As if to prove my point that early '80s pop music was infinitely more diverse than that of the '90s and today, Murray Head's "One Night in Bangkok" came from a highly unusual source for top forty songs, a musical stage show. Chess was written by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus, both of ABBA fame, and renown lyricist Tim Rice. It was a cold-war parable taking place over a chess board, as Russians battled the West for the world title. At one point, a match is scheduled in an unusual locale for such a cerebral game, Bangkok, which of course prompts "the American" to break into song. The song is "One Night In Bangkok," and is performed in this case by Murray Head, "the American" in the original studio recording of the musical. Like the rest of the play, the song is pretty corny, and while I love sitting back and listening to the single I don't know that I could stomach an additional two hours of like material. Apparently, that's about how audiences and critics felt. The play was not extremely well received, though it was performed on both sides of the Atlantic and is still performed occasionally today. Part of the criticism may stem from the fact that it was written by half of ABBA, - a group never noted for their literary side - and serious critics went into the show with a preconceived notion that the show would cheesy. In that respect the show did not disappoint. Still, to their credit this particular song catchy and the lyrics are quite clever, though in my humble opinion they could have worked to achieve greater subtlety with sexual innuendos.