Tiger en Louise – Spinnekop

Vloek Van Die Kitaar

 

‘A tiger? In Africa?’ Monty Python fans may recognise this question from the Python’s ‘The Meaning Of Life’ film. The sketch that this comes from features the British soldiers at Isandlwana displaying their stiff upper lip after a tiger (more likely a leopard) makes off with one officer’s leg. When the character played by Michael Palin asks the question, ‘A tiger? In Africa?’ the John Cleese character replies, ‘Well it probably escaped from the zoo.’

But Spinnekop are not referring to the animal when singing about Tiger and Louise, the Tiger in question is ‘n body builder ou, hy’s gebou om te hou’ and he’s a drummer in a rock ‘n roll band. He’s not someone you mess with. And the song pretty much roars and growls like a tiger. Its down and dirty blues with Giaan Groen’s gravelly voice tearing the lyrics off the page and a rasping guitar that gives the music the texture of tree bark. This is something that would, but for the Afrikaans lyrics, feel quite at home in the deep south of the USA where they know their blues.

Unfortunately I couldn’t find a version on the net to point you to so that you could hear this version, but I did find a cover by Dozi which is a decent enough rock cover of it, but it lacks the true grit blues sound. It’s more Van Halen to Spinnekop’s Stevie Ray Vaughan. But whichever version you get to hear, both answer the question, ‘A tiger? In Africa? Yes, this is a tiger with teeth and a bite. There is a reason why Spinnekop’s version made it onto the ‘Vloek Van Die Kitaar’ compilation.

Where to find it:
Vloek Van Die Kitaar – Various Artists (2002), EMI, CDEMIM (WLM) 012

Video:
Dozi version: