Chess, the top 40, and Thailand

 I like musicals.  I became an Andrew Lloyd Webber fan around 1989 when Phantom of the Opera was the number one musical.  From there I moved on to his other works.  In this foray into Lloyd Webber’s work, the name Tim Rice kept showing up.  Then Tim Rice’s name showed up with Alan Menken’s on Disney’s Aladdin.  Then I purchased a Tim Rice CD and, lo and behold, a hit from the 1980s was on the CD.  So how did that happen?

                Tim Rice is a lyricist—that is, he writes the words and collaborates with others who write the music to go with his words.  Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice wrote three musicals together: Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Evita.  After these, Tim Rice wanted to write a musical about the Cold War.  He decided to take the idea of the Cold War through the chess route.  Wait, what?

                Andrew Lloyd Webber was writing another musical by this time based on a book of poems by T.S. Elliot (thereby not needing a lyricist because the poetry was the lyrics), so he was unable to work on this project.  Someone suggested Tim Rice work with two Swedish men by the names of Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus.  It turns out, these two men were members of a little pop music group called ABBA.

                From this unusual collaboration, a musical about chess and the Cold War was born.  The name of the musical?  Chess. (Surprise, surprise. . .)  I won’t go into the plot too much: there’s chess and a love triangle and Soviets and Americans.  The musical ran in London for three years and on Broadway for two months in the 1980s.  It had some revivals, but nothing really stuck.  At least productions of it haven’t stuck.  The songs, on the other hand. . .

                A concept album for Chess was released prior to the musical production and was well-received.  Some of the songs are still floating around today: Josh Groban sings an amazing version of “Anthem” on his Stages album.  And then there’s that top ten hit from 1985 sung/rapped (more like spoken in rhythm as opposed to actual rap like a rapper would rap) by Murray Head: “One Night in Bangkok.”

                Before I had become familiar with Tim Rice’s work, I was familiar with Tim Rice’s work.  I remember hearing “One Night in Bangkok” on the radio fairly frequently during my formative years.  I remember singing along to the chorus and trying to figure out what the rest of the song was talking about.  It was years later (see above) that I understood that the song was a comparison of what an average male tourist does in Bangkok and what a chess nut does there.  Or something like that.

                So what of these lyrics?  You know, of course, that I misunderheard much of the song.  When one doesn’t realize the song is part of the plot of a musical, much can be missed.

                The radio version starts abruptly because the actual introduction is in contrast to the song’s style, so it does not get played much.  The song begins with the words: “Bangkok, Oriental city. . .”  My mistake. . . it is “Bangkok, Oriental setting.”

                It goes on talking about the city not knowing it is getting the crème de la crème of the chess world and it will be “a show with everything but Yul Brynner.”  Yul Brynner being the actor who played the king of Siam (the old name of Thailand) in the movie “The King and I” (which is a different musical).

                The next part didn’t make much sense to me.  I heard “Time flies, doesn’t seem a minute since the [something something something] had the chess boys in it.”  The [somethings] is “the Tirolean spa”, which is a reference to a different chess match played in the beginning of the musical.  The song then names other venues (although I thought he said "menu") which hosted chess championships.

                Finally, we get to the sung part—the chorus:

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.

(Okay, I thought they were saying “the bars are temples but the gods ain’t free’, that is, the gods are everywhere, as are the girls

 

                Then we go back to the talk-singing which is more like a dialogue between the chess master and some others who are trying to convince the chess master to see what’s best about the city.  The chess master saying every city’s the same when all you see is the chess board.  Then comes a couple of sung lines that go past so fast that who knows what they’re saying.  Turns out the lines are “Tea girls, warm and sweet/Some are set up in the Somerset Maugham suite.”  They’re talking about some of the “sights” of the city (wink, wink, nudge, nudge), to which the chess master says, “Get tied; you’re talking to a tourist whose every move’s among the purest.”  Again, my mistake.  He says “Get Thai’d.”  We have a couple of puns going on here: Thai’d (Thailand)/tied and move (picking up women/playing chess).  Then the chess master speaks most directly: “I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine.”

                Now we have another sung part—a different chorus this time which riffs on the original:

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.

Again we have here more double meaning in seeing the city and the chess match.

 

                The last bout of talk-singing is about the chess master’s interest in the chess match over the local sights and gets in a last little dig at the folks there for something other than chess: “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 parlors. . .”

