The song is sung by Murray Head (whom you might recall as playing Judas in Jesus Christ Superstar) & was part of a musical called Chess. If I recall it was supposed to be about the Cold War using the game in a metaphoric sense.
Here's the vid. Robey covered the tune & here's the vid of that interpretation. & here's the not safe for work techno version by the Vinylshakerz. & here are the lyrics.
The song speaks of Bangkok's moral depravity contrasted with the intellectually purer pursuit of chess. Hedonism versus intellectualism in other words, & it seems that life imitates art to some degree. Only it's religious purity versus education this time. The Jawa Report has the story of the 61rst teacher killed in Thailand. She was killed by fundamentalist Muslims who view education as a threat & operate "hit squads" to nullify the perceived threat. The government in Thailand has said it has word that violence will increase & is looking at shutting some schools down if things get too dangerous. According to this Dave Kopel article Thailand is allowing its teachers to acquire firearms licenses & carry in school in the southern regions where the fundamentalist Muslim "hit squads" are operating. No word on how many teachers are currently capable of defending themselves though. & since Thailand has a new government it's entirely possible that the "armed teachers" idea has fallen by the wayside, but that's purely speculative. There have been increased police & military assignments around schools but that's about all I've found out since the new government took over in the fall.
Posted by Publicola at December 25, 2006 04:38 PM | TrackBack