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"I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine" may well be one of the best lyrics ever penned!

“It sounds so futuristic tho” The 1980s was obsessed with the future... Now we’re obsessed with the 1980s. i Want My 80s BACK and my MTV

"One town is pretty like another when your head's down over your pieces, brother" has got to be one of the best double entendres in the song!

Best line, "Siam is gonna be the Witness to the Ultimate Test of Cerebral Fitness"

This is from the musical Chess written by the guys from Abba and Tim Rice. This particular version of the song was from the original concept album. There has never been a movie made. Murray Head also played Judas on the original Jesus Christ Superstar soundtrack. His version of Superstar from that soundtrack was also a hit.

“I’d let you watch I would invite you, but the queens we use would not excite you....”

"Bet you can't make a cool song about chess." "Hold my beer."

The bass, synth and vocal harmonisation in the chorus are incredible.

I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine

Murray Head has a famous brother, Anthony Head, who played Giles the librarian in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV Series.

06:15 "I'd let you watch, I would invite you, but the queens we use would not excite you"... Always was one of my favorite lines

I've always loved the way he says, "...or this place!" As though he can't believe where they have ended up.

This is from the musical Chess written by Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson. The Two guys and B:s from ABBA. :)

"You'll find a god in every Golden cloister, and if you're lucky, then the god's a she."

"Not much between despair and ecstasy". THOSE are the best lyrics of this one.

His spoken word is on point in this song

Say what you want about 80's one hit wonders....this song is still just hits hard after all these years! Will always pause to enjoy this thumper.

Hey, the good old days when you could make a musical about chess and the Cold War and have hit singles from it! Crazy times...

"The queens we use would not excite you". I just loved your reaction. I cannot believe you haven't heard this song until now. That is wild. So glad you've finally heard it.

one of the most deepest songs ever written with multiple deep meanings

Does anyone hear the song mentions Yul Brynner. He player the King of Siam(Thailand) in the movie "The King and I". My late wife and I used to have a laugh at that, since it was one of her favorite movies.

In a time where the most popular songs were about sex and partying and having fun; this is a song about playing competitive chess and warning away the people who can't hang with that lifestyle. I loved it when it came out, still do today.

This is one of my feels songs. I remember when this song came out. It was about Bobby Fischer and Boris Spassky. He came out of retirement and played Boris Spassky of USSR, and won. Boris was returning champion and Bobby hadn't played professionally in years. It was a huge deal that USSR even agreed to play with the US.

The entire musical is layers upon layers of being pawns. The superpowers of playing the seconds, the seconds are playing the players, and the player are playing the chess pieces. Another great song from Chess is Nobody's On Nobody's Side.

Jamal when I was 10 years old I learnt the words for this song by heart. I got up in front of my class at school along with my friend Sean and sang it to the class. I definitely never fully understood the lyrics. My teacher was probably having a good chuckle on the inside.

This song is from a musical called 'Chess', but this recording was a concept album made to test the concept of the show before creating it onstage. It was a stage hit in London, and the story was about the competition between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. at the height of the Cold War as fought over the chessboard during a Grandmaster Championship. Murray Head's character is the American chess player, and he is brash and arrogant (like the song). It takes place in the second act. About ten years ago, there was a televised concert version which starred Josh Groban (as the Russian player, Anatoly Segievsky), Idina Menzel (Elsa in 'Frozen' playing Florence, the woman in the middle), and Adam Rapp (the Original Broadway Cast and film Roger in 'RENT' as Freddy Trumper, the American player). The lyrics of 'Chess' are written by Sir Tim Rice, who won the Oscar for "A Whole New World" (with Alan Menkin from 'Aladdin') and "Can You Feel The Love Tonight" (with Elton John from 'The Lion KIng', and the Tony Award for the musical 'Evita' (with Andrew Lloyd Webber, his first collaborator ). The music is by Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus (the guys from ABBA). It was written shortly after ABBA parted ways. In fact, many of the songs in the show sound as if they were written with Agnetha Faltskog and Anni-Frid Lyngstad (the ladies of ABBA) in mind, especially the female duet "I Know Him So Well".

Murray Head was GREAT. Sharp, arrogant and his suit is perfect!

"One night in Bangkok make the hard man humble ...One night in Bangkok and the tough guy crumbles" Great line.

Once a group of chess grandmasters were staying at a hotel. They were hanging around the lobby and bragging to one another about their strategies and victories. Finally the hotel manager kicked them all out. Turns out he didn't care for chess nuts boasting in an open foyer.