                The song wraps up with the first chorus followed by the second (with the line “And if you’re lucky then the god’s a she” replaced with “A little flesh, a little history” [I thought that was mystery]).

                I still find it strange that a song about chess during the Cold War became a 1980’s pop hit, topping out at #3 on the charts.  It doesn’t seem likely that a song from a musical would be popular, even if it was written by ABBA.  Then again, I wouldn’t think a musical written around songs from ABBA would be popular, but here we are.  Mama mia!

Desert Roses with Thorns

    Once upon a time there was an English teacher named Gordon who ended up having a successful musical career.  (Something every English teacher dreams of--or maybe just me. . .) You likely know him by his stage name Sting.  He started out with the Police and then went solo later.  

    Many of Sting's songs have a rather Irish sound to them--sorry to burst your bubble: he's British.  One song, however, contains the haunting sounds of many of his other songs, but does not sound Irish or British, or even European.  

    "Desert Rose" has a distinctive Middle-Eastern sound.  This is not surprising considering Cheb Mami sings the Arabic lyrics at the beginning, and as counterpoint throughout.  The type of music Cheb Mami sings is an Algerian folk music style called Rai, hence, the Middle-Eastern--technically North African--feel to the song.  

    The Arabic lyrics have been translated roughly as "O night, It has been a long time, And I am looking for myself and my loved one."  Interestingly enough, Cheb Mami improvised the lines, and they aligned with Sting's lyrics quite well.  Both convey a deep longing.

    Now about Sting's lyrics. . .  Of course, I misunderheard something.  Or did I?  After reading the lyrics which accompany the track on Amazon music, I did.  After reading the lyrics on Google, I didn't.  Just which is the definitive lyrics anyway?  Here is a comparison:

Amazon Music	Google (Source: Musicmatch)	AZlyrics.com
I dream of rain ele yele I dream of gardens in the desert sand I wake in pain ele yele I dream of love as time runs through my hand I dream of fire ele yele Those dreams are tied to a horse that will never tire And in the flames ele yele Her shadows play in the shape of a man's desire This desert rose ele yele Whose shadow veils, the secret promise This desert flower ele yele No sweet perfume ever tortured me more than this And now she turns ele yele This way she moves in the logic of all my dreams This fire burns ele yele I realize that nothing's as it seems I dream of rain ele yele I dream of gardens in the desert sand I wake in pain ele yele I dream of love as time runs through my hand I dream of rain ele yele I lift my gaze to empty skies above I close my eyes This rare perfume is the sweet intoxication of her love I dream of rain ele yele I dream of gardens in the desert sand I wake in pain ele yele I dream of love as time runs through my hand Sweet desert rose ele yele Each of her veils, a secret promise This desert flower ele yele No sweet perfume ever tortured me more than this Sweet desert rose This memory of Eden haunts us all This desert flower This rare perfume, is the sweet intoxication of the fall	I dream of rain I dream of gardens in the desert sand I wake in vain I dream of love as time runs through my hand  I dream of fire These dreams that tie two hearts that will never die Near the flames The shadows play in the shape of the man's desire  This desert rose Whose shadow bears the secret promise This desert flower No sweet perfume ever tortured me more than this  And now she turns This way she moves in the logic of all my dreams This fire burns I realize that nothing's as it seems  I dream of rain I dream of gardens in the desert sand I wake in vain I dream of love as time runs through my hand  I dream of rain I lift my gaze to empty skies above I close my eyes The rare perfume is the sweet intoxication of love  I dream of rain I dream of gardens in the desert sand I wake in vain I dream of love as time runs through my hand  Sweet desert rose Whose shadow bears the secret promise This desert flower No sweet perfume ever tortured me more than this  Sweet desert rose This memory of hidden hearts and souls This desert flower This rare perfume is the sweet intoxication of love	I dream of rain I dream of gardens in the desert sand I wake in vain I dream of love as time runs through my hand I dream of fire Those dreams are tied to a horse that will never tire And in the flames Her shadows play in the shape of a man's desire This desert rose Each of her veils, a secret promise This desert flower No sweet perfume ever tortured me more than this And as she turns This way she moves in the logic of all my dreams This fire burns I realize that nothing's as it seems I dream of rain I dream of gardens in the desert sand I wake in vain I dream of love as time runs through my hand I dream of rain I lift my gaze to empty skies above I close my eyes This rare perfume is the sweet intoxication of her love I dream of rain I dream of gardens in the desert sand I wake in vain I dream of love as time runs through my hand Sweet desert rose Each of her veils, a secret promise This desert flower No sweet perfume ever tortured me more than this Sweet desert rose This memory of Eden haunts us all This desert flower This rare perfume, is the sweet intoxication of the fall

