Murray Head: "One Night in Bangkok" (1984)

"One Night in Bangkok" is a song originally sung by the British actor and Pop-dance singer Murray Head on the 1984 concept album for the musical Chess. Its music was composed by former ABBA members Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, with lyrics written by Tim Rice & Björn Ulvaeus.

The release topped the charts in many countries, including South Africa, West Germany, Switzerland and Australia. It peaked at #3 in both Canada and the United States in May, 1985, and at #12 in Head's native United Kingdom.

In 1985, Thailand's Mass Communications Organization banned One Night in Bangkok, saying its lyrics "cause misunderstanding about Thai society and show disrespect towards Buddhism."


- Lyrics:

(The American:)
Bangkok, Oriental city
But the city don't know what 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 Terelian 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 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 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
When you're looking at the board

not looking at the city

(The American:)

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

(Company:)

T-girls, warm and sweet
Some are set up in the Somerset Maugham Suite

(The American:)
Get Thai-ed, 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 going to be the witness
To the ultimate test of cerebral fitness
This grips me more than would a muddy ol' river or reclining Buddha

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 sliding 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