The Hottest Hit On The Planet…
It’s “One Night In Bangkok” by Murray Head!
There are some people who simply should not make rap records.
I am one of those people. So, most likely, are you.*
But also, near the top of any people-who-should-never-make-rap-records list, you will find Sir Tim Rice, lyric writer for such Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals as Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita.
Also Benny & Bjorn. AKA:
The two dudes from ABBA.
Except that ABBA were no more, and the two Bs were looking for something to do. They were looking to work on a musical. Together, Tim and Benny and Bjorn called themselves “The Three Knights.” It was a chess pun. Together they should never have worked on a rap record.
And yet it happened.
There are also some people who simply should not rap on said rap records. Right at the very top of that list is Mel Brooks, and I’d have given him top billing even if he wasn’t rapping in the role of Adolf Hitler. And yet it happened. And it was a big hit. Although not in America, where – I can’t believe I’m saying this – they showed some sense.
But also, up near the top of the please-don’t-rap list, you’d have to put Murray Seafield St George Head.
Or Murray Head for short.
Murray was previously famous for singing other songs written by Tim Rice – and Andrew Lloyd Weber – most notably “Superstar” in Jesus Christ Superstar, criticizing Jesus’ whole marketing strategy and pointing out that “Israel in 4 B.C. had no mass communication.”
Murray should never have been let anywhere near a rap record.
And yet it happened. And there are some topics that really should never be the subject of a rap record. Such as a global chess tournament. And yet all of these things happened. All on the same record.
And the resulting record was a pop hit. A crème de la crème of a pop hit.
A pop hit with everything but Yul Brynner. So says Murray in that cynical, cocked-eyebrow, know-it-all manner that only a Brit can master, even when they are playing the role of an American former-chess-champion, now chess-commentator, by the name of Freddie.
Chess was inspired by the Boris Spassky versus Bobby Fischer match:
That weird moment in history when a chess match between the United States and the Soviet Union became the most important battlefield in the Cold War, temporarily distracting the world from the entire kerfuffle in Vietnam.
It may be the only time in history that the entire world sat down to watch a chess game, at least until The Queen’s Gambit (and that was during the Pandemic, so what else were we going do?)
Chess wasn’t Tim Rice’s first attempt at writing a musical about The Cold War. Tim had previously wanted to write a musical about the Cuban Missile Crisis, a far more serious historical event and one with zero-hit-musical-potential. Good thing he wrote about Bobby and Boris instead.
Good thing that Tim and Andrew Lloyd Webber were in Iceland at the time of the Bobby Fischer-Boris Spassky match.
They weren’t in Iceland to watch the chess match though. They were there to watch an Icelandic production of Jesus Christ Superstar.
So Chess is mostly about the Cold War. “One Night In Bangkok” is mostly about Bangkok. And Murray/Freddie is not a fan. About this he is very clear.
Actually, “One Night In Bangkok” is not so much an eye-rolling snarky critique of Bangkok itself, but of the tourists who visit it. Those visiting Bangkok for its intoxicating soup of spirituality and sex. Its offer of a little flesh, a little history. Its bars. Its tem-ples. It’s mass-age par-lours.
“One Night In Bangkok” raises a lot of questions. Questions such as:
- How and when did Bangkok get its reputation for being the kind of place where one-night single night can make a hard man humble (and what exactly does that lyric even mean?)?
The city seems to have had that reputation for centuries. At least as early as when Chinese eunuch explorer Zheng He visited Bangkok, in the early 1400s, and his travel writer, Ma Huan went into much detail about the girls there.
But the big boom had to wait until the Vietnam War: American soldiers on R&R would go to Bangkok where – according to one report – “the GIs quickly discovered the charms of the Thai girls… the beautiful, graceful and gentle Thai women.”
Decades later they would still be telling stories about the ping-pong balls of the Patpong district.
By 1985 the Americans had departed. And the German and other tourists arrived. So did the bars and massage parlours. Bars and massage parlours were such a boom industry that a young woman named Ladda Inchatr, who came to Bangkok a decade earlier with just 10c-worth-of-baht, was now worth $2 million.
Given its references to the seedy side of Bangkok, “One Night In Bangkok” was hardly going to be the kind of song the Thai Government would look kindly upon. They banned the song because it “cause(d) misunderstanding about Thai society and show(ed) disrespect towards Buddhism.”
This was not good news for Tim Rice.
After all, Evita had already been banned in Argentina. ”It is beginning to limit my holiday options,” he said.
