Google Earth fileXah Lee, 2005-05.
One Night In Bangkok↗, a highly literary, fantastic song. Lyrics by Tim Rice↗, 1984. Sung by Murray Head↗.
Here's the lyrics:
COMPANY: One night in Bangkok makes a 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: Bangkok, Oriental setting And the city don't know that the city is getting The crème de la crème of the chess world in a Show with everything but Yul Brynner Time flies - doesn't seem a minute Since the Tirolean spa had the chess boys in it All change - 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 the 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 sliding 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: Whaddya mean? Ya seen one crowded, polluted, stinking town...
COMPANY:
Tea, girls, warm, 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 a 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 And 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 parlours
COMPANY: One night in Bangkok and the world's your oyster The bars are temples but the pearls ain't free You'll find a god in every golden cloister A little flesh, a little history I can feel an angel sliding up to me One night in Bangkok makes a 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
YouTube search: one night in bangkok↗
Locations mentioned: Iceland↗, Philippines↗, Hastings↗ (a city at the southern tip of UK), Bangkok↗.
The lyrics are exceedingly funny and alluding.
Bangkok, is a very crowded Asian city. It is known for prostitutions, with exotic Asian flavors and styles. It is also very polluted. And, as a Asian city of Asian culture, it is filled with intrigues, swidles, and high-class competitions and power struggles. Temples, extremely rich in histories, pantheon of Asian gods and goddesses, intermixed with modern rich hotel suites and corruptions. What a exoticness. The despair and ecstasy, and tough guys tumble. You can feel a angel sliding up to you, and the devil walking next to you!
Note: there is actually a Temple of Reclining Buddha in Thailand, and it is the birthplace of Thai Massage. See Reclining Buddha↗.
Page created: 2005-05. © 2004 by Xah Lee. (excluding mirrored pages or images.)
