Bangkok/One Night In Bangkok Lyrics

[Bangkok: 0:00 - 1:46]
[Instrumental]

[One Night in Bangkok: 1:47 - 5:02]
[The American (Murray Head)]
Bangkok, Oriental setting
And the city don't know that the city is getting
The creme de la creme 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 (Anders Glenmark)]
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 and sweet (warm, 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

[Instrumental Break]

[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

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About

Genius Annotation

The most famous track from the musical Chess.

The chorus gives Bangkok – capital city of Thailand – props, whereas the American talks shit about the dirty prostitutes and how generally unremarkable the overall city appears to them, especially given the circumstances.

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

What did Benny Andersson say about "Bangkok/One Night In Bangkok"?
Genius Answer

One year has passed [since the events of Act I]: the Russian is to defend his title against a new challenger from the Soviet Union in Bangkok, Thailand. The American and some locals discuss the unusual venue for the championship. – [x]

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