Also, questions such as:
- Is it really a rap song?
I can understand if you argue that it is not. It’s difficult to know exactly how to categorize a song like “One Night In Bangkok.”
RateYourMusic categorizes it as “pop rap” and “disco rap:”
But it also characterizes it as “show tunes.” And all three of these categories are mentioned after “dance-pop” and “synthpop.”
But for most white people in 1985, rap was just talking over a drum machine. “One Night In Bangkok” certainly qualifies.
Also, most people describe what Neil Tennant – somebody else who probably should never have rapped – did in “West End Girls” as rapping. Or at least as his attempt at rapping – Neil was reportedly aiming for “The Message” by Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five – and whatever Murray is doing is pretty much the same. In fact, it’s incredibly similar, right down to the cadence:
Coincidence? Almost certainly. The two songs couldn’t possibly have been influenced by each other, since they were both written at pretty much the same time.
And finally, questions such as:
- Whilst “One Night In Bangkok” may not be the most culturally sensitive song in the world, is it – and its video – at least culturally accurate? Are the stereotypes it trades in, actual Thai stereotypes, or are they just vaguely “Eastern”? “Oriental”? “Exotic”? How much research did Tim Rice do?
Let’s investigate.
Tim has said – in an interview with World Of Cruising – that he spent three nights in Bangkok, but it’s not entirely clear whether this was before “One Night In Bangkok” or after.
Presumedly before, since they weren’t too happy with him after.
I suppose I could ask him. He’s still alive. He’s on Twitter… or X… or whatever. He mostly posts about old celebrities/friends (pretty much the same thing when you are Tim Rice) after they die. He also posts a lot about cricket. But somehow it feels wrong to bother him. I mean, the man has been knighted. Can you just slide into a knight’s DMs? How would I start such a message… “Anon Sir Tim… perchance may I ask a question?”
“One Night In Bangkok” does feel like the kind of song you would write after you’ve spent three nights in Bangkok. It doesn’t feel like a song written after flipping through the Encyclopedia Britannica and a Thomas Cook catalogue; the most likely sources of information in the pre-Internet world.
I am, of course, not an expert in Thai culture, but I did spend a few weeks in Thailand in December 2004, and… about 3 nights in Bangkok. Also, I have the Internet, so I can look shit up.
So:
- “Reclining Buddha”? Check!
Wat Pho. It’s pretty much Bangkok’s most popular attraction.
The statue inside of Wat Pho is 46 metres long, which is pretty damn long for a statue, and it’s not even the biggest Buddha in Thailand! It’s gilded gold. It’s pretty impressive. Murray/Freddie should’ve checked it out. The temple also includes a public university which offers a degree in Thai massage.
- “Muddy old river”?
That would be the Chao Phraya. The description is harsh, but fair.
- How about the hats?
In the “One Night In Bangkok” video they are wearing a wide variety of hats.
Some even appear to resemble the traditional ngob, or Thai Farmer’s Hat. Others do not.
The masks? The kick-boxing? Big tick to both of those. Muay Thai for example – aka The Art Of The Eight Limbs – is pretty much the national sport.
But what about the girl?
She is presumedly supposed to be Thai but is almost certainly an English woman – and extremely hot English woman it must be said – with heavy eyeliner, whilst wearing an Ao Dai, the Vietnamese national dress.
Thai women have this whole diagonal sash/shawl thing going on, called the sbai.
On balance then, “One Night In Bangkok” it at least less objectionable than The King And I. Even if it references The King And I.
Given Murray/Freddie’s elitist anti-tourist grumble – “whattaya mean? you’ve seen one crowded, polluted, stinking town” – it’s ironic then, that his withering critique may have been responsible for an additional boost to Thailand’s tourist industry.
Tourist arrivals were already rising before 1985, but in the couple of years after “One Night In Bangkok” dropped, it really boomed! And it never looked back!
Within a decade, when Alex Garland started writing The Beach, there was really only one destination Leonardo Di Caprio could head to find something more beautiful, something more exiting, and, I admit, something more dangerous… and then drink a shot of snake blood.
Apparently “One Night In Bangkok” is still banned in Thailand. Or at least they haven’t gotten round to un-banning it. Amidst all of their military coups, the Thai Government have more important shit to do. On the other hand, they seem to be extremely lax in enforcing the ban; it’s apparently frequently played on Thai-radio.
So never fear, you still have the opportunity to hear “One Night In Bangkok”, whilst spending one night in Bangkok!