            The versions have slight differences.  Does he wake in pain or in vain?  To what are the memories tied to?  Personally, I thought it was “tied to a horse that would never die”—which does not match any of the lyrics above.  I also thought the last line was “the sweet intoxication of love", as the Google lyrics state, but that is refuted by the others.  Of course, tying Eden to the fall makes a whole lot of sense. 

So, what to make of this Desert Rose? It is mystifying, obviously—which is rather the point of the song.  I guess I’ll sing along with my own words because nobody seems to agree on them anyway.

            Speaking of roses; what does Seal mean when he says he’s been kissed by a rose on the grave?  Wait, what? It’s a rose on the grey?  I don’t get it.

Lost in the Woods

 [Author's note: today is a slight departure from misunderheard lyrics.  It is more a personal analysis.]

As a mom, it is inevitable that I would watch a lot of Disney movies.  On the other hand, I probably would watch Disney movies if I wasn’t a mom, so there’s that.  I like Disney movies, okay?!  Ahem, sorry.

                Disney has come out with some good ones recently (and when I say recently, I mean back like to 2000).  What would a Disney movie be without the songs?  Everybody still knows “Hi Ho” from Snow White, which was Disney’s first feature-length animated film.  How can anyone forget “Let it Go” from Frozen?  Idena Menzel sure cannot.

                One thing that Disney started doing at least back since the animated Beauty and the Beast in the late 1990s is having a radio version of one or more of the songs in the movie.  My daughter (who LOVES Beauty and the Beast) still cringes whenever I play the Celine Dion/Peabo Bryson version of the titular song.  There was a bit of hype after Frozen 2 came out because Panic! At the Disco recorded a radio version of “Into the Unknown.”  It was argued that a male band shouldn’t have sung a song clearly about women empowerment—or something like that.  I shall make no comment in that regard.

                Speaking of Frozen 2, I have been pondering “Lost in the Woods.”  As I mentioned elsewhere, when I saw the movie in the theater, I could barely contain my laughter at the “Lost in the Woods” scene which was so very, very 1980s power ballad.  It really was well-done with so many 1980s music video references, down to a nod to Queen.   The radio version of “Lost in the Woods” is not nearly as humorous.  There is nothing wrong with Weezer’s version; in fact, it is precisely their version which drives home the poignancy of the song. 

                In the movie (spoiler alert), Kristoff, who is trying to propose to Anna the whole way through the movie, finds himself abandoned by Elsa and Anna, who have gone off to find that which they are seeking.  Kristoff sings of how he is literally lost in the woods because she left him there.  He shows his insecure side, singing of how Anna is his “true north” and all, and that he’s lost in the woods until she returns.  Along with the visuals, Johnathon Goff’s version has more the sound of Air Supply or Chicago, which adds to the humor of the power ballad.

                Disconnected from the story and visuals, as well as the literal being lost in the woods, the song becomes far more melancholy.  Taken at face value, this is a song of one who feels the loneliness of abandonment by the one they loved.  The singer assumed that his love would always be there for him, but now he is not so sure.  There is a real sense of fear that the relationship may fall apart, and who knows what the effect may be.  Being lost in a literal woods is frightening: being lost in a figurative woods is downright terrifying. Without her, he feels as though he has no sense of direction anymore.

                With their remakes of “Africa” and “Take on Me”, Weezer has shown their chops at 1980s music.  “Lost in the Woods” being in the style of the 1980s, gives Weezer another chance to shine at this genre; and they succeed.  They put their own stylistic stamp on it: rather than sounding like Air Supply, the lead singer sings more with a pathos reminiscent of Billy Joel.  The interplay between romantic dreamer and realist is apparent from the beginning.  One can hear the longing when he tells he has been left behind.  There is still a spark of hope at the end, but he resigns himself to knowing it comes down to her.

                Whether or not you like Disney songs, Weezer’s version of “Lost in the Woods” is not to be missed.  It stands on its own as a powerful song apart from its movie context.