Thela Hun Ginjeet

"Thela Hun Ginjeet"
"Thela Hun Ginjeet"
Single by King Crimson
from the album Discipline
B-side	"Elephant Talk"
Released	1981 (Spain)
Recorded	1981
Genre	New wave; art rock; funk rock;
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 "Thela Hun Ginjeet" is in ⁴
₄ time, Robert Fripp's electric guitar plays in ⁷
₈ time during much of the song, creating a polymetric effect. The instrumental middle section of the song features a recording of Adrian Belew's voice, in which he describes being confronted by a British Jamaican street gang and subsequently the police while walking around Notting Hill Gate in London with a tape recorder.^[2]

Live versions

During King Crimson's tours in support of Discipline and its successor Beat, Belew would tell the story while the song was being performed. During the Beat tour, the story-telling was somewhat improvised. From the Three of a Perfect Pair tour onwards, this was dropped, leaving only the sung lyrics, although the original recording was played during tours in the band's mid-1990s "double trio" era. This practice continued during the 2024 "Beat" tour, which, while not technically King Crimson, included 2 of the 4 members that recorded the original.

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 (as included on their live album Live Frogs Set 1), and The Claypool Lennon Delirium.^[3]
Supergroup Gizmodrome, of which Belew is a member, performed the song in concert during their 2018 tours and included a live version on the album Gizmodrome Live.