| "Thela Hun Ginjeet" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Single by King Crimson | ||||
| from the album Discipline | ||||
| B-side | "Elephant Talk" | |||
| Released | September 1981 | |||
| Recorded | 1981 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 6:26 | |||
| Label | Warner Records | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Adrian Belew, Bill Bruford, Robert Fripp and Tony Levin | |||
| Producer(s) | King Crimson, Rhett Davies | |||
| King Crimson singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
"Thela Hun Ginjeet" is a single by the band King Crimson, released in 1981 and on the album Discipline (1981). The song name is an anagram of "heat in the jungle", which is a reference to crime in the city. (The term "heat" is American slang for firearms or for police.)
While most of the instruments are in 4
4 time, Robert Fripp's electric guitar plays in 7
8 time during part of the song, creating an unusual effect. In the middle of the song, voice recordings are heard. Adrian Belew talks about his experiences with New York Rastafarians and the police, while he was trying to get voice recordings for the song.
[2]
Live versions
During their tour for the Discipline and Beat albums, Belew would tell the story while the song was being performed. During the Beat tour, the story-telling was somewhat improvised. In later live performances, beginning on the Three of a Perfect Pair tour, as evidenced by the performance on Absent Lovers: Live in Montreal, the storytelling was dropped, leaving only the sung lyrics.
The storytelling re-appeared on the Double Trio tours (cf. Vrooom Vrooom) but it was in the form of a backing tape identical to the album version.
Cover versions
- Groups with Discipline-era King Crimson members (e.g. Adrian Belew Power Trio, Stick Men, The Crimson ProjeKCt) have covered the song live.
- Les Claypool has covered this song live, along with Primus, his musical project Colonel Les Claypool's Fearless Flying Frog Brigade (included on their live album Live Frogs Set 1), and The Claypool Lennon Delirium.[3]
Track listing
7" version
- "Thela Hun Ginjeet" (Adrian Belew, Bill Bruford, Robert Fripp, Tony Levin)
- "Elephant Talk" (Belew, Bruford, Fripp, Levin)
12" version
- "Thela Hun Ginjeet" (dance mix) (Belew, Bruford, Fripp, Levin)
- "Elephant Talk" (Belew, Bruford, Fripp, Levin)
- "Indiscipline" (Belew, Bruford, Fripp, Levin)
Personnel
- Robert Fripp – guitar
- Adrian Belew – guitar, lead vocals
- Tony Levin – bass guitar, backing vocals
- Bill Bruford – drums
Notes
- ↑ "Discipline - King Crimson | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 2017-08-30.
- ↑ Adrian Belew. "elephant blog: Anecdote # 808". Archived from the original on 2011-07-08. Retrieved 2010-11-13.
- ↑ "Thela Hun Ginjeet by King Crimson Song Statistics | setlist.fm". www.setlist.fm. Retrieved 2017-08-30.
