Record facts: --"Chess" was a stage play co-written by Bjorn (pronounced be-yorn) and Benny from ABBA. --"One Night In Bangkok" was the only thing successful about "Chess". The play flopped. --This was Murray Head's 2nd hit. His first was "Superstar" from the early 70s play "Jesus Christ Superstar".
Any two lines from “Why’d ya do it” are like Proust or Henry Miller and this radio pop is like the Archies by comparison. No disrespect, but there’s cleverer stuff out there.
Yes...the early years especially but then the boomers in control brought back nostalgia in the mid to late 80s. Only to swing back at the very end with intrusion of house and techno.
This is from the musical Chess written by the guys from Abba and Tim Rice. This particular version of the song was from the original concept album. There has never been a movie made. Murray Head also played Judas on the original Jesus Christ Superstar soundtrack. His version of Superstar from that soundtrack was also a hit.
There are recordings on TH-cam of the concert version done at the Royal Albert Hall. Adam Pascal absolutely nails Pity the Child in it. It's *incredible*.
I'd let you watch, I would invite you, but the queens WE use would not excite you So you'd better go back to your bars, your temples. . . your massage parlors
@@pamelanoel8948 He is telling all the degenerates in Bangkok to pound sand, he only cares about chess. He isn't there for degenerate sex like they are.
"The queens we use would not excite you". I just loved your reaction. I cannot believe you haven't heard this song until now. That is wild. So glad you've finally heard it.
Yeah, he's just _perfectly_ deadpanning the jokes. That's the best way to do it - the "whoosh" it makes when the deadly puns pass close over some people's heads to their befuzzlement adds to the fun. :-)
Does anyone hear the song mentions Yul Brynner. He player the King of Siam(Thailand) in the movie "The King and I". My late wife and I used to have a laugh at that, since it was one of her favorite movies.
@@donnazasgoat2274 No he's playing chess .... there is a piece called queen, He's saying that where ever he plays it's about chess not wear he is, so using the queen on the chessboard would not excite you. As most normal people it Bangkok are looking it everything else. Its worth a trip there to see.
@@chrislecouteur2360 I hear you on him saying it is about Chess.. I have been there a number of times, there may be some double meanings happening, but there is no doubt in my mind this is about a lot more than chess. And it fits to a Bangkok to a T. I wont forget my first trip there, found myself wandering the streets of Bangkok singing that song under my breath..... One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble.
@@kimmycook2698 ..... If you're referring only to the 80s, then you can call Murray Head a one hit wonder, but not overall. "One Night In Bangkok" was his 2nd hit ...... Murray Head hit #14 in the early 70s with "Superstar", from JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR. Much like Golden Earring, who only had two hits almost a decade apart ..... They hit #13 In 1973 with "Radar Love" and it wasn't until nine years later in 1982 when they hit #10 with "Twilight Zone".
Once a group of chess grandmasters were staying at a hotel. They were hanging around the lobby and bragging to one another about their strategies and victories. Finally the hotel manager kicked them all out. Turns out he didn't care for chess nuts boasting in an open foyer.
This is one of my feels songs. I remember when this song came out. It was about Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky. He came out of retirement and played Boris Spassky of USSR, and won. Boris was returning champion and Bobby hadn't played professionally in years. It was a huge deal that USSR even agreed to play with the US.
In a time where the most popular songs were about sex and partying and having fun; this is a song about playing competitive chess and warning away the people who can't hang with that lifestyle. I loved it when it came out, still do today.
It's also about prostitution in Bangkok.... "And if you're lucky then the gods a she." refers to the 'lady boys' in Bangkok who are the most famous transsexuals and transvestites in the world as they've been some of the first ever.
well it was kinda a back-and-forth in the song, he was singing the praises of the game of kings, while the chorus was hinting maybe he was being prudish
Jamal when I was 10 years old I learnt the words for this song by heart. I got up in front of my class at school along with my friend Sean and sang it to the class. I definitely never fully understood the lyrics. My teacher was probably having a good chuckle on the inside.
I was in elementary school. This was a banger! I'm sure my parents were thrilled to hear me, ages 7-8 years old, singing this at top volume word-for-word in the front yard! LOL
The entire musical is layers upon layers of being pawns. The superpowers of playing the seconds, the seconds are playing the players, and the player are playing the chess pieces. Another great song from Chess is Nobody's On Nobody's Side.
This song is from a musical called 'Chess', but this recording was a concept album made to test the concept of the show before creating it onstage. It was a stage hit in London, and the story was about the competition between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. at the height of the Cold War as fought over the chessboard during a Grandmaster Championship. Murray Head's character is the American chess player, and he is brash and arrogant (like the song). It takes place in the second act. About ten years ago, there was a televised concert version which starred Josh Groban (as the Russian player, Anatoly Segievsky), Idina Menzel (Elsa in 'Frozen' playing Florence, the woman in the middle), and Adam Rapp (the Original Broadway Cast and film Roger in 'RENT' as Freddy Trumper, the American player). The lyrics of 'Chess' are written by Sir Tim Rice, who won the Oscar for "A Whole New World" (with Alan Menkin from 'Aladdin') and "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" (with Elton John from 'The Lion KIng', and the Tony Award for the musical 'Evita' (with Andrew Lloyd Webber, his first collaborator ). The music is by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus (the guys from ABBA). It was written shortly after ABBA parted ways. In fact, many of the songs in the show sound as if they were written with Agnetha Faltskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad (the ladies of ABBA) in mind, especially the female duet "I Know Him So Well".
