By Bob Makin
originally published: 07/18/2025
The Makin Waves Song of the Week is “We’re All Alone” by The Beagles with Joy. PHOTO BY NICK ROMANENKO
The Beagles with Joy have dropped their final single from "Soul on Fire (Love Songs For Grown Ups)," their forthcoming debut album on Stoned Squirrel Records.
“We’re All Alone” is the Makin Waves Song of the Week.
As the Makin Waves Song of the Week, “We’re All Alone” also can be heard between 6 and 8 p.m. on July 18 on “Radio Jersey at ThePenguinRocks.com. If you miss it, you can tune in any time in the archives at The Penguin and Mixcloud.
“Soul on Fire (Love Songs For Grown Ups)” will be released July 24.
“We're All Alone,” the first track recorded for the album, was birthed from feelings stirred on a hot August night the Princeton-based band spent playing sultry blues tunes by Willie Dixon and John Lee Hooker on a brick patio under lights, founding singer-songwriter-guitarist Rob Freeman said.
“The palpable memories of that evening drove a desire to create something in a similar vein all our own,” Rob said. “The moment for that came a few months later as I strolled through New Jersey's Drexel Woods, seeking solace in nature from (co-lead vocalist) Joy's decision to back off from our relationship. Verses developing as I walked, with only the most memorable staying in my head until I could get it down with guitar and pen. I was scared to play it for Joy at first. It was exactly the song that I knew she had been wanting to sing since that summer night, but suggesting a sultry duet was a gamble. Fortunately, she loved it, and our hiatus soon ended.
“Singing and arranging this together became a turning point both for our relationship and the album project, giving rise to Joy's original concept for an album title -- now its subtitle -- ‘Love Songs For Grown Ups,’” Rob continued. “She saw the verses as akin to the swagger of the blues, taking lust and recasting it in a storied genre, drawing the listener in. The lyrics of each bridge lift a curtain on the twilight world where ambiguity reigns as adults sort out desires and consequences.”
Other tracks on the album invoke themes of moving on from unrequited love, baring souls to one another and following a heroine's journey.
Coming full circle, the band returned to the yard where the song was inspired in June to shoot the music video for this new track. The clip was preceded by live versions of “We're All Alone” on “Andy’s Music Mix” on WDVR-FM, Danny Coleman’s “Rock On Radio” and Princeton TV's “Cafe Improv.”
The album already is building strong momentum with more 25,000 streams for its singles, which also include the title track, a Song of the Week last month.
Also front woman Joy Okoye, lap steel guitarist John Mazzeo, Hammond organist Jay Posipanko, bassist Da Nickster and drummer David Ross, The Beagles with Joy will perform July 24 at Lawrenceville Main Street’s Music in the Park series. They’ll celebrate the release of “Soul on Fire (Love Songs For Grown Ups)” on July 27 at Hinds Plaza in Princeton. On Sept. 6, they’ll get their Disco Funk Machine back together to headline the fifth annual RainbowMoon festival at Snipes Farm in Morrisville, Pa.
For more about the band, visit them on Facebook and Spotify.
Bob Makin has produced Makin Waves since 1988. Follow Makin Waves on Facebook and contact Bob at [email protected].
New Jersey Stage is proud to be the home of Bob Makin's Makin Waves column since 2017. His Song of the Week column comes out every Friday. He also writes an Album of the Month and Interview of the Month as well.
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