“One Night In Bangkok” is an 8.
*Prove me wrong!
Meanwhile, In Rock Vixen Land…
It’s “We Belong” by Pat Benatar
Former leather-clad rock-tart Pat Benatar went full-blown Bonnie Tyler, complete with children’s choir, on “We Belong.” It was the theatre-kid version of rock that she was born to make. If some fans felt disappointed that Pat wasn’t rockin’ as hard as during her “Hit Me With Your Best Shot”-era, feel some comfort in the knowledge that this was the real Pat Benatar.
That the rock vixen you thought you knew before was just a character she was playing.
“That whole slut/bitch thing was never really me” she explained whilst “We Belong” was flying up the charts. ”It was just a stage image that started to get a bit out of control in the end… I like to stay home when I can and just do normal stuff like wash the dishes and keep house.”
“We Belong” was rock’n’roll by – and for – people who liked to do normal stuff like washing the dishes.
In a way, this was going back to Pat’s roots. For Pat Benatar’s journey to rock stardom was rather less-rock’n’roll than most.
Pat Benatar decided to become a rock star after witnessing a Liza Minelli show. Prior to that life-changing experience Pat had been a short girl in Long Island, with dreams to become a sex-education teacher. This was in response to the sex education she got at school, which was all wrong. As a rock star, she could do both. An interview with Pat’s former music teacher in 1981 featured said teacher watching Pat perform in “the Village” and telling her “Patty, you really are teaching sex education!”
Life Goal Accomplished!
Pat’s first steps towards rock stardom were as a lounge singer:
Performing “Rock-A-Bye Your Baby With A Dixie Melody” at an open-mike comedy night called Catch A Rising Star. At this point she couldn’t’ve been any further away from being a rock-vixen if she tried.
Pat accidentally became a rocker when she entered a Halloween outfit competition as a character from Cat-Women On The Moon:
– tagline: “See: The Lost City Of Love Starved Cat Women!”
Not familiar with Cat-Women On The Moon?
According to Wikipedia:
“Travelling in a spaceship equipped with wooden tables and chairs, a scientific expedition to the Moon encounters a race of cat-women, the last survivors of a two-million-year-old lunar civilization. Residing deep within a Moon cavern, the cat-women have managed to maintain not only the remnants of a breathable atmosphere and Earth-like gravity, but also a pair of gigantic Moon-spiders. “
Having competed in that outfit and not having enough time to go home and change, Pat performed as a Cat-Woman-From-The-Moon all that night.
And thus, a rock-vixen was born.
Only slightly more rock’n’roll was Pat’s part in the production of The Zinger:
A futuristic rock musical – it was set way in the future, in the year 2008! – written by Harry Chapin, aka the “Cat’s In The Cradle” guy, along with a Franciscan monk named Brother Jonathon.
Despite having had a Number One hit only a year or so before – this being 1976 – The Zinger appears to have been such a flop that Pat’s involvement is about the only thing the Internet seems to care about it.
According to Pat: “The character I played was Zephyr and she was a kind of rough and tough, rock ‘n’ roll singer of the future. The problem was I hadn’t really learned how to sing rock ‘n’ roll, so I was a little out of place.” Harry kept on telling her to rough it up a bit: when Harry Chapin is telling you to rough it up, you know you have a problem.
It’s debatable if Pat ever really learnt how to rough it up. If it turns out Pat Benatar had never been to a single Bowery dive bar, in her life, it would not surprise me in the slightest. That was part of her appeal: she was a rock-chick, but she was the vulnerable rock chick.
She was the rock chick with a heart of gold. The rock chick who battled buck-gold toothed pimps and rescued sex workers with a shimmy in the video for “Love Is A Battlefield,” a song that definitely would have been dubbed Hottest Hit On The Planet if I’d been doing these columns in 2023.
“Love Is A Battlefield” is a perfect song, and an even more perfect music video. It was pretty much the first video to include dialogue, months before “Thriller.” Wikipedia tells me that Phil Bailey from Earth, Wind & Fire got there first, with “I Know”… but “Love Is A Battlefield” was The Big One!
They didn’t exactly put a lot of effort into the dialogue for “Love Is A Battlefield.” It’s pretty much just Pat’s father yelling “if you leave this house now, you can just forget about coming back.” Yeah that old chestnut.
Weird thing to shout at a 30-year-old woman.
When Pat Benatar repeatedly declared “we are young!” she wasn’t exactly being honest. Also a lot of background noise and police sirens to make your feel a little nervous about our Pat.
