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! 

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 

One town's very like another 
When your head's down over your pieces, brother 

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 

Whaddya mean? Ya seen one crowded, polluted, stinking town -- 

Tea, girls, warm and sweet 
Some are set up in the Somerset Maugham suite 

Get Thai'd! You're talking to a tourist 
Whose every move's among the purest 
I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine 

Chorus:
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 

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 -- 

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 
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