Trani

great song, ridiculous comments. "its a transvestite" "ten is a measurement of coke" "he's saying gin/tin"

the lyrics are "oscillating on the ground, blowing white noise sound, like a trani on ten" it's a description of an overdose. oscillating on the ground is pretty obvious. a 'trani' is a transistor radio, 'on ten' refers to full volume - common rock n roll slang as most amps go up to ten. hence if you turn a transistor radio up to full volume it kinda crackles and sounds like white noise and sounds altogether pretty fucked up - as i'm sure a person would sound while OD'ing.

the first verse sets the scene. the second verse describes a girl who only takes drugs when there's people to witness it - the song seems to be about young people getting mixed up in grimy stuff just sort of for the sake of it, out of confusion, not really having a purpose or direction in their lives, and it all ending pretty tragically. hence it's a sad and angry song, and seeing these people ruin their lives really affected him.

that's my two cents anyhow.

To me the debate on Trani is quite simple (I may have it wrong) however in Oz we call an old radio a trani (from transister radio). So a trani has a tinny sound anyway, thus in a tin shed or on a tin roof sounds even worse. Hence "a white noise sound, like a trani on tin".

fortunatus: hands down, is totally right. sometimes people read WAAAY too much into KOL songs. a lot of them are very literal. this song is about a TRANI ON TEN. but again, kudos fortunatus. your the only one that really impressed me. good words, excellent interpretation. and those of you who said its better live: hell yes. caleb gets crazy. love it.

:]

this song is unbelievably good

and its orgasmic when they play it live.

Check out this live version on youtube (that's been mentioned above):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kdArfobo2lA

For me this is the best version around (even surpassing the studio version), a song developed to perfection over the years. Here's my attempt at the lyrics from the concert:

A dirty belly of a secret town: Cheap trick hookers are hanging out in the bars at the greyhound station; Bare-chested boys are going down on everything that their mamma believes. A pack of smokes and little bump of cocaine Help you feel not so strange.

I said "Ol' Pa, she don't get off Unless somebody is standing near her, And she'll shine once she's crossed the line, And's all tied to a chair" -I said laying on the ground, blowing white noise sound, like a trani on ten.

We'll the bubba's got their heads in a nod, They don't know what they love or deserve to get, Chances are that that worm in his lap doesn't even know which fish he'd like to bite tonight, Oh tonight, tonight, tonight, Oh maybe tonight...

Cops on the call, Weeding out the freaks, Fingers in the dirt, Spitting out his teeth, spitting out his teeth...

I think it's definately 'a little ditty about transvestite hookers from the first album'. I like the transister radio interpretation, but I don't think it works as well. Here's my ramblings on a transvestite interpretation.

It all happens in the 'dirty belly of a secret town'. It's 'secret' not only because it has a 'dirty', illegal underworld hidden away, but because its where people secretly go to enjoy this underworld - to live a part of their life thats hidden and kept secret from others. So (to pick an example totally at random), where a man might go to express his transvesticism, secretly dressing up as a woman without others knowing.

What if the 'she' that's referred to is this guy's secret side, it's the woman that he dresses up as, its himself? It's as if he's telling his 'Pa' about himself as a transvestite hooker, pretending she's another person entirely (though it does seem a bit wierd that he'd tell his Pa about his time with a prostitute or his furniture-based bondage sessions). How he describes her makes sense, then, as she only 'gets off' when there are other people near her - is only turned on when there are guys close by who think she is genuinely a woman. She 'gets off' even more when she's 'crossed the line' - when she's getting it on with a guy who still thinks she's really a woman.

I love the line 'Chances are that that worm in his lap doesn't even know which fish he'd like to bite tonight', like the nodding bubbas in the crowd are looking up at the dancing hookers and don't even care which one they get (and so end up getting with a transvestite!). But it could equally be referring to the transvestite hooker himself, who's up on the stage dancing, looking down at the crowd of nodding bubbas, not caring which one he reels in. The transvestite is fishing for a guy, and doesn't know or care which one he'd like to bite his worm. The line 'Oh maybe tonight...' suggests that it doesn't happen a lot, or maybe hasn't happened at all yet.

This works with the line 'weeding out the freaks' as well, as if the transvestite is discovered and kicked out, the police turning up and just kicking the shit out of him. That would be why he's 'laying on the ground blowing out white noise sound' - when he's trying to speak he's gasping and wheezing, gurgling and choking on blood, and spluttering through cracked teeth. He's not only LIKE a transvestite on a 'ten' of cocaine, he IS a trani on ten.

So, I basically signed up just so I could comment on this song. :P

I think oscillatin' sounds better, mainly because oscillation (oscillatin') means to rock back and forth. "Oscillatin' on the ground, blowing white noise sound, like a trani on ten" someone who is on cocaine, rocking back and forth, and/or having a seizure. That's just my personal opinion. He's using "Like a trani on ten." As a simile to define his previous statement. I get that I'm probably one of those people where you're going to be like, shut up, stop looking so deep, but I'm not really. I'm just saying that "oscillatin" sounds better, because of the way it is used. :)

Peace <3

Shared how painful it was to watch his dad hang out a humiliate his mom. A part of his childhood. Intimate. Comes home on call. AINT THAT THE PEACE? Shes been blowing white noise he feels like a trani on 10 ITS WAY DEEPER THAN THAT.... HE AINT SHARING THE BACK STORY. IEven at 53 I remember the feeling but no words UNTIL NOW.

In the KOL documentary talahina sky this song plays while it shows a montage of people being ”slain by the spirit,” a concept in charismatic Christianity where a person is so overcome by the Holy Spirit that they may ”oscillate on the ground,” it looks kind of disturbing and like a seizure and I think most of the time people are faking it or it isn’t spirit induced (I’m a Christian but don’t know how I feel about the concept) but it seems the song describes what it’s like to witness one being slain by the spirit