The climax of the “Love Is A Battlefield” video is of course the shimmy battle between Pat, her workmates and the evil, and evil-looking, pimp! Together they took a stand! Together they defeated the pimp with their pimpin’ dance moves! Together they bounced out of the brothel!
Together they escaped!
Of course, now they are unemployed. And presuming that the pimp had got them hooked on drugs, some of them probably have serious drug problems. But, when the whistling comes in on the outro and Pat flounces off into the sunrise… I challenge you not to feel moved. (“Love Is A Battlefield” is a 10.)
“We Belong”, just like “Love Is A Battlefield” is one of those songs that belong to a genre-with-no-name. A genre tied to its very specific moment: a genre that includes power ballads like “Total Eclipse Of The Heart:”
But also, dive-bar-bangers like Laura Branigan’s “Self Control.”
All of which were pretty much power ballads but with loads of synth-drum rolls, and pretty much anything that Steve Nicks was doing at the time.
Songs about silly little things like love, or sex, or partying, that were blown up to something approaching mythology: DRUMS BOOM, HANDS CLAP, WIND-MACHINES BELLOW THROUGH CURTAINS, … THEY BELONG TO THE LIGHT! THEY BELONG TO THE THUN-DER!!! That sort of thing.
AND CHILDREN’S CHOIRS!
Not all of these songs had children’s choirs, but it was a nice touch when you heard one. You could be forgiven for suspecting that the children’s choir on “We Belong” – made up of children who, in the video anyway, clearly do not want to be there – are only on it because “Total Eclipse Of The Heart” had them.
But maybe they were there because Pat was suddenly feeling maternal.
Pat was after all pregnant with her first child – a daughter, Haley – which may explain the lack of a vigorous dance-routine in the video.
Also the fact that there are so many head-and-shoulder shots. Also why Pat seems to have borrowed a jacket from David Byrne.
The record label was not happy about Pat being pregnant. “They wanted me to be the single vixen”, Pat said “and having a baby was as unvixenlike as you could be… In their eyes, it was like a death sentence.”
Clearly the record label were wrong.
The record label should have known better. After all, Chrissie Hynde had just had a kid as well, and in a few months would have another UK Number One with UB40 covering “I Got You Babe” (it’s a 5). She was also giving Pat a lot of how-to-parent-while-on-tour advice (Chrissie’s secret?: you hire a nanny).
Pat’s record label and management may not have been too happy about Pat being pregnant, but her producer – Neil “Spyder” Giraldo – was over the moon!
Pat’s producer was also her guitarist: he’d come up with a guitar-sound sexy enough for Pat Benatar. He’d also produced “Jessie’s Girl.”
More relevant to her pregnancy, he was also her husband.
For Pat it had been love-at-first-sight.
“Girl”, she said to herself “you have just seen the father of your children.” Fortunately she didn’t tell “Spyder” that, because that may have frightened him off. Or maybe not. Pat has said that, since “Spyder” was Italian, he had actually been hoping for 15 children. In the end they had two.
Coming up, we have another married couple from the other end of the pop spectrum.
“We Belong” is an 8.
Meanwhile, In Duets Land…
It’s “Solid” by Ashford & Simpson
It may just be me, but I have a weird, unhealthy, and probably unholy, obsession with “Solid” by Ashford & Simpson.
And even more so, its video, a monument to the schmaltziest and the kitschiest of 80s pop culture.
A song that sounds as though it should have been the theme song to an 80s-sit-com. A song that is even better than the theme song to Family Ties. With a drum machine that pops louder than the ones on Diff’rent Strokes. This may not sound like much of a compliment. It may barely sound like a compliment at all.
But believe me, it is.
This is probably childhood nostalgia talking – scrap that, it’s definitely childhood nostalgia talking – but the 80s were a golden era of TV theme songs: they simply don’t write songs like The A-Team anymore.
The “Solid” video starts with Valerie Simpson angrily strutting out of a cab, and even more angrily slamming the door. She has just had a great big fight with her husband, Nickolas Ashford. She walks, miserably, through Central Park, alone, when suddenly there’s a storm. A downpour. Valerie takes shelter under a bridge.
So obsessed am I with the “Solid” video, that I even bothered to track down, where in Central Park the video was shot.
Just in case I happen to be in New York one day and feel like making a pilgrimage.
