‘One Night in Bangkok,’ Murray Head

One Night in Bangkok

My story of “One Night in Bangkok” involves a trip to Atlanta for a legislative conference and a quest to find a soundtrack to a musical that wasn’t even released yet.

In 1985, the British Invasion was hanging on for dear life, but I couldn’t get enough of it. In fact,  my friend Frank had found a radio show called “Future Hits” in which we could hear what was a hit in England before it hit the United States. (Today you can grab a pirated demo of a song six weeks before its worldwide release.)

“One Night in Bangkok” was an odd little Europop song featuring Murray Head rapping about chess, Tirolean spas and lots of other places that I had never heard of.  It was one of those anomalies in pop music – almost a novelty song.

Written by the two guys from ABBA, it was from a musical that was soon to be released in the UK called “Chess,” a play about um, two chess players. Aside from the rap, the chorus was forgettable. The only reason that this song would have become a hit was its popularity in the clubs.

About the time “One Night in Bangkok” was being released in the United States, we heard another single from the musical on “Future Hits.” It was a ballad by Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson called “I Know Him So Well,” and it held a death grip on the top of the UK charts for several months.

One hit from an album was nothing; in fact, it was the norm in the 80s. Two hits, though, was something to take notice of.

I wanted the “Chess” soundtrack. The trouble was, I had no idea where to get it.

Finding a needle in a haystack

Record stores were nonexistent in north Georgia, and the department stores didn’t carry the soundtrack. The mall in Gainesville didn’t, either. So when I traveled to Atlanta for a mock legislative session for YMCA clubs, I jumped at the chance. I convinced my adviser to stop by Turtle’s Records and Tapes to get it.

I still remember sitting in the school van, taking the cellophane off the double cassette case and reading the libretto to the rock opera, finally understanding the context of “One Night in Bangkok.”

I heard “I Know Him So Well” in its entirety, loving every second of it, and found its sibling in the touching “Heaven Help My Heart.” And my teen angst latched on to “Pity the Child,” a self-absorbed, angry anthem.

(The trip to Turtle’s was the first of many detours I made people take in my quest for music. Two years later, I convinced the driver of a charter bus to stop at a mall in Macon, Ga., so I could get U2’s The Joshua Tree on the day it was released. And during a trip to the dentist, I made my mother drive 20 miles out of the way to grab Michael Jackson’s Bad.)

I finally got to see the real musical some 20 years later when it came to the Fox Theatre in Atlanta. I smiled as I watched the songs of my youth being performed on stage – just a few miles from where I triumphed in my quest to find “Chess.”

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4 Comments

  1. Barely Awake In Frog Pajamas

    I think that I heard “One Night In Bangkok” on the radio show Rock Over London some time before it hit here. Odd little song.

  2. judith

    I remember it well. I think I must have inhaled that music from the 80’s. Good job.

  3. Robby

    Odd, I just bought “I Remmeber Him So Well” and “The Deal” off ITunes. I always go back to that slumber party at MArty Gibby when we played this over and over.

    I love that I can find pretty much any song thru the magic of Internet but sometimes miss our adventures searching the dept. stores music section for something hard to find.

  4. Katie

    Ah, the Sound Shop in Gainesville. I remember looking forward to being able to go in and find just the right album or taking the needle off my record player so I could get a new one from there.

    There was a brief time that we got a Canadian video station on our satellite dish and I was exposed to a group called “Eight Seconds”. I went to the Sound Shop to see if by chance they had their album. Not only did they have it – it was a demo from the record company and the manager just gave it to me since no one liked it that worked there. I still have it. :-)

    I also entered a contest once there and ended up winning the “Breaking 2 – Electric Boogaloo” soundtrack. They mailed it to me and it made it to Hall Creek without a scratch!

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