Okay...after reading your reply I had to go back and listen to the song under an entirely different context from when I was 16 yrs old and this video was on the MTV loop. It makes much more sense that this song was meant for the stage as opposed to radio or even MTV. I would not have enjoyed the song on the stage in 1984 either, but at 53 I would likely enjoy it in it's full production.
Best part of this is that this is the first time Jamel has heard this and how much he enjoyed it. It was on the radio every other song when I was a small being.
I love how you say that the title sounds like a "freaky deaky time" when the song is completely about the opposite - the guy is there only to play chess or watch those playing in a tournament. There is definitely a double meaning. They main singer only cares about chess while the chorus singers are extolling all the erotic and exotic finds of the area. I think the juxtaposition is what most of us love about this song. For example, one chorus line is: Tea, girls, warm, sweet; Some are set up in the Somerset Maugham suite His response is: Get thai'd, you're talking to a tourist; Whose every move's among the purest; I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine
@@Hugatree1 Yesssss when I first heard SPLHCB on June 3rd, 1967, I made a prediction that to my friends that it would be considered the goat. For all time... and for the most part I was right. Occasionally Rolling Stone picks a different album like Highway 61 or What's Goin' On? by Marvin. Both excellent. But Sgt Pepper seems to have set the bar that every Rock group aspires to. I've made other predictions that didn't come true. F'rinstnce, "Seinfeld Chronicles won't last beyond the first season." Boy, was I wrong about that. Tomorrow never knows, a former Beatle might say.
I think this song and many of the 80's songs we listen to are difficult to understand unless you lived in that era and visited those places. I remember the first time I went to Thailand back in the early 80's and the world was your oyster but the bars actually had chess games going on. It is funny how the young folk try to understand the lyrics but are way off off course. Great song and great time to enjoy music.
Quick thing, Murray is singing this as the character, "The American." This was a reference to chess great Bobby Fischer. His opponent, not seen in the video is "The Russian" a reference to Boris Spatsky. In the musical that both battle on the chess board and for the affections of a woman. (Of course.)
By the point this song occurs at the opening of act 2 “The American” is no longer playing chess as he lost his title in the tyrolian spa. “The Russian” is actually now British having defected at the end of act 1 and is defending the title against another Russian player who we barely see.
I still play this and other 80s songs in my car. The instrumental is just amazing. EVERY SINGLE instrument was ...instrumental in this song. And then the lyrics are just something else. Just amazing.
It’s one of those songs that once it sets up resistance in your head never leaves. The tune will come back tomorrow when you’re sleeping, eating, on your way to work, in the bathroom....
I saw the musical Jesus Christ Superstar live in the 80s (90s?) (the one with Dennis de Young of Styx as Pontius Pilate - one of the reasons why I went to see it in the first place) , but I didn't know that Murray Head was in it too
Chess was a musical written by the guys from ABBA. Murray Head's performance gives a very American feel to this piece. His emoting in one of the final pieces for the show, Pity the Child is great. The flute for this piece was provided by the lead singer/ flautist from Jethro Tull
As a Swede this is track and the entire Chess Musical is common knowledge and something we've all been raised with on radio. Also its sooooo "Anders & Karin Glennmark" in the chorus. Great stuff!
My roommate in college was a theater major, had this entire soundtrack on CD. There is a ton of cool songs on it. This one was entirely deserving of it's popularity and hit status.
@@mournblade1066 Yes. My statement was simply that they were early 80s gems, meaning we loved those songs in the early 80s, not necessarily that they originated in the early 80s. 😎
One night in Bangkok came out at a time when a song was just as much about the video as the actual song, it was the ultimate blending of the visual and the audio, when M-TV was M-TV
Tim Rice, Stephen Sondheim, and Randy Rainbow have to be the greatest lyricists ever. If you say them they sound natural. The rhymes and cadence aren’t forced, and the storytelling is just perfect.
When this song came out, I was on the PS 222 Chess team (took 3rd best-unrated player in NYC that year) I was lucky enough that my coach was the mother of US Chess champ Joel Benjamin. We were from a public school going up against rich kids from private schools, this song always brings me back to being a nerdy twelve-year-old in a chess tournament wearing a Mr. Spock shirt for luck. Shout out to Mrs. Benjaman my 6-grade science teacher, who ran the chess club, and to my mom for teaching me to play at a young age.
Incredible how many people have been living on another planet and never heard this. Surprisingly , its always the greatest , most popular songs of all eras that get reacted to ' the first time' .
I always liked "The Arbiter". I was 13 when CHESS came out and only in my 2nd year of learning English (I'm German), so singing along (to the vinyl record) took real commitment. ;)
The lyrics are the pleasure of this track. It's also the idea that a chess player must be immune to their environment. "One town's very like another when your head's down over your pieces brother.". I wish for more tracks as evocative and entertaining as this one.