Mike Tyson "singing" this at the end of the movie Hangover 2 😆

If you should ever need to reject a woman’s advances, “I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine” is pure gold.

Best part of this is that this is the first time Jamel has heard this and how much he enjoyed it. It was on the radio every other song when I was a small being.

I love how you say that the title sounds like a "freaky deaky time" when the song is completely about the opposite - the guy is there only to play chess or watch those playing in a tournament. There is definitely a double meaning. They main singer only cares about chess while the chorus singers are extolling all the erotic and exotic finds of the area. I think the juxtaposition is what most of us love about this song. For example, one chorus line is: Tea, girls, warm, sweet; Some are set up in the Somerset Maugham suite His response is: Get thai'd, you're talking to a tourist; Whose every move's among the purest; I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine

only in the 80's would this greatness happen

His delivery of the double entendres was so sly, that many missed the references.

One of the most interesting songs ever made.

Murray Head is a respected Broadway performer, best known for Jesus Christ, Superstar.

God Bless the 80's. I was a teenager during the decade and it was the best time of my life. There is no decade that can compare

"Siam's going to be witness to the ultimate test of cerebral fitness" is the king of lines.

It’s one of those songs that once it sets up resistance in your head never leaves. The tune will come back tomorrow when you’re sleeping, eating, on your way to work, in the bathroom....

Siam is gonna be the witnesses to the ultimate test of cerebral fitness

Heard this song about a million times in the late 80s. Still liked it.

Chess was a musical written by the guys from ABBA. Murray Head's performance gives a very American feel to this piece. His emoting in one of the final pieces for the show, Pity the Child is great. The flute for this piece was provided by the lead singer/ flautist from Jethro Tull

I still play this and other 80s songs in my car. The instrumental is just amazing. EVERY SINGLE instrument was ...instrumental in this song. And then the lyrics are just something else. Just amazing.

For one hit wonders def check out Thomas Dolby- She Blinded Me With Science. Another 80s gem.

That bassline is wicked AF that made the song

From the musical Chess. The guys from ABBA Benny & Bjorn with Tim Rice wrote it. It’s a fantastic song.

Elaine Paige, Barbara Dickson - I Know Him So Well (from "CHESS")

You can detect the ABBA excellence and inventiveness.

This song came out in 1985 and was written by two of the members of ABBA.

Quick thing, Murray is singing this as the character, "The American." This was a reference to chess great Bobby Fischer. His opponent, not seen in the video is "The Russian" a reference to Boris Spatsky. In the musical that both battle on the chess board and for the affections of a woman. (Of course.)

This song is part of a group that includes Taco "Putting on the Ritz", Carl Douglas "Kung Foo Fighting", and Gary Numan "Cars", among others.

One night in Bangkok came out at a time when a song was just as much about the video as the actual song, it was the ultimate blending of the visual and the audio, when M-TV was M-TV

I like the lyric: "Some are set up in the Somerset Maugham Suite", because it's clever and a bit of a tongue-twister.

Incredible how many people have been living on another planet and never heard this. Surprisingly , its always the greatest , most popular songs of all eras that get reacted to ' the first time' .

From the musical Chess - written by Bjorn Ulvaeus & Benny Andersson (ABBA) and Tim Rice. Brilliant !

Björn & Bennys worldwide hit after ABBA ( with Tim Rice) from "Chess". "I know him so well" was the other big hit ( no.1 in the UK) from that musical.

that intro is FIRE "Say it ain't so, Joe" is another hit from him

Even after all these years....it's still a cool song. Thailand really is a trip...Bangkok

I fell in love with this tune when it first came out.

Wow. WOW, this takes me back. Huge hit that eventually kind of disappeared.

This song is universal and hovers above time and space. It is AN ANTHEM.

Murray Head's "Say it aint so Joe ". That's an earworm that will stay in the noggin' for years...

Tim Rice, Stephen Sondheim, and Randy Rainbow have to be the greatest lyricists ever. If you say them they sound natural. The rhymes and cadence aren’t forced, and the storytelling is just perfect.

My roommate in college was a theater major, had this entire soundtrack on CD. There is a ton of cool songs on it. This one was entirely deserving of it's popularity and hit status.

I never noticed how hard this baseline slaps.

The whole stage play music for chess was written by BENNY AND BJORN OF ABBA

This still sounds incredibly unique & is wondefully bizarre. Some killer lines thrown in there too.

"I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine" Someone's been reading my Tinder profile

Murray had at least one other hit with "Superstar" from Jesus Christ Superstar. I think he's primarily an actor.

