Get all 30 tommy oeffling releases available on Bandcamp and save 80%.
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1. |
title track
02:17
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Staying up every night
Wasting away like you warned me not to
Lying awake on my side
Wasting the day like you said I ought to
Someone else’s 4x4
Traffic crossing, corridor
Somewhere else I’m waiting for you
Someone else is taking to you
Looking both of the ways
Before I cross, it’s a habit I do
It’s the way that I was raised
Look up and down when I’m startled by you
Blue sedan, four door
Traffic crossing, corridor
Somewhere far, I’m walking to you
The subtle art of jaywalking
Partygoing, awkward talking
The painless act of staying home
And staying up, telephone
Someone else is taking to you
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2. |
straightjacket
03:40
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Take too long
Breaking ‘til you’re too far gone
And if I’ve got it all wrong
Talk to me slowly like a child
Break this off
Leaving when I feign a cough
And do I act too soft?
The secrets I’m keeping only pile
The lightstand flash
Cars beeping and the cops stay brash
But if we scrape our cash
Maybe we can stay another day
Smoke outside
At the venue, gotta catch a ride
It’s not my scene, I’ll fly
Maybe we’ll find another way
And in our straightjacket love
We give it a push and shove
I don’t think we’ve had enough
Yet we stay
We’re in our straightjacket love
Well, it appears that we’re stuck
I don’t think we’ve had enough
So we stay, day
You’ve gotta work with me, not against me
If we split the scene, you might resent me
If I take too long, then wade in the water for a while
And if I’m in your bed
You best believe that I’m in your head
So don’t think you’ve read and picked out my brain with a file
So I can take a chance
I’ll stop shaking like a high school dance
I’ll keep waving when you pass me by
Out with your friends for the night
And in another life, I’ve got you brided
But I’ve thought a bit and I’ve decided
That a life with you is something that I need out of sight
And in our straightjacket love
We give it a push and shove
I don’t think we’ve had enough
Yet we stay
We’re in our straightjacket love
Well, it appears that we’re stuck
I don’t think we’ve had enough
So we stay, day
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3. |
a promise
03:06
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I’m gonna right my wrongs
I’m gonna stick around
I’m not gonna let you down
I’m gonna right my wrongs
I’m gonna stick around
I’m not gonna let you down
I’m gonna right my wrongs
I’m gonna stick around
I’m not gonna let you down
I’m gonna right my wrongs
I’m gonna stick around
I’m not gonna let you down
Every night, Sarah’s at the windowsill waiting for me
Every night, Sarah’s at the windowsill waiting for me
I’m gonna right my wrongs
I’m gonna stick around
I’m not gonna let you down
I’m gonna right my wrongs
I’m gonna stick around
I’m not gonna let you down
I’m gonna right my wrongs
I’m gonna stick around
I’m not gonna let you down
I’m gonna right my wrongs
I’m gonna stick around
I’m not gonna let you down
Every night, Sarah’s at the windowsill waiting for me
Every night, Sarah’s at the windowsill waiting for me
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4. |
dirty
02:34
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Wait for the man to shake your hand
Wait for the time to approach then surely pass
Wait for the “I’ve been too clear” to disappear
Make me wonder
Wait for the sick to come and go
Wait for the cold just to blow, the evening snow
Wait for the face turn to back of head and slowly get smaller
And I’ve run around for my whole life
I’ve run around for my whole life
I’ve run around for my whole life
Wait for the bus to make a stop
Wait for the fads just to fall and slowly drop
Wait for the man in the hood to diss a cop
Makes me wonder
Wait for the nauseous feel to quit
Wait for the high taller man to take a hit
Wait for the kids stuck at war to have a spit
Hear the thunder
And I’ve run around for my whole life
I’ve run around for my whole life
I’ve run around for my whole life
And I’ve run around for my whole life
I’ve run around for my whole life
I’ve done a lot to take a stride
I’ve changed the dirt from deep inside
I’ve run around for my whole life
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5. |
acid wash
01:01
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What are you so afraid of?
You got too much trouble finding time
Can’t keep a conversation
Our lives, they never intertwine
And I’m lacking ‘cause it’s different now
And you’re losing feeling
You turn yourself around
Just to delay my healing
You deny until you’re angry
And you bargain ‘til you’re sad
And when you finally accept this
I won’t be inside your head
I would consider it unfair
That you’re wrapped in the arms of someone else
Gonna rest my flare
When the chemistry’s right, I’ll need your help
And I’m lacking ‘cause it took two weeks
Just to figure out the prose
To say the one that really loves you
Is right under your nose
You deny until you’re angry
And you bargain ‘til you’re sad
And when you finally accept this
I won’t be inside your head
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6. |
doug
02:12
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You get the car, I’ll get the night
Off your back, I’m out of sight
I’ll keep my thumb outside my wrist
I knew I would remember this
Backyard sitting nights are gone
It’s been three weeks, it’s been too long
Pick me up here after school
County C to come see you
See a show and talk a few
The government’s gone mad again
But I share views with my closest friend
And everyday, I can’t explain
I look at you and see the same
Hair’s been thinning out like you
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7. |
salvador
02:13
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I wrote this song in my boxers
In the cool crisp morning light
And I’d like to see if you’re waiting for me
Down the block at the shops on West Wells Street
Crosswalk jaywalking hoppers
And all the coppers, no, they can’t touch me
Sponge soaked, spilled-out gift shop lovers
Sisters in arms with their brothers and their mothers
Well, you are an anarchist, I am an analyst
You are a catalyst coming for me
Melodrama plaza, mamas and the papas
No, they’ll never understand, but it’s plain to see
“Secret Knowledge of Backroads”
Will be the name of my book someday
Autobiographical, in no way fanatical
Reads like a flashbulb memory but casual
I’m sick of skimming the sunset
And playing Solitaire, I like War more
I get tongue tied talking to you
In retrospect, I redden, but really, who knew?
Well, you are an anarchist, I am an analyst
You are a catalyst coming for me
Melodrama plaza, mamas and the papas
No, they’ll never understand, but it’s plain to see
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8. |
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Arizona
A place where winds can go untouched for months
And rotten crocheters can die with the monks
‘Cause baby, this is Arizona
In my mind, your penny board would slide to me
Almost in a dream
The state of fiction on the road is bending
Bending east and west
Bending north and south
Bending like the boxer who would choke in front of everyone
Bending it oh so hard that it makes Jeremiah say
“Geez, man, two states was enough for one mistake!”
Taking words of wisdom from people that come and go
But to and fro they will not go
A route’s a home, a home alone
Near sober, but completely and utterly stoned
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9. |
hometown moon
05:16
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Well, it’s all done
I’m sitting by the phone
Waiting for a call
From back home
And it’s all I’ve
Got to hold on
Wake up tomorrow
For another run
Oh, routine
How I long to get beneath you
How I long to see the screen
You take me back home
Often, I forget where I am
I’ve gotta take a deep breath and look down at my hands
And fight laughing at myself as I say “I’m here”
Often, I look out at the street
And I shake out of bed and get on my two feet
To watch the buses from the sidewalk as I head downtown
Often, I forget that I’m here
And I wake up expecting the sky to be clear
And the field in my backyard where I’d sit and waste
And sometimes, well, I miss my friends
But they’re off doing something and I say to myself
“I’ll see my home moon soon, I guess I’m going out tonight”
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tommy oeffling Johnsburg, Illinois
sometimes loud, sometimes quiet
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