Hi! This is a musical by Bjørn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, the guys in and behind the music of ABBA!! Released two years after ABBA stopped working together as a group. Lyrics by Tim Rice. It was released as a double LP and the musical is still playing (not right now due to C19) on stages around the world. It is a really good musical, especially the music and the performers. Like the ABBA music, the songs and the music is really varied, from pop songs to more classical pieces, almost operatic. The original cast included Murray Head and Elaine Page and Tommy Kørberg. I can highly recommend songs as: The Arbiter, Anthem, Nobody's Side, Endgame, I Know Him So Well and the title track.
This is actually from a Broadway show called “Chess”. It is such a great song! The play is about the Cold War played on a chess board. Oh! And then you read it! LOL
@@ELEcomments It's unclear how my comment would indicate I want to "erase the past". I was simply indicating that the black person who runs this channel should be aware of something which may or may not offend him before clicking a link or doing a "react" video of it on his channel.
@@nachobroryan8824 Awe no we wouldn't want to offend anyone:( lol I think this guy can take it. He's chill. Besides, I never thought of it as anything to be offended about. Its a cover of a song from the 1930s they obviously wanted to be authentic. I am glad they included it because it shows how far we have come.
"Get Thai'd You're talking to a tourist whose every move's among the purest I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine" The creativity and talent required to write those lyrics and to put a great beat behind it blows me away.
If you ever want to use a time pun to make people pause and think about what you just said, "Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana" from Groucho Marx ;)
Chess was a musical play. Some great music. Set during the cold war and a chess game. Love the soundtrack His other song from this Pity the Child is also great
Also I Know Him so Well and Anthem from the show feature the ladies and the Soviet.
3 ปีที่แล้ว +2
@@jimwilcox2964 The Russian and Molokov is also… well, a number of the songs are not that easy to sing, regarding the speed. But probably my favorite is Merano. Or… and I looked it up here just now to have a listen again, Embassy Lament. But Anthem is also amazing, a real tear-jerker when you dig into the lyrics.
The genius of Bjorn and Benny from ABBA and the lyrical skills of Tim Rice. This is an amazing song. I've never been able to find out, for sure, whether the opening music was also penned by the ABBA guys, which, in itself, is a work of genius especially the moment when it "crashes," into the song proper, but, if it is, then even more points on the sophistication scale! 😉👍
Or much of Stan Ridgway's ouevre, he (apparently) loves to do story-songs (if there's even a term for that). Or, one of my favorite atmo/story songs (and their collab is great anyway): Jon & Vangelis' "The Friends of Mr. Cairo".
Well, technically, it was a successful London West End Show first. It wasn't taken to Broadway until a few years later, and wasn't too successful there, surviving only 2 months. Guess the US audience didn't appreciate the music of Benny and Bjorn and the genius of Tim Rice! Interestingly, they released the album a year or two before the show opened in London, to generate sufficient interest to sell tickets and raise the money required to stage a blockbuster show - this paid off with the success of the album, which featured this song as well as 'I Know Him So Well' by Barbara Dickson and Elaine Paige.
@@davidjames3080 The show didn’t survive on Broadway because it was criminally changed from its original London version. A new book was written for “American audiences”, lyrics were rewritten, songs were deleted and altered and the show simply became a mess. It’s a shame what they did to this masterpiece.
@@JF-sh2sm I drove from Charleston, SC to see it. Judy Kuhn did a great job as Florence, and even got a Tony nomination for it, but overall the production was quite the disappointment, indeed.
@@davidjames3080 Well, technically, it was a pop song that came from a successful concept album Benny, Bjorn, and Rice put together to generate interest and investment in the musical they wanted to produce on West End.
Fun Fact about Murray Head - He had limited success, until asked by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber to play Judas Iscariot on the original concept album version of Jesus Christ Superstar; at the time, he had been appearing in the West End production of the musical Hair. With the Trinidad Singers, the song "Superstar" peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1971.
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they.. used this in. the hangover 3.
he looks. like. Johnny cage.. from mortal combat
Dirty laundry...by Don Henley. You'll love it!!
Record facts:
--"Chess" was a stage play co-written by Bjorn (pronounced be-yorn) and Benny from ABBA.
--"One Night In Bangkok" was the only thing successful about "Chess". The play flopped.
--This was Murray Head's 2nd hit. His first was "Superstar" from the early 70s play "Jesus Christ Superstar".
Thet re wrote it for the US audience. I think it played better over in the UK. I read the US version of the script, not near as good.
"I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine" may well be one of the best lyrics ever penned!
I find the line "If you're lucky then your gods a she" pretty amusing but appropriate
I literally was reciting this exact lyrics last night!
Any two lines from “Why’d ya do it” are like Proust or Henry Miller and this radio pop is like the Archies by comparison. No disrespect, but there’s cleverer stuff out there.
I so agree!
@@Ooofaa-Maa If you find a god who is a she sounds gay?
“It sounds so futuristic tho”
The 1980s was obsessed with the future...
Now we’re obsessed with the 1980s.
i Want My 80s BACK and my MTV
"That's heavy, Doc."
Yes...the early years especially but then the boomers in control brought back nostalgia in the mid to late 80s. Only to swing back at the very end with intrusion of house and techno.
I wish I was back in 1981...
And your money for nothing and your chicks for free...
@@DioneN 😏I see what you did there 🎸
The bass, synth and vocal harmonisation in the chorus are incredible.
"Bet you can't make a cool song about chess." "Hold my beer."
