The Terrifying Tale of Thela Hun Ginjeet (Live in Philadelphia, 1982)

"Thela Hun Ginjeet" is an anagramistic title The song has to do with urban violence, crime in the streets, being mugged, you know all those kind of useful social comments Now, there's a line in which the singer has to act the part of a person who's being mugged And Adrian went out in the studio and was going in front of a microphone and 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 park And get a bit more of a feel 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 into 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 man, what— what you got there?" So, suddenly, these two guys appear in front of me Stop, real aggressive Start at me, y'know? "Wha— what's that? What's that on that tape?" Y'know, "What do you got there?" I said, "Uh, it's a tape—" "What're you talkin' into that for?", y'know? I said, "Oh, well, it's— it's just a tape, y'know?" And they say, "Well, play it for us!" I said, "Oh no!" Put 'em off as long as I could Finally, they turned it on, y'know They— they grabbed it from me, took it away from me Turned it on, and it says "He held a gun in his hand 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, y'know? 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... Um... I was thinking... "This is a dangerous place" Well, this is a dangerous place 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 I said, "I'm nervous as hell from this stuff" Because those guys were gonna kill me for sure! I mean, really, they ganged up on me like that, I couldn't believe it I mean, look, I'm still shakin', y'know? It's weird Go out in the streets like this, you can't... It's a dangerous place, it's a dangerous place 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 I was walking down the street one day It wasn't in Philadelphia, thank God I was talking into a Walkman, not a Pac-Man Suddenly I was surrounded by a gang of young, rough, tough individuals They wanted to kill me I said, "Watch out! It's a dangerous place!" I talked— I told 'em, I said "Look, man. I'm not ta—" It went on forever Anyway, I finally unbuttoned my shirt and said "Look, look, I'm in this band here, y'know? I'm in this band, y'know? And we're making a recording, y'know? It's just about New York City, it's about crime in the streets..." The explanation was going nowhere, but Finally, they— they just kinda let me go, I dunno why So, I walk around the corner I'm like, shaking like a leaf now And I thought, "This is a dangerous place" once again, y'know? *Sigh* Who should appear but two policemen? Hahaha Ah, ha ha Thela hun ginjeet, thela hun ginjeet Thela hun ginjeet, thela hun ginjeet 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! Straight in the hands of two policemen! Watch out! It's a dangerous place!