Lyrics to Benny Anderson, Tim Rice, Bjsrn Ulvaeus' One Night in Bangkok (performed by Murray Head) from ChessOne Night in Bangkok The song was composed and written by Benny Anderson, Tim Rice, Bjsrn Ulvaeus, performed by Murray Head, and is from the musical Chess. 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. --One Night in Bangkok, from Chess

I came across the bangkok photo shoot in W Magazine the night after I saw "Bride Over The River Kwai" (sometime in October 2001, during reading week) and it was probably this proximity that prompted me to start work on the kwai project. It wasn't until April that I started making a video with the magazine. Originally I wanted to do something similar to the beginning of the final video, but with a granular soundtrack sampled from the Murray Head song ("One Night In Bangkok"). I did the karaoke text as an experiment and the project went from there.

Little other than praise for DiCorcia's non-commerical work, but when his search for truth meets corporate fashion it becomes a little problematic. Maybe one could assume DiCorcia feels the same given his comment, "the more specific the interpretation suggested by a picture the less happy I am with it."

The stills pretty much speak for themselves, all I'll say is that if Nadja really went to Bangkok in a wool power suit she'd be more than humble by the trip's end. Apologies to diCorcia for the sub par scans:



[thewhiteimaginary.org]