Yes: We'll take that bet. Make it double.
They made a whole musical about Chess!
Amazing how much alcohol is involved in chess.
Shouldn't that be "Hold my Aquavit"?
Or a spotlight named Super Trouper
This is from the musical Chess written by the guys from Abba and Tim Rice. This particular version of the song was from the original concept album. There has never been a movie made. Murray Head also played Judas on the original Jesus Christ Superstar soundtrack. His version of Superstar from that soundtrack was also a hit.
The chorus is sung by Anders Glenmark, a swedish Singer and producer.
There are recordings on TH-cam of the concert version done at the Royal Albert Hall. Adam Pascal absolutely nails Pity the Child in it. It's *incredible*.
You'd expect a well-crafted, catchy song given who the composers were.
The guy from Abba is Bjorn Ulvaeus.
I didn't know until recently that there are several versions of the musical. Neato. Some pretty MAJOR changes as well. I've yet to watch ANY version.
Murray Head has a famous brother, Anthony Head, who played Giles the librarian in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV Series.
Got an autographed photo and met Anthony Stewart Head💜
Murray Head played Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar & Anthony played Dr Frankenfurter in Rocky Horror both stage performances.
And he used to be the geezer off the Nescafé advert from the 1980s too
@Colom Peel woah!!!!!!!!! Are you SERIOUS???? HOW DID I NOT KNOW THAT????? I adore Anthony Stewart Head!!
He also Played Uther, king Authers father in The BBC’s Merlin.
"One town is pretty like another when your head's down over your pieces, brother" has got to be one of the best double entendres in the song!
Best line, "Siam is gonna be the Witness to the Ultimate Test of Cerebral Fitness"
This grips me more than would a muddy old river or reclining buddha.
I was going to reply with that too! 🎶😻💙
Thank god I’m only watching the game controlling it... 🎶😻
“I don’t see YOU guys rating the kinds of mates I’M contemplating...”
I'd let you watch, I would invite you, but the queens WE use would not excite you
So you'd better go back to your bars, your temples. . . your massage parlors
I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine
I would invite you but the queens we use would not excite you
so, like, boot to the head?
lol I thought he was saying “...above the waistline section.”
Makes me 😃
@@CorvusCorone68 sounds like you got too many boots to the head
“I’d let you watch I would invite you, but the queens we use would not excite you....”
(Frightening)
Best lyric in the song!
So you better go back to your bars, your temples, your massage parlors.
I always thought this was a reference to the male Queens that had to hide when this song came out.
@@pamelanoel8948 He is telling all the degenerates in Bangkok to pound sand, he only cares about chess. He isn't there for degenerate sex like they are.
"The queens we use would not excite you". I just loved your reaction. I cannot believe you haven't heard this song until now. That is wild. So glad you've finally heard it.
His delivery of the double entendres was so sly, that many missed the references.
Yeah, he's just _perfectly_ deadpanning the jokes. That's the best way to do it - the "whoosh" it makes when the deadly puns pass close over some people's heads to their befuzzlement adds to the fun. :-)
Does anyone hear the song mentions Yul Brynner. He player the King of Siam(Thailand) in the movie "The King and I". My late wife and I used to have a laugh at that, since it was one of her favorite movies.
Well yes, always known that one since I was a kid. Brynner was the original Terminator, don't you know.
Westworld!
@@dundundata7603 _draw_
He also made 4,525 stage performances of The King and I. I saw him it in twice over three or four years in the early 1970’s.
Yul Brynner & my Dad, were born on the same day, in then same year, on different sides of the woirld. In 2020, they would have been 100.
This is from the musical Chess written by Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson. The Two guys and B:s from ABBA. :)
And Tim Rice the lyricist from Jesus Christ Superstar and Lion King.
The entire soundtrack is excellent.
CHESS is a great musical. The 2009 concert is awesome.
Would love to see a reaction to "Anthem"
06:15 "I'd let you watch, I would invite you, but the queens we use would not excite you"... Always was one of my favorite lines
Same here!
Cuz the queens in Thailand are pretty boys.
@@donnazasgoat2274 No he's playing chess .... there is a piece called queen,
He's saying that where ever he plays it's about chess not wear he is, so using the queen on the chessboard would not excite you. As most normal people it Bangkok are looking it everything else. Its worth a trip there to see.
@@chrislecouteur2360 I hear you on him saying it is about Chess.. I have been there a number of times, there may be some double meanings happening, but there is no doubt in my mind this is about a lot more than chess. And it fits to a Bangkok to a T. I wont forget my first trip there, found myself wandering the streets of Bangkok singing that song under my breath..... One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble.
I've always loved the way he says, "...or this place!" As though he can't believe where they have ended up.
Hey, the good old days when you could make a musical about chess and the Cold War and have hit singles from it! Crazy times...
You're not Jon Anderson of Yes are you? Just asking cause you never know...
@@annieholbis2430 Unfortunately no, but it's not the first time someone has asked!
@@jonanderson559 lol 😆
Jon Anderson🧐
@@jonanderson559 Well, he DID write lyrics using chess as a metaphor. (See: "Your Move" by Yes.) :-D
Say what you want about 80's one hit wonders....this song is still just hits hard after all these years! Will always pause to enjoy this thumper.