It was writen for a musical about the US/USSR chess rivalries. Using it as a metaphor for life. Love it.

The lyrics are the pleasure of this track. It's also the idea that a chess player must be immune to their environment. "One town's very like another when your head's down over your pieces brother.". I wish for more tracks as evocative and entertaining as this one.

Classic one hit wonder, you're right Jamel in saying that if this song came out today Iit would be a hit. "Full Circle"

So glad you loved it! Next has to be Electric Avenue!!! You'll love it just as much if not more! Another banger coming up!!!

When this song came out, I was on the PS 222 Chess team (took 3rd best-unrated player in NYC that year) I was lucky enough that my coach was the mother of US Chess champ Joel Benjamin. We were from a public school going up against rich kids from private schools, this song always brings me back to being a nerdy twelve-year-old in a chess tournament wearing a Mr. Spock shirt for luck. Shout out to Mrs. Benjaman my 6-grade science teacher, who ran the chess club, and to my mom for teaching me to play at a young age.

Hi! This is a musical by Bjørn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson, the guys in and behind the music of ABBA!! Released two years after ABBA stopped working together as a group. Lyrics by Tim Rice. It was released as a double LP and the musical is still playing (not right now due to C19) on stages around the world. It is a really good musical, especially the music and the performers. Like the ABBA music, the songs and the music is really varied, from pop songs to more classical pieces, almost operatic. The original cast included Murray Head and Elaine Page and Tommy Kørberg. I can highly recommend songs as: The Arbiter, Anthem, Nobody's Side, Endgame, I Know Him So Well and the title track.

A line that didn’t mean much at the time, now used WAAAY too much, “Time flies, doesn’t seem a minute...”

"Get Thai'd You're talking to a tourist whose every move's among the purest I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine" The creativity and talent required to write those lyrics and to put a great beat behind it blows me away.

This song is from a musical named Chess. His brother played the librarian in Buffy The Vampire Slayer. I cannot get enough of it

I met two girls in Bangkok. They said it'd be just like winning the lottery! Later, I found out they were right---we had 6 matching balls!!

'I know him so well' from the same musical, sung by Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson. Both singers are superb.

Try "Walking In Memphis" by Marc Cohn, a 90's one-hit wonder. Good for your soul!

"But the queens we use would not excite you"...awesome lyrics, and a perfect description of a chess game.

As a Swede this is track and the entire Chess Musical is common knowledge and something we've all been raised with on radio. Also its sooooo "Anders & Karin Glennmark" in the chorus. Great stuff!

Murray Head is AMAZING as Judas in the original 1970 recording of Jesus Christ Superstar. You should react to his performance of "Heaven On Their Minds" from that album.

You should listen to "Mexican Radio" by Wall of Voodoo...another quirky song.

This is actually from a Broadway show called “Chess”. It is such a great song! The play is about the Cold War played on a chess board. Oh! And then you read it! LOL

Fun Fact about Murray Head - He had limited success, until asked by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber to play Judas Iscariot on the original concept album version of Jesus Christ Superstar; at the time, he had been appearing in the West End production of the musical Hair. With the Trinidad Singers, the song "Superstar" peaked at No. 14 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1971.

This is a rare pop song that came from a Broadway musical "Chess".

There was a time in the 70s & 80s in which the World Championships of Chess attracted large audiences or followers. They had such superstars as Boris Spaasky, Bobby Fischer, Anatoly Karpov and Garry Kasparov. The championship venues were held in exotic places such as Argentina, Switzerland, Iceland, The Philippines, and Indonesia. I do not believe it was ever held in Thailand.

Back when Broadway/West End musicals gave us chart topping hits. Doesn't happen that often any longer.

One of the best things to do, put this on the jukebox, during a crowded bar on a Saturday night. Who says your bartender can't teach the this generation!! Hehehe. It's a wonderful thing!! Thanks for the reaction!

Chess was a musical play. Some great music. Set during the cold war and a chess game. Love the soundtrack His other song from this Pity the Child is also great

never really understood the lyrics till i actually was in Bangkok...

Who elso misses the 80s, best music ever

The guys from ABBA wrote the music to this song. Not many people know this.

This song has such a good groove. Really well done.

I have literally bought this soundtrack in many forms about 5 times. Never saw the play to my dismay. This was written by Benny and Bjorn of Abba in the 80's. As usual Jamel, thanks for bring up one of my ride or die faves

"Not much between despair and ecstasy"... Never truer words were spoken.