As it said, it’s from the musical “Chess”. I love the musical, though it’s rarely performed nowadays. IMO the song doesn’t make much sense outside of the context of the musical.
Bangkok, Oriental city
Back of my neck getting dirty and gritty…
nm
Episode of Blonde is quite an atypical Elvis Costello song; aside from the chorus it lives somewhere between singing, rap, and recitation.
Since the OP’s link has They’re Coming To Take Me Away (which I still have the 45 of) I’ll have to give another shout out.
How about Kookie, Kookie, Lend Me Your Comb by Edd “Kookie” Byrnes & Connie Stevens from the TV show 77 Sunset Strip.
Then there’s See You Later Alligator, as done by Bill Haley and His Comets.
“One night in Bangkok makes a hard man humble”
Well, obviously, it’s about hookers and STIs. 
Hey, I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine 
The Ballad of Thunder Road by Robert Mitchum. The actor. The theme song from one of his movies. But the version in the movie was sung by someone else.
It charted in 1958 … and then charted again in 1962. Total 21 weeks on the chart. Then a duo covered it and it made the country chart in 1967.
There’s a million acts out there that would’ve killed to spend 21 weeks on the BB Hot 100.
(There’s a bunch of bad “The Ballad of …” songs out there that charted.)
I’m listening to They’re Coming to Take Me Away right now! It’s streaming on the revival “station” of the rock station I listened to as a kid. I’m going to click thumb’s up on it. BTW, that Mitchum song I gave also appeared on the channel yesterday which is why I thought of it.
They have a deep playlist. None of that crappy 40 song playlist too many oldies stations have.
You want spoken word, I got it right here.
You want long, I got it right here.
You want a song that isn’t just remembered, but still gets played on the radio more than 50 years after it came out, I got it right here.
Great intro, too bad the initial 1:47 doesn’t get played on the radio.
There was a song in the UK that became a surprise hit in 1980, it was only the second song on the B side but became the bands best known tune. It was about someone trying to order beer in a pub.