I really hope you don’t suggest that Björn & Benny, the composers of all ABBA hits, the musical Mama Mia and much more are ”one hit wonders”?
I don't believe I suggested that in any way. My comment referenced one hit wonders of the 80's..that's it.
I have this on my iPod and it NEVER gets skipped. 🙌🙌🙌
@@kimmycook2698 .....
If you're referring only to the 80s,
then you can call Murray Head a
one hit wonder, but not overall.
"One Night In Bangkok" was his
2nd hit ...... Murray Head hit #14
in the early 70s with "Superstar",
from JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR.
Much like Golden Earring,
who only had two hits almost
a decade apart ..... They hit #13
In 1973 with "Radar Love" and
it wasn't until nine years later
in 1982 when they hit #10 with
"Twilight Zone".
When I hear 867-5309/Jenny I turn it up LOUD!!! it’s my absolute favorite 80s song!!! Jamal you should react to that song!!
One of the most interesting songs ever made.
one of the most deepest songs ever written with multiple deep meanings
Once a group of chess grandmasters were staying at a hotel. They were hanging around the lobby and bragging to one another about their strategies and victories.
Finally the hotel manager kicked them all out.
Turns out he didn't care for chess nuts boasting in an open foyer.
So bad that it's funny!
😩😄🤓
Good one!!!
Oy
Go to your room. You know why.
"You'll find a god in every Golden cloister, and if you're lucky, then the god's a she."
Written in a time where most people had yet to find out what a "Lady-boy" was.
Hehe I always thought it was "You'll find a god in every Golden Buddha, and if you're lucky, then the god's a she."
I thought they were saying guide, like someone to show the person around the city
This is one of my feels songs. I remember when this song came out.
It was about Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky. He came out of retirement and played Boris Spassky of USSR, and won. Boris was returning champion and Bobby hadn't played professionally in years. It was a huge deal that USSR even agreed to play with the US.
His spoken word is on point in this song
Rap Riff that still resonates♟
In a time where the most popular songs were about sex and partying and having fun; this is a song about playing competitive chess and warning away the people who can't hang with that lifestyle. I loved it when it came out, still do today.
It's also about prostitution in Bangkok.... "And if you're lucky then the gods a she." refers to the 'lady boys' in Bangkok who are the most famous transsexuals and transvestites in the world as they've been some of the first ever.
@@killinglonliness88 but he's not partaking, it's almost an anti-prostitution PSA.
well it was kinda a back-and-forth in the song, he was singing the praises of the game of kings, while the chorus was hinting maybe he was being prudish
All the Mathletes and AV Club members rejoiced!
They play Chess was a metaphor for the cold war. The Soviet Union and the USA.
Jamal when I was 10 years old I learnt the words for this song by heart. I got up in front of my class at school along with my friend Sean and sang it to the class. I definitely never fully understood the lyrics. My teacher was probably having a good chuckle on the inside.
I was in elementary school. This was a banger! I'm sure my parents were thrilled to hear me, ages 7-8 years old, singing this at top volume word-for-word in the front yard! LOL
If I'd been your teacher, I don't know if I could have refrained from busting out laughing.
That is cool :)
You just made my day! That's awesome!
The entire musical is layers upon layers of being pawns. The superpowers of playing the seconds, the seconds are playing the players, and the player are playing the chess pieces. Another great song from Chess is Nobody's On Nobody's Side.
Truth. We're fucked from the start.
But we'll persevere. 😠
"Not much between despair and ecstasy". THOSE are the best lyrics of this one.
This song is from a musical called 'Chess', but this recording was a concept album made to test the concept of the show before creating it onstage. It was a stage hit in London, and the story was about the competition between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. at the height of the Cold War as fought over the chessboard during a Grandmaster Championship. Murray Head's character is the American chess player, and he is brash and arrogant (like the song). It takes place in the second act. About ten years ago, there was a televised concert version which starred Josh Groban (as the Russian player, Anatoly Segievsky), Idina Menzel (Elsa in 'Frozen' playing Florence, the woman in the middle), and Adam Rapp (the Original Broadway Cast and film Roger in 'RENT' as Freddy Trumper, the American player). The lyrics of 'Chess' are written by Sir Tim Rice, who won the Oscar for "A Whole New World" (with Alan Menkin from 'Aladdin') and "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" (with Elton John from 'The Lion KIng', and the Tony Award for the musical 'Evita' (with Andrew Lloyd Webber, his first collaborator ). The music is by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus (the guys from ABBA). It was written shortly after ABBA parted ways. In fact, many of the songs in the show sound as if they were written with Agnetha Faltskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad (the ladies of ABBA) in mind, especially the female duet "I Know Him So Well".
Wait a minute......
Okay...after reading your reply I had to go back and listen to the song under an entirely different context from when I was 16 yrs old and this video was on the MTV loop. It makes much more sense that this song was meant for the stage as opposed to radio or even MTV. I would not have enjoyed the song on the stage in 1984 either, but at 53 I would likely enjoy it in it's full production.
Mike Tyson "singing" this at the end of the movie Hangover 2 😆
Only because Stu doesn't like the Jonas Brothers 😂🤣😂🤣
"One night in Bangkok make the hard man humble
...One night in Bangkok and the tough guy crumbles"
Great line.
