Chess

Murray Head - One Night In Bangkok "From CHESS" (Official Video)
This song popped up on YouTube recently. I remember the tune from when it was a hit on the radio 30 (!?!) odd years ago. I didn't paid much attention to it at the time, it was a cool tune, it was on the radio and that was enough. Plus it's got some poetry, and don't forget they say "Bangkok" which tittilated my inner reptile (bang, cock, tee hee hee). But now I'm reading up on it and it seems it is from a musical that ran for three years in London. That was enough of recommendation that it was adapted for the American stage but it only ran here for a couple of months, which makes me wonder what the difference was between the two versions and why it was success in London but not in New York. Weird, man. It's back on the stage again. We shall see if makes an impression on America this time.

The lyrics make a couple of interesting references.

"One Night In Bangkok"

The American
Bangkok, Oriental Setting
But the city don't know what the city is getting
The crème de la crème of the chess world
In a show with everything but Yul Brynner

Yul Brynner and Deborah Kerr perform "Shall We Dance" from The King and I

Time flies – doesn't seem a minute
Since the Tyrolean spa had the chess boards in it
All changed, don't you know that when you
Play at this level there's no ordinary venue

It's Iceland, or the Philippines, or Hastings
Or
Or this place!

Company
One night in Bangkok and the world's your oyster
The bars are temples but their pearls ain't free
You'll find a god in every golden cloister
And if you're lucky, then the god's a she
I can feel an angel slidin' up to me

The American
One town's very like another
When your head's down over your pieces, brother

Company
It's a drag, it's a bore, it's really such a pity
To be looking at the board not looking at the city

The American
Whattaya mean?!
You've seen one crowded, polluted, stinking town

Somerset Maugham suite at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel

Company
T-girls1, warm and sweet (sweet)
Some are set up
In the Somerset Maugham suite

The American
Get Thai'd, you're talking to a tourist
Whose every move's among the purest:
"I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine"

Company
One night in Bangkok makes the hard man humble
Not much between despair and ecstasy
One night in Bangkok and the tough guys tumble
Can't be too careful with your company
I can feel the devil walking next to me

The American
Siam's gonna be the witness
To the ultimate test of cerebral fitness
This grips me more than would a muddy old river
Or reclining Buddha

But thank God I'm only watching the game
Controlling it

I don't see you guys rating
The kind of mate I'm contemplating
I'd let you watch, I would invite you
But the queens we use would not excite you

So, you better go back to your bars
Your temples, your massage parlors

Company
One night in Bangkok and the world's your oyster
The bars are temples but their pearls ain't free
You'll find a god in every golden cloister
A little flesh, a little history
I can feel an angel slidin' up to me

One night in Bangkok makes the hard man humble
Not much between despair and ecstasy
One night in Bangkok and the tough guys tumble
Can't be too careful with your company
I can feel the devil walking next to me

Update June 2021 replace missing video.