… Not so fast there,
I mean, are there other songs that talk about a game, but don’t come out and spell it out?
And by game I mean a ‘classic’ board game.
Well, One Night in Bangkok does spell it out, doesn’t it?
“The creme de la creme of the chess world”
Now, Yes’s “I’ve Seen All Good People” at least doesn’t mention the word chess.
:smack:
Ok. Any other songs that talk one game in the same depth as One Night in Bangkok?
Well, “One Night in Bangkok” is from the musical CHESS and is about the singer’s inability to really pay attention to anything other than the game.
Chutes & Ladders doesn’t tend to inspire that type of obsession among it’s players.
Apparently you’ve never heard my song, “One Night in Tulsa”.
A few of the other songs from CHESS are about the game (at least as much as One Night in Bangkok is). Notably, “The Story of Chess,” and “Quartet (A Model of Decorum and Tranquility).”
If Buckner & Garcia put out a whole album of songs about 80s video games, I wouldn’t be surprised if there were other board game songs.
If you count game shows, there’s “I Lost on Jeopardy” by Weird Al Yankovick.
And, well, I guess from your OP that you don’t count game shows. But hey, there are home game versions of Jeopardy so I claim half credit.
Hope this isn’t too much of a hijack, but I only recently found out that Murray Head, best known for the 1984 release of “One Night In Bangkok”, is the brother of Anthony Stewart Head who played Giles on ‘Buffy The Vampire Slayer’.
There are a few about card games. Kenny Rogers’s The Gambler and Jonathan Coulton’s Gambler’s Prayer come to mind.
Murray Head also had the leading role of Judas on the original 1971 recording of Jesus Christ Superstar, which went to #1 on the album charts in the U.S.
I’d nominate “One Night in Bangkok” as the #1 kitsch classic of the '80s.
Oh no. Not so long as Divine was recording music. Murray Head’s recording isn’t even the number one kitsch version of the song, that honor going to the cover by Robey (best known as the hot chick from the Friday the 13th TV series).
BTW, the original video of One Night in Bangkok is no longer at Youtube, but here is the song with a nice up to date photo slide of current day Bangkok:
And for treat, here is the Robey cover:
I love that song 
Never heard the Robey cover… but man… she’s got some BIG ASS HAIR!!! And she also either has no rhythm or the video editing isn’t synched up with the music (especially the part where she’s doing the head slides…)
Interesting video though, and a good cover of the song, musically.
That’s a tough one. I guess games don’t interest musicians so much.
Ok, thought of one. Kaizers Orchestra - Rullett.
Its about Russian Roulette. (And it’s in Norwegian. Pretty obscure.)
“One Night in Bangkok” doesn’t talk about chess, directly or indirectly. It’s from the musical Chess, about a chess tournament takes place in Bangkok.
Sure it does.
"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"
and
"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"
Unless I misunderstand you.
I don’t know if this is in the same league (heh, heh) but John Fogerty’s “Centerfield” does not mention the game of baseball.
*EDIT- Never mind, on rereading, I see the OP is asking for a board game. My goof.
Well, there are some baseball board games.
That might be a Youtube artifact. I don’t know if it’s a bandwidth thing but more and more I’ve been seeing the visuals falling behind the audio on a variety of clips. I do concur about the giant frakking hair, though.
Re the OP, I assume Led Zeppelin’s “Stairway to Roborally” wouldn’t count because the name of the game is right there in the title.