If you've never been to Thailand, let alone Bangkok, you might think it refers to defeat in Chess. It DOESN'T!
@@badguy1481 double meanings, like Jamel says
Tumbles
thats Thailand. Angels become devils. Predator becomes the prey. heh
Best part of this is that this is the first time Jamel has heard this and how much he enjoyed it. It was on the radio every other song when I was a small being.
I love how you say that the title sounds like a "freaky deaky time" when the song is completely about the opposite - the guy is there only to play chess or watch those playing in a tournament. There is definitely a double meaning. They main singer only cares about chess while the chorus singers are extolling all the erotic and exotic finds of the area. I think the juxtaposition is what most of us love about this song.
For example, one chorus line is: Tea, girls, warm, sweet; Some are set up in the Somerset Maugham suite
His response is: Get thai'd, you're talking to a tourist; Whose every move's among the purest; I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine
As a former Heroclix player, this song speaks to me
Ten summersets he'll undertake on solid ground. Sweet.
@@jacksonmorganfroghin4815 Sargent Pepper, I love it!
@@Hugatree1 Yesssss when I first heard SPLHCB on June 3rd, 1967, I made a prediction that to my friends that it would be considered the goat. For all time... and for the most part I was right. Occasionally Rolling Stone picks a different album like Highway 61 or What's Goin' On? by Marvin. Both excellent. But Sgt Pepper seems to have set the bar that every Rock group aspires to. I've made other predictions that didn't come true. F'rinstnce, "Seinfeld Chronicles won't last beyond the first season." Boy, was I wrong about that. Tomorrow never knows, a former Beatle might say.
I think this song and many of the 80's songs we listen to are difficult to understand unless you lived in that era and visited those places. I remember the first time I went to Thailand back in the early 80's and the world was your oyster but the bars actually had chess games going on. It is funny how the young folk try to understand the lyrics but are way off off course. Great song and great time to enjoy music.
Heard this song about a million times in the late 80s. Still liked it.
If you should ever need to reject a woman’s advances, “I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine” is pure gold.
Quick thing, Murray is singing this as the character, "The American." This was a reference to chess great Bobby Fischer. His opponent, not seen in the video is "The Russian" a reference to Boris Spatsky. In the musical that both battle on the chess board and for the affections of a woman. (Of course.)
By the point this song occurs at the opening of act 2 “The American” is no longer playing chess as he lost his title in the tyrolian spa. “The Russian” is actually now British having defected at the end of act 1 and is defending the title against another Russian player who we barely see.
For one hit wonders def check out Thomas Dolby- She Blinded Me With Science. Another 80s gem.
But he went on to a successful career as a producer and engineer.
SCIENCE!
@@noth1ng5id As deep as any ocean, as sweet as any harmony.
Thomas Dolby also had another hit song Hyperactive.
Hyperactive, Europa
Siam is gonna be the witnesses to the ultimate test of cerebral fitness
Yes, Thailand used to be Siam... clever to add that in the lyrics.
I still play this and other 80s songs in my car. The instrumental is just amazing. EVERY SINGLE instrument was ...instrumental in this song. And then the lyrics are just something else. Just amazing.
It’s one of those songs that once it sets up resistance in your head never leaves. The tune will come back tomorrow when you’re sleeping, eating, on your way to work, in the bathroom....
Björn & Bennys worldwide hit after ABBA ( with Tim Rice) from "Chess". "I know him so well" was the other big hit ( no.1 in the UK) from that musical.
That is an excellent song.
I got to see the musical ... I liked it 🙂
Murray Head is a respected Broadway performer, best known for Jesus Christ, Superstar.
Favorite musical of all time!!
Wait, really. Super cool. A lot happened in all of the 80s, i remember all the good and the bad and the sad. Blessed for being there
coincidently I listened to the original cast version of Jesus Christ Superstar specifically for Murray Head's performance of Judas just today!!
Judas? I had no idea! Thx for the info.
I saw the musical Jesus Christ Superstar live in the 80s (90s?) (the one with Dennis de Young of Styx as Pontius Pilate - one of the reasons why I went to see it in the first place) , but I didn't know that Murray Head was in it too
From the musical Chess. The guys from ABBA Benny & Bjorn with Tim Rice wrote it. It’s a fantastic song.
It's a fantastic musical.
"Siam's going to be witness to the ultimate test of cerebral fitness" is the king of lines.
This song came out in 1985 and was written by two of the members of ABBA.
Benny and Bjõrn
only in the 80's would this greatness happen
Murray Head was GREAT. Sharp, arrogant and his suit is perfect!
Chess was a musical written by the guys from ABBA. Murray Head's performance gives a very American feel to this piece. His emoting in one of the final pieces for the show, Pity the Child is great. The flute for this piece was provided by the lead singer/ flautist from Jethro Tull
and Tim Rice, the lyrical (and IQ-wise) genius
Ian Anderson?
very American feel? Isn't he British, the brother of Buffy's Anthony Head?
No, the flute is played by Björn J:son Lindh
@@lyncatHe is, but the character is an American.
I like the lyric: "Some are set up in the Somerset Maugham Suite", because it's clever and a bit of a tongue-twister.
Tim Rice at his best
I would love to stay in the actual Somerset Maugham Suite.