The video for “Solid” by Ashford & Simpson was shot in Willowdell Arch. Right next to a statue of a Siberian husky named Balto, who saved the population of an Alaskan town in 1925 by delivering them a diphtheria vaccine on a sled. So much history in one place!
Valerie sits on a bench. It’s a bench not unlike the bench that Nickolas was living on, when the couple had first met decades before. When Nickolas has first arrived in New York, from the tiny town of Willow Run, Michigan, with dreams of being a dancer. That didn’t really work out. He came to New York with a little money – $57. That money didn’t last for long.
The bench that Nickolas slept on however, was a different park bench. In fact, it was a different park. It’s Bryant Park near the New York Public Library. There’s a plaque on that bench:
“Nickolas Ashford Slept Here.”
They didn’t meet on the bench, however. They met at the White Rock Baptist Church in Harlem. And they started writing songs. Nickolas had already written songs for his local gospel choir, but Willow Run, Michigan gospel choirs don’t have hits. Detroit, Michigan soul singers have hits, and Nickolas and Valerie were soon writing hits for Motown:
- “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.”
- “California Soul.”
- “Ain’t Nothing Like The Real Thing.”
- “Reach Out and Touch (Somebody’s Hand).”
- “I’m Every Woman.”
As a list of classic soul hits, that’s extremely solid.
So Ashford & Simpson were not, as you may be tempted to think, if you are not in the habit of reading song-writing credits, little more than one hit wonders.
Ashford & Simpson were a songwriting partnership just as powerful as the romantic partnership portrayed in the “Solid” video… which, we should really be getting back to.
For back in the tunnel, sad and forlorn, and missing Nickolas, Valerie is starting to sing.
And for love’s sake
Each mistake
Oh, you forgave…
And then, as if by magic, Nickolas appears. He’s also taking shelter from the storm. Instantly – such is the power of their love, such is the power of singing “Solid” – Ashford is all smiles and whatever they were arguing about moments before in the cab, is forgotten.
The video for “Solid” is jam-packed with an assortment of very 80s New Yorkers, starting off with a gang of leather-wearing toughs with perfect pitch.
You thought they were going to pull out a knife, didn’t you? I understand.
I mean, it was New York in the 80s. These leather-wearing toughs are followed by an assortment of street musicians and other random New Yorkers in an assortment of 80s outfits.
These people all have their own lives, their own problems, their own narratives, but just for a minute, as they take shelter from the storm, they are intimately invested in the love story of Ashford and Simpson.
And together, they all build it up, and build it up, and build it up, and build it up, until it’s SOLID!!!! SOLID AS A ROCK!!!
Finally everybody throws their hands up into the air, cheering “SOLID!!!!” This is magical stuff! Chills. Literal chills. The thrill, as they say, is still, hot hot hot hot hot hot!
“Solid” is a 10.
And, I feel this is unnecessary to add:
…but it clearly gets TEN KARAOKE MICROPHONES!!!!
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That’s a solid set of songs. You seemed to be throwing a lot of shade at “One Night in Bangkok”, so I was surprised to see that you gave it an 8. I think that song is awesome…I’d go with a 9. It’s got a flute solo for goodness’ sake!
I’m not as excited by “We Belong” or “Solid” (they’re both probably 7s for me), though I think Ashford and Simpson, and Pat and her husband would all be fun to have over for dinner. They seem like nice folks.
I was sharpening my knives for his rating on “One Night in Bangkok”, so imagine my surprise.
It’s a 10 for me, the others are…lower. Benatar has done better more than once, Ashford & Simpson come off as kitschy here.
Yeah, ‘ONIB’ is at least an 8 just for the line, ‘Some are set up / In the Somerset Maugham suite.’ That’s some fancy writin’ there.
Ah yes. The flute solo. I forgot that I meant to check whether or not it’s a traditional Thai flute. A khlui perhaps? Or a khaen? We don’t want to find ourselves in a “Africa” by Toto situation where they add a whole lot of solos of exotic sounding instruments, only to find that all those instruments came from Latin America.
But, if this live version of “One Night In Bangkok” is anything to go by – a version in which Murray is almost certainly actually rapping – it’s just a regular flute. Come on boys, you can do better than that!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42RbnRyibiA
Whether Murray Head was rapping or not and whether he should have been allowed to do it or not, I’m in agreement with Link as a 9.
Its completely ridiculous but it’s a musical so anything goes. Though I did think the most ridiculous line was ‘it could be Iceland, the Philippines or Hastings.’
