The american:
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:
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, 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
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