That bassline is wicked AF that made the song
As a Swede this is track and the entire Chess Musical is common knowledge and something we've all been raised with on radio. Also its sooooo "Anders & Karin Glennmark" in the chorus. Great stuff!
Elaine Paige, Barbara Dickson - I Know Him So Well (from "CHESS")
My roommate in college was a theater major, had this entire soundtrack on CD. There is a ton of cool songs on it.
This one was entirely deserving of it's popularity and hit status.
that intro is FIRE
"Say it ain't so, Joe" is another hit from him
From the musical Chess - written by Bjorn Ulvaeus & Benny Andersson (ABBA) and Tim Rice. Brilliant !
This song is part of a group that includes Taco "Putting on the Ritz", Carl Douglas "Kung Foo Fighting", and Gary Numan "Cars", among others.
Early 80s gems
@@ButterCookie1984 Kung Fu Fighting and Cars are from the 1970s.
@@mournblade1066 Yes. My statement was simply that they were early 80s gems, meaning we loved those songs in the early 80s, not necessarily that they originated in the early 80s. 😎
"I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine" Someone's been reading my Tinder profile
I don't think many tourists to Bangkok (at least male tourists) were there to "get their kicks above the waistline"
One night in Bangkok came out at a time when a song was just as much about the video as the actual song, it was the ultimate blending of the visual and the audio, when M-TV was M-TV
Tim Rice, Stephen Sondheim, and Randy Rainbow have to be the greatest lyricists ever. If you say them they sound natural. The rhymes and cadence aren’t forced, and the storytelling is just perfect.
The whole stage play music for chess was written by BENNY AND BJORN OF ABBA
Murray had at least one other hit with "Superstar" from Jesus Christ Superstar. I think he's primarily an actor.
A stage actor
And Say It Ain't So, Joe. Such a lovely song.
Try "Walking In Memphis" by Marc Cohn, a 90's one-hit wonder. Good for your soul!
Oh yes! That’s a good one
YES YES YES!! Great song!
👉👍
YES!!!!!
All Marc Cohn's music is good "lost in the sauce" stuff.
I fell in love with this tune when it first came out.
I met two girls in Bangkok. They said it'd be just like winning the lottery!
Later, I found out they were right---we had 6 matching balls!!
Classic one hit wonder, you're right Jamel in saying that if this song came out today Iit would be a hit. "Full Circle"
So glad you loved it! Next has to be Electric Avenue!!! You'll love it just as much if not more! Another banger coming up!!!
BRUCE Bornerman if you like Electric Avenue is one of my favorites but I like Romancing Stone too, by Eddy Grant.
When this song came out, I was on the PS 222 Chess team (took 3rd best-unrated player in NYC that year) I was lucky enough that my coach was the mother of US Chess champ Joel Benjamin. We were from a public school going up against rich kids from private schools, this song always brings me back to being a nerdy twelve-year-old in a chess tournament wearing a Mr. Spock shirt for luck. Shout out to Mrs. Benjaman my 6-grade science teacher, who ran the chess club, and to my mom for teaching me to play at a young age.
Incredible how many people have been living on another planet and never heard this. Surprisingly , its always the greatest , most popular songs of all eras that get reacted to ' the first time' .
'I know him so well' from the same musical, sung by Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson. Both singers are superb.
That is actually a truly awesome tune
Haven’t heard that in decades wow!!
I always liked "The Arbiter". I was 13 when CHESS came out and only in my 2nd year of learning English (I'm German), so singing along (to the vinyl record) took real commitment. ;)
I never noticed how hard this baseline slaps.
The lyrics are the pleasure of this track. It's also the idea that a chess player must be immune to their environment. "One town's very like another when your head's down over your pieces brother.". I wish for more tracks as evocative and entertaining as this one.
Hi! This is a musical by Bjørn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, the guys in and behind the music of ABBA!! Released two years after ABBA stopped working together as a group. Lyrics by Tim Rice. It was released as a double LP and the musical is still playing (not right now due to C19) on stages around the world. It is a really good musical, especially the music and the performers. Like the ABBA music, the songs and the music is
really varied, from pop songs to more classical pieces, almost operatic. The original cast included Murray Head and Elaine Page and Tommy Kørberg. I can highly recommend songs as: The Arbiter, Anthem, Nobody's Side, Endgame, I Know Him So Well and the title track.
Wow. WOW, this takes me back.
Huge hit that eventually kind of disappeared.
This entire musical (Chess) was outstanding. Definitely check out the entire thing if you get the chance.
This is actually from a Broadway show called “Chess”. It is such a great song! The play is about the Cold War played on a chess board. Oh! And then you read it! LOL
The guys from ABBA wrote the music to this song. Not many people know this.
God Bless the 80's. I was a teenager during the decade and it was the best time of my life. There is no decade that can compare
You can detect the ABBA excellence and inventiveness.
Love your reactions. Very fun as well as insightful. Great lyric, "Some are set up in the Somerset Maugham suite".
"Puttin' On The Ritz" by Taco is similar if you enjoyed this,
Just don't watch the original video with the blackface.
@@nachobroryan8824 why?
@@nachobroryan8824 Its a cover of a song from the 30s. It's called being authentic to the time period. Stop trying to erase the past.
@@ELEcomments It's unclear how my comment would indicate I want to "erase the past". I was simply indicating that the black person who runs this channel should be aware of something which may or may not offend him before clicking a link or doing a "react" video of it on his channel.
