B-side "Elephant Talk" Recorded 1981 Label Warner Bros. | Released September 1981 Length 6:26 | |
Writer(s) Adrian Belew, Bill Bruford, Robert Fripp and Tony Levin | ||
"Thela Hun Ginjeet" is a single by the band King Crimson, released in 1981. Its tracks are from 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.)
Contents
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 London Rastafarians and the police, while he was trying to get voice recordings for the song.
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 - as evidenced by the performance on Absent Lovers: Live in Montreal - the storytelling is 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
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)