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secret knowledge of backroads

by tommy oeffling

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Chidi
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panicsinlondon
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Akinuu
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mwusa76
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Jerry Jennings
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tredred
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Carter Moore
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1.
frank's theme 00:48
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(instrumental)
2.
lovesong '23 02:03
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Kiss me goodnight Turn your head from mine I draw you in closer Over your shoulder Turn out the light And we’ll waste all our time I wanna be your afterthought I wanna be your understatement Say what you’ll say Run me through your day I’ll be the one to get it When no one else will listen When no one else believes you Let you know I need to
3.
wharton's jorts 03:46
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You set down your pocket bible softly in the bin And joshed about the cross to make your mother wince Wait out your coughing fits and cover up my head ‘Cause I’d rather wake up tired than sleep alone instead Our lives can’t intertwine enough these days, it seems We walk and talk and waste the days until we sleep You can’t come close to doing wrong across my eyes Cut off the excess, try to make new family ties After it all, I’ll be at fault After it all, I’ll be at fault
4.
open for locals 02:01
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Catatonic Ginning the tonic Making messes to meet the sun Feeling arrested I’ve attested to what I’ve done Feeling fed up Trying to catch up Like a penthouse firestorm fault Throw out your poetry Get a job or go take a walk Not getting pent up Loving the hedge fund Frustration, exhaustion prevails Watching you tense up Plot holes in the holy grail Crashing the hoedown Seems you’re my home now And home is where I wanna be Pick me up, turn me around Lift up your wings President’s got a call girl And alcohol withdrawal Giuliani in the back of the bar Fever dreaming the friendship You could rent it or buy it out Right on red me B-team wanna bench me And my henchman is Henry G Getting Greek to me now Pick your pockets and let me see Let me see
5.
the athlete 02:24
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Denial, what you’ve known is that I’ve got none to show now It could grow, but the pains stay close to my hometown And it seems that I can’t catch up to the home team Let me see where you’ve been all night now, athlete Run home alone, but together with someone else now Run home alone, but together with someone else now If we weren’t so goddamn circumstantial It’ll pass if you stop your taking handouts It could slide if I didn’t want my peace Let me see where you’ve been all night now, athlete Run home alone, but together with someone else now Run home alone
6.
melatonin 02:34
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Pills pray the time they’re stealing At least will ease the feelings down You’d prefer an astronaut Somewhere in outer space Where lies will avoid your time face down Until you hit the break of dawn It’s sounding the alarms It’s scratching at my arms It takes it too far I can’t breathe alone anymore I can’t sleep alone anymore Hey, give it all you’ve got With dark circles, pupils shot far down You’d prefer an astronaut So gone, you’d prefer an astronaut I’ve been down, you’d prefer an astronaut It’s sounding the alarms It’s scratching at my arms It takes it too far I can’t sleep alone anymore
7.
brownstone (for c. dohr) 03:26
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Spoke with your father for a little while Ceiling tiles stained from a waning smile To your brownstone’s light, I climb three flights So sick and tired of defending me Sending me amphetamines for energy Under neon lights, I try to make things right Drove down Dayfire Avenue Catholic school pulling on your aptitude And recollect the times Of strangers sharing lights On the sectional at night Alone with you inside Make you dilate your eyes Blowing up in tie-dye When we’re fighting for our rights Like a funeral’s flight Like a litterbug’s laugh In a social status climb Get the past to try to last
8.
lights 03:52
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Went out on Thursday night Rows of houses ‘round Sunnyside Let my head float around, I was thinking ‘bout you The lights flashed up and down the street The red lights on the towers glow incomplete Your eyes fluttered back and forth, I’m in love with you I can’t believe I found words but can’t find a rhyme I still dream about you all the time With my head under the covers and my headphones on During long walks after class I bumped into the people as they walked past And I can’t believe it turned out this way I can’t believe We can walk loop-de-loop downtown Hold the side, make a lost hand found 20/20, but I can’t see nothing past you I want to be with you all the time I see the colors in your bleary eyes Watch them flutter back and forth, I’m in love with you I can’t believe
9.
amy verbatim 03:26
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You are not well-liked around these parts You don’t know when to stop But I will wait it out there when you start Shut up and do my job Thrown in the backseat of your mind We barely spend some time But we tend to intertwine For better or for worse Forcing out the words Dreams of silver screens you roam upon All in your favorite song Seems that wishful thinking struck you down I couldn’t care to fawn Thrown in the backseat of your mind Breaking off the line Attachments we unbind For better or for worse Forcing out the words Thrown in the backseat of your mind We barely spend some time But we tend to intertwine For better or for worse Forcing out the words Thrown in the backseat of your mind Breaking off the line Attachments we unbind For better or for worse Forcing out the words
10.
richard nixon 02:56
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Split your arms, the war on drugs will get you And the fact of the matter will do what it can to forget you It’s a lonesome life, it’s a wholesome time in your venue It’s a warm embrace, it’s a humble taste of the ways that I get to Your drum Short haircuts at the bar I frequent to see you And the cordial buzz that they wear to sequence to meet you It’s a cardstock cut of a martyred love that you see through To the times you downed back in your hometown when you tossed your sinkhole Been too long It’s a hometown bar where it’s see-through And it’s been too long since I’ve done all I can just to meet you And the beams still gleam in a poor attempt just to be you Poor attempt just to be you
11.
business casual 01:55
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Throwing my time with true love Shoving down a busy street Said you won’t ever hold a hand like mine Candid, but catching a true smile It’s a gut punch to sleep at night You can carry me off on your chamomile dime As you arms change the season in secret Reaching out to comb the lines You took the winter in your arms and made it warm again Like a campaign covering the town Like a buzzcut breaking me down We could take another day, find a thing to say Put it off ‘til we’re the only people around
12.
fresh to death 02:24
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Chew me out again, and then Bearing bad news to your bed At the Dollar General, left on read He’s off somewhere stoned instead Wraps a visor ‘round his head Keeps the sunshine’s chimes misled And the lies made the times feel dead Between the fields, South Solon drive Buckle up my knees, Caiden’s Mazda rides And all I do is wait to talk to you I can’t put you into song Being righteous feels so wrong To the culvert ditches where I’ve dwelled so long When I sacrificed my pawns Started waking up for dawn And I pushed into the throng In a few months, I’ll be gone I wanna make a pass, I wanna write new jokes Man, I wanna start fresh and get to know your folks And if you turn another page I’ll live your doled-out catastrophes and listen close
13.
you 02:13
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Love, brainstorms try to curb you And the dosage tries to hurt you My love, I’ll push if you shove ‘Cause there’s something about you that’s so far gone from words Breathe in and lock your doors for curfew I’d die before I would desert you What did I ever do to deserve you? You’re something that I can’t put into words Hoist you up when the hands reach out And the choice is yours if my plans seem dumb Well, there’s something about you, but saying what it is ain’t sure

about

recorded 2023 in radio cure studios south and schroeder hall #668
mastered at maggie's house
everything by tom oeffling except hidden skit by jack retzer
front cover photo by pat swanson
back cover photo by frank signorelli
dedicated to mom + dad

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released October 20, 2023

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tommy oeffling Johnsburg, Illinois

sometimes loud, sometimes quiet

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