So, it was the summer of 1985, a moment in time that, with rose-colored glasses, was absolutely glorious. I was 16, had a car and the world truly was my oyster.
Earlier that year, a very unusual song had peaked at #3 on the Billboard music charts: Murray Head's "One Night In Bangkok." I liked it from the moment I heard it (it was way different than the Bruce Springsteen/Prince/Michael Jackson stuff we were getting day in and day out), but I didn't think too much about it. That is, until..........
One day on the radio, after the song had finished, a disc jockey came on and said: "Who the hell knows what that song is about?" Well, anyone who knows me knows that that's like waving a red flag in front of a bull, and from that moment on I was determined to find out what "One Night In Bangkok" was all about. I listened very carefully to the lyrics, but finally had to resort to a trip to the music store to find the sheet music. And I discovered a whole bunch of weird things.........
First of all, it's from a musical called Chess. I thought that was sort of interesting enough, but guess who wrote the musical? That's right! Benny and Bjorn, the two "BB"s in ABBA! Are you kidding me? Although I totally get ABBA now, I think this information might have soured me on the song back in 1985!
A closer listen to the song reveals some incredibly clever lyrics. It turns out that the narrator (Murray Head) is on his way to Bangkok for a world-class chess tournament, but the background singers want him to indulge in the....um, pleasures that are to be found in Bangkok. But he'll have none of it ("The queens we use would not excite you").
But it's much more than just the world's only song about sex and chess; it's full of incredible puns as well. My favorite line? "Tea, girls, warm and sweet. Some are set up in the Somerset Maugham suite." Incredible! A pun on how both the tea and the girls are warm and sweet, and then a very nice pun on "Somerset" and "some are set." And that's not just some random crap; it turns out that the very famous Oriental Hotel in Bangkok really does have a "Somerset Maugham Suite"! Check it out:
Of course, with such playful lyrics, it's not hard to imagine that some people could get them wrong; I'll never forget my friend Derek van Westrum laughing at the line "I hit my kids above the waistline, sunshine!" I didn't have the heart to tell him that it's actually "I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine." Oops.
One other unanswered question about this record: Murray Head? Who?
Well, the esteemed Mr. Head has been on the fringes of music and acting for decades and, before "Bangkok" was best known for performing "Superstar" from Jesus Christ Superstar. But there's an even more interesting "Scott Raile" connection: it turns out that Murray Head's film debut was in an interesting little British film from 1966 called The Family Way, which featured a score by none other than Paul McCartney. As my poor wife will tell you, The Family Way is one of my favorite pieces of McCartney music, and gets played often.
And, as if it couldn't get any weirder, it turns out that Murray Head is actually on the cover of the album Stop Me by the Smiths, which is actually a still from The Family Way! Circles within circles within circles.......
So there it is: More than you ever wanted to know about an obscure minor hit from 1985 that you've forgotten all about. Go check it out again, though! Here's YouTube video that spells out the lyrics:
And here's the original Murray Head video, with the orchestral intro that was trimmed off of the single:
OK, that was an interesting read, even though I hate '80s pop music.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more. I think at the time, the song got written off as one of those (and there were many) goofy, throw-away songs. But, I think a testament to it is it's endurance in the public consciousness. It's become a classic; and rightly so.
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