@@nachobroryan8824 Awe no we wouldn't want to offend anyone:( lol I think this guy can take it. He's chill. Besides, I never thought of it as anything to be offended about. Its a cover of a song from the 1930s they obviously wanted to be authentic. I am glad they included it because it shows how far we have come.
"Get Thai'd
You're talking to a tourist whose every move's among the purest
I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine"
The creativity and talent required to write those lyrics and to put a great beat behind it blows me away.
Tim Rice Lyrik
Absolute genius on a super human level
A line that didn’t mean much at the time,
now used WAAAY too much,
“Time flies, doesn’t seem a minute...”
If you ever want to use a time pun to make people pause and think about what you just said, "Time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana" from Groucho Marx ;)
Murray Head's "Say it aint so Joe ". That's an earworm that will stay in the noggin' for years...
This still sounds incredibly unique & is wondefully bizarre. Some killer lines thrown in there too.
Chess was a musical play. Some great music. Set during the cold war and a chess game. Love the soundtrack
His other song from this Pity the Child is also great
Also I Know Him so Well and Anthem from the show feature the ladies and the Soviet.
@@jimwilcox2964 The Russian and Molokov is also… well, a number of the songs are not that easy to sing, regarding the speed. But probably my favorite is Merano. Or… and I looked it up here just now to have a listen again, Embassy Lament. But Anthem is also amazing, a real tear-jerker when you dig into the lyrics.
never really understood the lyrics till i actually was in Bangkok...
I knew the lyrics before I visited Phuket and Pattaya . I visited Thailand on liberty while in the navy . Our Chief warned us about the ladyboys.
@@victorwaddell6530 Was your chief speaking from personal experience. 🤔😂
Being married to a Thai and have visited a few times, I've seen more than one night in Bangkok.
Yes., me and my Ex went to Bangkok on the way to Phuket -- one was indeed enough....
@@victorwaddell6530 warned or informed?
Even after all these years....it's still a cool song. Thailand really is a trip...Bangkok
The genius of Bjorn and Benny from ABBA and the lyrical skills of Tim Rice.
This is an amazing song. I've never been able to find out, for sure, whether the opening music was also penned by the ABBA guys, which, in itself, is a work of genius especially the moment when it "crashes," into the song proper, but, if it is, then even more points on the sophistication scale! 😉👍
You should listen to "Mexican Radio" by Wall of Voodoo...another quirky song.
Oh that’s a good one!!!
Or much of Stan Ridgway's ouevre, he (apparently) loves to do story-songs (if there's even a term for that).
Or, one of my favorite atmo/story songs (and their collab is great anyway): Jon & Vangelis' "The Friends of Mr. Cairo".
Yaaaasss!
@ Just Drive She Said, The Big Heat, Camouflage.
This is a rare pop song that came from a Broadway musical "Chess".
Well, technically, it was a successful London West End Show first. It wasn't taken to Broadway until a few years later, and wasn't too successful there, surviving only 2 months. Guess the US audience didn't appreciate the music of Benny and Bjorn and the genius of Tim Rice! Interestingly, they released the album a year or two before the show opened in London, to generate sufficient interest to sell tickets and raise the money required to stage a blockbuster show - this paid off with the success of the album, which featured this song as well as 'I Know Him So Well' by Barbara Dickson and Elaine Paige.
@@davidjames3080 The show didn’t survive on Broadway because it was criminally changed from its original London version. A new book was written for “American audiences”, lyrics were rewritten, songs were deleted and altered and the show simply became a mess. It’s a shame what they did to this masterpiece.
@@JF-sh2sm I drove from Charleston, SC to see it. Judy Kuhn did a great job as Florence, and even got a Tony nomination for it, but overall the production was quite the disappointment, indeed.
@@davidjames3080 Well, technically, it was a pop song that came from a successful concept album Benny, Bjorn, and Rice put together to generate interest and investment in the musical they wanted to produce on West End.
@@submandave1125 I think I said that
It was writen for a musical about the US/USSR chess rivalries. Using it as a metaphor for life. Love it.
A masterpiece that everyone should hear at least once.. Murray Head probably does it just right.
This song is universal and hovers above time and space. It is AN ANTHEM.
What about the song "Anthem" in the same musical? Surely, it, too, is an anthem?
"Timothy" by The Buoys. No other hit song has ever covered this subject matter.🍖🦴😋🤢🤮
Major league Yahtzee-- great old song!
Good call! I'd love to see Jamel's reaction when he gets what the song is about👍💀🍗
Preferably, Give up your guns
Fun Fact about Murray Head - He had limited success, until asked by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber to play Judas Iscariot on the original concept album version of Jesus Christ Superstar; at the time, he had been appearing in the West End production of the musical Hair. With the Trinidad Singers, the song "Superstar" peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1971.
Back when Broadway/West End musicals gave us chart topping hits. Doesn't happen that often any longer.
This song has such a good groove. Really well done.
Just an interesting fact. Murray Head is Anthony Head's Brother (Giles from Buffy the Vampire Slayer) - Who is equally musically inclined.
Tony actually replaced Murray in this role in the West End production.
such a clever tune, and that intro is astonishing then the drop into the beat!!! great stuff!!!