Why were they throwing a small provincial English town into the international locations? Now I find out it’s been holding a renowned annual chess tournament for the last 100 years. Not that the casual musical fan is likely to know that.
Solid is glorious as well. I especially enjoy the cry of “ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha hot!!” A truly essential moment for me.
On far more occasions than random probability would predict: I have found myself doing that, “Wow, this is a great song. I wonder who wrote it?“ thing, and subsequently discovering that the awesomeness was penned by Ashford & Simpson.
Even for the most studied of popular music fans, I can almost guarantee that you’ll find a few surprises here:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_songs_written_by_Ashford_%26_Simpson
The trivia I didn’t know I need. Thanks mt!
When I was in my mid 20s, I was at a routine doctor appointment. He seemed to have a general concern about my stress levels, and asked when the last time was that I had a vacation. I brushed it off, until he said “how about you consider this an official prescription?”
That got my attention, and for the first time ever, I called the travel agent ( I know; how quaint) and 10 days later, found myself skiing in the Austrian Alps. Like I was some sort of rich guy or something.
It was so much fun, meeting new people from other countries. Everyone would go skiing during the day, go back to the room and crash for an hour and a half nap, and then meet at night at the erstwhile “club” in the basement of the hotel.
They all wanted to know about American pop music, and I was fascinated that the big dance hit in mid- March somehow was still George Michael mooning over Christmas.
While a lot of songs were familiar, one that packed the dance floor every time was this weird thing that I had never heard of before. And when I got back to the states, it was also nowhere to be found on the radio. Very curious.
That was my introduction to ONIB. To this day, if I catch it on the radio, it brings back a lot of wonderful memories.
Irmgaard in particular, you were very sweet. I hope you are well wherever you are.
ONIB does begin by referring to the Tirolean Spa having the chess boards in it. They must have removed them all by the time you arrived. Uderstandable as they’d have gotten in the way of the après-ski partying.
There may or may not be a hilarious coda to my story that perfectly captures my terminal obtuseness with regard to “getting the hint.”
I’d best leave it at that.
Quick story about Bangkok:
In 2001, I was invited to become a member of the Free Foresters Cricket Club, a wandering (no home field for you Americans) club which played around the world, doing tours and the like.
I’ve played with them in Holland, England, or…or this place! (America)
The social aspect of these tours are as important to the trip as the sport, and we are expected to indulge – for each of the three tours to Holland, after our first match finished we showered and driven to Amsterdam…then picked up at 8 am the next morning and brought to the locker room for our next match.
We rarely won the second.
As I’ve heard, the tour to Bangkok was similar, except after the final match everyone was driven to the “seedier” section of the city, and we told to be ready in the hotel lobby at 11 am for the van to drive them to the airport, and the next morning, all but 1 made it on time.
Efforts to reach the missing player went for naught, so a few went up to his room and banged loudly on his door. Finally, a woman answered the door, wearing only his batting helmet and pads, with a cricket bat in hand.
Said player was naked on the bed, hands and legs tied to the posts. “Hello, lads!”
P.S. Amsterdam is known for its ping-pong balls as well, among other things…but that’s a story for another (read: less family-friendly) site.
“Get Thai’d…”
I RiffTrax hasn’t done Cat-Women of The Moon, it’s just a matter of time.
*If
Great article, as always, but I caught two small typos: both “One Night In Bangkok” and “We Both Belong” are actually both 12s.
I once was fortunate enough to run into Ashford and Simpson at a charity event in the late 1990s. I was with a friend and geeked out like the fan boy in explaining to him who they were. “Oh my God, this is Ashford and Simpson, and they’re wonderful, and everything they do is wonderful!” They laughed and thanked me for the compliment. So, they really were wonderful, at least to me.
“One Night in Bangkok” is a 9, but the musical “Chess” is a 10/10 and is probably my favorite musical of all time. There are so many great songs there – “Anthem”, “Quartet”, “Nobody’s Side”, “Someone Else’s Story”, “Endgame”, etc. and I love the story as well.
Here’s “Quartet”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdjeO7jh8e0
There is debate among Chess fans over the best recording but for my money the definitive one is the Danish cast. Here’s Act 1; Act 2 can easily be found on Youtube as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVJAxNjoRlo
February 1985 was a memorable month for me. It was my first full month working for the federal government, in San Antonio. I’d left grad school at the Univ of Oklahoma, and driven down I-35 to take the government job. Everything in my life was a whirlwind. And the music of that time brings back memories instantly. Good memories!