Lyrics

[Robert Fripp] "Thela Hun Ginjeet" is an amagramistic title. The song is to do with ... urban violence, crime in the streets, being mugged; you know, all of those kind of useful social comments. Now, there's a line in which the singer has to act the part of a person whose been mugged. And, Adrian went "hey", went into the studio, and he's got in front of a microphone, and was saying: "He held a gun against my head. This is a dangerous place; I wouldn't like to live here," you know, which isn't awfully convincing. So, I said to him, "why don't you take this ... pocket cassette machine, and walk around the block, and get more of a thing of what it's like to be on the street?" So, he went around the block, walking and talking into the machine, and, as he walked around the corner, he said to the machine: "This is a dangerous place! He held a gun against my head; I wouldn't like to live here!", and immediately got set on by a street gang. He said: "Hey man! Hey, what-what you got there?" [Sample 1: Adrian Belew] So, suddenly, these two guys appear in front of me. Stop real aggressive, start at me, you know? "W-what's that? What's that on that tape? You know, what do you got there?" I said, "Uh, it's a tape." "What are you talking into that for, you know?" I said, "Oh, it's- just a tape, you know." And they said "Well, play it for us!" I said "oh, no", ha ha! Put 'em off as long as I could, finally, they turned it on, you know. They grabbed it from me, took it away from me, turned it on, and it says: "He held a gun in his hand." Ha-ha! "This is a dangerous place." They said, "What dangerous place? What gun? You're a policeman!" The deeper I talked, the worse I got into it... [Sample 2: Belew] Well, first of all, I couldn't even see his face, I couldn't see his face He was holding a gun against me, and - umm I was thinking, "This is a dangerous place." Well, this is a dangerous place [Chorus: Adrian Belew & Tony Levin] Thela hun ginjeet, thela hun ginjeet Thela hun ginjeet, thela hun ginjeet Thela hun ginjeet, thela hun ginjeet Thela hun ginjeet, thela hun ginjeet Qua tari mei, thela hun ginjeet Qua tari mei, heat in the jungle street [Sample 3: Belew] I said, "I'm nervous as hell from this stuff; those guys were going to kill me for sure!" They ganged up on me like that, I couldn't believe it I mean, look, I'm still shakin', it's weird Out in the streets like this, okay It's a dangerous place, it's a dangerous place! [Chorus: Adrian Belew & Tony Levin] Thela hun ginjeet, thela hun ginjeet Thela hun ginjeet, thela hun ginjeet Thela hun ginjeet, thela hun ginjeet Thela hun ginjeet, thela hun ginjeet Qua tari mei, thela hun ginjeet Qua tari mei, heat in the jungle street [Verse 1: Adrian Belew] I was walking down the street one day It wasn't in Philadelphia, man-dog I was talking into a walk-man, not a Pac-Man Suddenly, I was surrounded by a gang of Young, rough, tough individuals They wanna kill me! Said, "Watch out! Today, you swing!" [Sample 4: Belew] I talked, I told 'em... I said, "Look man, I'm not talk-" It went on forever. Anyway, I finally unbuttoned my shirt, and said, "Look, look ... I'm in this band here, you know. I'm in this band, you know, and we're makin' a recording, you know. It's just about New York City, it's about crime in the streets." The explanation was going nowhere, but, finally, they just kinda let me go, I don't know why So I walk around the corner, I'm like shakin' like a leaf now and I thought, "This is a dangerous place" once again, you know. Huh... Who should appear, but two policemen? Ha ha ha, ah ha ha! [Chorus: Adrian Belew & Tony Levin] Thela hun ginjeet, thela hun ginjeet Thela hun ginjeet, thela hun ginjeet [Verse 2: Belew] What happened? They didn't kill me! They didn't tear my limbs off! They let me go I walked right around the corner Shaking like a leaf Setting the hands of two policemen "Watch out! And, today, you swing!"