One Night in Bangkok (Original Recording Session) Lyrics
[Chorus: Murray Head a capella]
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
[Verse: Murray Head accompanied]
Get Thai’d if you get my meaning
Better lean the way that the Buddha’s leaning
Siamese kittens: warm, sweet
Some are set up in the Somerset Maugham suite
That’s in the Oriental Hotel, you know
[Chorus: Murray Head accompanied]
(music stops)
[Conversation (all spoken)]
Murray Head: I’ve still got- I still haven’t found it yet. I’ll find the holes and do it properly
Man: Sure. And, could I add a suggestion?
Murray Head: Yeah
Man: The thing is- It’s like “yeah, baby!”, yeah! If you can do that in the ending, to make it more … more, uh more gusto, you know?
Man 2: (singing) Yeah! (speaking) Things like that, you know, little things like that
Murray Head: Sexual overtones?
(Many voices in background agreeing)
Murray Head: Yes, yes, yes
Man 2: Alright, from the top again
Murray Head: (large sigh) It’s so hard, as somebody reaching middle age- only just! post-, uh, pre-menopause, not post-menopause, to galvanize oneself into this sort of sexual liberation, this “yeah baby”, is, is hard …
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
[Verse: Murray Head accompanied]
Get Thai’d if you get my meaning
Better lean the way that the Buddha’s leaning
Siamese kittens: warm, sweet
Some are set up in the Somerset Maugham suite
That’s in the Oriental Hotel, you know
[Chorus: Murray Head accompanied]
(music stops)
[Conversation (all spoken)]
Murray Head: I’ve still got- I still haven’t found it yet. I’ll find the holes and do it properly
Man: Sure. And, could I add a suggestion?
Murray Head: Yeah
Man: The thing is- It’s like “yeah, baby!”, yeah! If you can do that in the ending, to make it more … more, uh more gusto, you know?
Man 2: (singing) Yeah! (speaking) Things like that, you know, little things like that
Murray Head: Sexual overtones?
(Many voices in background agreeing)
Murray Head: Yes, yes, yes
Man 2: Alright, from the top again
Murray Head: (large sigh) It’s so hard, as somebody reaching middle age- only just! post-, uh, pre-menopause, not post-menopause, to galvanize oneself into this sort of sexual liberation, this “yeah baby”, is, is hard …
About
Genius Annotation
This audio of one of the original recording sessions of One Night in Bangkok was originally released as part of a documentary about the Chess concept album. It contains Murray Head’s unused rendition of the chorus (sung by Anders Glenmark on the concept album and the Company in stage versions), a verse that was either cut or rewritten prior to the final release, and some discussions of the style of the song by Murray Head and several others in the studio.
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Release Date
1984
One Night in Bangkok (Original Recording Session) Covers
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