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

Over the Rainbow [instrumental] Trumpet and piano

I did this trumpet and piano version in early 2021.

Two favourite covers come to mind for this famous classic. One is by Israel Kaʻanoʻi Kamakawiwoʻole from Hawaii who is no longer with us and Eva Cassidy who has also departed this earthly plain. Both are on youtube. Eva has some other great songs there as well. 

Somewhere over the rainbow way up high
There's a land that I heard of once in a lullaby
Somewhere over the rainbow skies are blue
And the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true

Someday I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far
Behind me
Where troubles melt like lemon drops
Away above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me

Somewhere over the rainbow bluebirds fly
Birds fly over the rainbow
Why then, oh, why can't I?

If happy little bluebirds fly
Beyond the rainbow
Why, oh, why can't I?

Piano arrangement and performance by jazz pianist Doug McKenzie. Trumpet arrangement and performance by yours truly.

Over the rainbow

Please welcome to join Syntaleta community on www.patreon.com/syntaleta
Remastered by Houman (https://soundcloud.com/houmans)

But I've Got the Wings

Existential  Pop...written 2020 during Covid Lockdowns

"I only want to be"...the wish of everyone and everything .....in this absurd universe  life is still precious... sometimes it helps to forget the questions and answers and just enjoy the ride while it lasts...

(intro sound clip is the lovely Geena Davis from David Cronenberg's The Fly)

The Chosen One 

That luncheon lady she's so Ubermensch preachy   
Always quoting Herr Friedrich Nietzsche   
Thus spake this and thus spake that 
 I'm kind of fearful of her nihilistic moan                                                                        
I'm a soon to be victim of her deinfestation
A subject not wanted in a hundred nations
Passport check, I'm a fly, a dust speck
I was born into this hostile home

I just want to roam                                                    
I only want to be                                                        
Escape this shell, the world is wide                     
All these ruminations ruining me                            
I just want to sail                                                       
Through the sand and sun                                       
Asking too many questions                                     
I don't know the answers                                          
I thought I was the chosen one                                 
The chosen one                                                           

That lady's talking to walls, she got an outsider view
She's been writing, she been reading some Celine and Camus
Debating this, disregarding that
In our unholy, existential zone

I'm an insect man buzzed on hope and glory
Fablizing, fairytaling all of these stories 
With Kafka creep and doublespeak 
It's untranslatable, my twisted tone

I just want to roam
I only want to be
Escape that swatter splat
My world is flat
Got a wordy woman chasing me
I just want to bail
Out  the window and run
Asking too many questions 
I don't know the answers
I thought I was the chosen one
The chosen one

She said Don't try                         
This is a NO FLY zone                
God is dead                                
Your life is mine, time to recall the loan 
She said Don't fly                         
This is a NO TRY zone               
God is Dead, like Nietzsche said, time to disconnect yer phone 









The Chosen One

pour Benjamin Fontaine


En février, alors qu'il neige encore en Sibérie, l'ajonc fleurit en Bretagne.

version vidéo:
https://youtube.com/shorts/cvyRrJ_Dcy8?si=M9yGj-PpfCbP5wqv

la musique de Benjamin :
https://on.soundcloud.com/hAl7RVNaqO5dRKg7WO

quand les ajoncs fleurissent

I wrote this tune and left space for David to play melody and it seems to sound great!

The Muddy March , collab with David Dunham

“The morning star reminds us that even in darkness, light is on its way.” - Author Unknown

Morning Star

A Blend

an old song about something that happened a very long time ago

Little Boy, Where Are You?

Hey Billy, where are you?                  
Your mama wants you back home
Unlocked the door, walked into the night
Nobody knew you were gone
And I was just a kid myself
That cold September 1970
Little boy lost to a mean old world
It was the first time that death touched me
Where are you?                                   
Little boy, where are you?                     

The neighbors combed the streets and yards
The police they drove down
Brought his pillow out for the sniffer dog
As they searched their way through our town
A crowd gathers by the river's edge
Somebody yells, “Hey man, do you see just what I see?”
Face to the sky, he floats on by
It was the first time that death saw me
Where are you?
Little boy, where are you?

Tonight, when I close my eyes, all our yesterdays, they're slipping out of view    
No one to pull us back from those twists and turns that we're heading to
Over 50 years have slipped away from a darkened day that no one can undo                  
No playtime or pretend, goodbye, my friend
I remember you

A man pulled him from the water
His mother's scream it echoed in my head
Remember, I was only six when I witnessed this
I couldn't read what the papers said
I felt the sadness stretched across the yards
As the season changed and the guilt came tumbling down
Our childhood games all rearranged 
Until it was our time to leave that town
Where are you?
Little boy, where are you?
Where are you?
Little boy, where are you?

Little Boy, Where Are You?

The Traveller

In collaboration with Francess Harris. She played the piano composition and I did the composition of the orchestral arrangement. Thank you for listening and enjoy. Any comment is appreciated always.

The Muddy March , collab with David Dunham

Don Jennings