FINALLY is the culmination of more than a decade of songwriting. From my first song “The GI Joe Song” to “The Stage” written 15 years later.
Each song tells a story of something I experienced in life; my thoughts and feelings at that moment in time. I try to convey aspects of those stories through my songs.
Joe Messineo
A short story about meeting someone and getting shot down. Then having the confidence to say hello again the next time you see them. How does this story play out? Listen to the song…….
With the Opioid epidemic impacting many of our lives, this song is for the survivors. Chloe is a little girl who’s father passed away due to an opioid overdose. This song is about how one can grow and overcome challenges in life because everything will be alright.
Well, she’s my sunshine on a cloudy day, that’s my Maria, she’s my girl. I tried to write her a love song, something soft & sweet. Well, it just didn’t seem to fit the way she makes me feel, Maria likes to dance, ya know she likes to move her feet. So I wrote a rock song about not writing her a soft mushy love song.
I was sitting in my Navy barracks strumming on a $50 pawnshop Alveraz guitar, thinking of my friends and family I left back at home because I took the oath to serve my country.
“The GI Joe Song” is dedicated to our mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, brothers, and sisters serving in the armed forces.
This is the soft mushy love song. I was out bar hopping with my friends and met Maria who was with her friend. I introduced myself. She asked me how old I was, apparently tired of being hit on by younger men. So I got her number, and the very next day sent her a text invitation for coffee. I never received a response so I figured she wasn’t interested. Well, I saw my friend a couple of weeks later and he told me Maria had been asking why his friend never called her, so I called, and she has been my girl ever since.
One of my darker songs, yet one of inspiration. “My Troubled Mind” is about trust and how to overcome the past. How you gotta let go and move on.
The title track of the album “Finally” is about feeling trapped and breaking free. A friend came to my door at 2 AM distraught, relationship issues. As we sat up all night talking through his issues, I realized how I had experienced that same trapped feeling before. I learned I could get up and walk away; take back my life; I could be myself again.
This is actually a breakup song. Sometimes we know things will go no further and when one person wants to go further than you are willing too. Well, I’m sorry I can’t be what you need me to be.
This song is loosely based on true events. It’s about having a short fling that ends up in having to get a restraining order, for someone’s name I don’t know! I originally named it the girl with no name, but when people request it they always ask for the “Crazy Chick” song.
Personally my favorite song, it has that big rock anthem feel I remember from so many rock ballads growing up in the ’90s. I was dealing with a number of life issues, death, past trauma, regrets. “The Stage” is about coming to terms with your past and yourself.