sure it wasn’t pretty, I’m sure it wasn’t fun.
I wonder if they even realized what they’d done

The air is cold, the sky is harsh, no trees to shade the sun
For those survived the initial blast, there was no place left to run

We realized that we were still alone in the cold sterile universe
Not enough love and too much hate, they ended up in a sorry state

A desert world no sign of life, craters scar the land
All evidence has been swept away by the cruel and shifting sand
I wonder what happened, they really screwed up
I’m glad I wasn’t there when their world blew up
I’m sure it wasn’t pretty, I’m sure it wasn’t fun.
I wonder if they even realized what they’d done

We traveled home, again alone, with news of their demise
And once again, there was no one left to see that old sunrise

The Signals Came From Outer Space

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

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

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.