Posted on 10/27/2022 3:33:27 AM PDT by dynachrome
I don’t know about history. History is just people.
Actually, I thought it had already been discontinued. I haven’t heard of it for years.
I’ve heard that song dozens of times and (apparently) never paid attention to the lyrics. Disgusting.
That said, I don't have the slightest idea what it's all about, but I suspect it has to do with perverted sexuality in general...just run amok.
I don't know if it will ever go back into the closet.
The question is, what does it mean to a "healthy" society to have "unhealthy" components living alongside it in broad daylight.
Welcome to the brave new world.
“Are they real?” is going to take on a whole new meaning...
I liked that song as a kid, and had no clue what it was about.
https://news.yahoo.com/thai-transgender-businesswoman-buys-miss-222415655.html
Great - now the Miss Universe pageant will have to add a “biggest dick” event...putting real women at even bigger disadvantage - for some, it will be looked upon as a freak show...
Ping to “One Night in Bankok”
Will the Adam’s Apple competition happen before or after the swimsuit competition?
To be renamed...
“Miss EunuchVerse”
>> I’ve heard that song dozens of times and (apparently) never paid attention to the lyrics. Disgusting. <<
Oh, no! You misunderstand! The title character is sneering at all the pop-culture creeps and perverts wanting to go to Thailand for sex with boys! I get my kicks ABOVE the waistline, Sunshine!”) If there’s anything disgusting about the song, it’s that the character (simply named, “The American”) is presented as a bit of a racist for seeing only that perversion.
I left off a line I should have kept in for clarity, simply because it’s not catchy:
“So you better go back to your bars, your temples, your massage parlors...”
Other lines:
“you’re talking to a tourist/ whose every move is among the purest/ I get my kicks above the waistline,/ Sunshine!”
“AMERICAN: One town’s very like another
When your head’s down over your pieces, brother
LOCALS: 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
AMERICAN: Whaddya mean? Ya seen one crowded, polluted, stinking town...”
“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”
If you want to be disgusted, there’s the video, “Save a Prayer” by Duran Duran, which sounded and cool but visually seemed perfectly innocent just kinda boring and pointless to me as a teenager. They were playing with a bunch of native kids in an exotic land. But then I learned that one of the members became a gay porn star, and when I saw it again, I was like, “Get away from those kids, you pervert!!!!”
To be clear:
It’s about an American chess-player sneering at the disgusting, dirty culture of Thailand. The play it’s from is about an American chess player who uses a Russian opponent’s longing for freedom and attraction towards his own assistant to psyche him out to win a chess game. The Russian gets the girl and gets his freedom, but the American gets what he wanted: the championship.
The part that almost makes me weep is how well I can identify with the Russian’s mournful “Anthem” for his country:
No man, no madness, though their sad power may prevail
can possess, conquer, my country’s heart; They rise to fail
She is eternal, long before nations’ lines were drawn,
when no flags flew and no armies stood, my land was born
And you ask me why I love her through wars, death and despair
She is the constant; we who don’t care
And you wonder will I leave her — but how?
I cross over borders but I’m still there now
How can I leave her? Where would I start?
Let man’s petty nations tear themselves apart
My land’s only borders lie around my heart
(Don’t mistake the meaning of this song either: he sings it as he escapes into the American consulate, where there’s a real zinger against the un-American careerists we would now call Deep State at the consulate):
Oh my dear how boring! He’s defecting!
Just like all the others, he’s expecting
Us to be impressed with what he’s done here
But he hasn’t stopped to think about the paperwork his gesture causes
We’ve an embassy to run here! If these people can’t strike blows for freedom
with a valid visa, we don’t need ‘em
If we seem offhand then please remember
This is nothing very special he’s the fourth we’ve had since last November
Who do these foreign chappies think they are?
And when he’s safely in the West, he’ll be the hero to discuss
The media will lionise him, fame and fortune plus
No-one will recall it’s thanks to us.
Have you an appointment with the consul?
If you don’t we know what his response’ll
be, he will not see you, with respect it
Buggers up his very taxing schedule Pushing peace and understanding; Let us hope this won’t affect it
Far too many jokers Cross the border
Not a single document in order
Russia must be empty Though we’re all for
Basic human rights it makes you wonder. What they built the Berlin wall for
Who do these foreign chappies think they are?
And when you’ve filled in all the forms and been passed clear of all disease
Debriefed debugged dedrugged disarmed and disinfected please
Don’t forget the guys who cut your keys!
Lackadong
I used to rule the world
Seas would rise when I gave the word
Now in the morning I sleep alone
Sweep the streets I used to own
I used to roll the dice
Feel the fear in my enemy's eyes
Listened as the crowd would sing,
"Now the old king is dead! Long live the king!"
One minute I held the key
Next the walls were closed on me
And I discovered that my castles stand
Upon pillars of salt and pillars of sand
I hear Jerusalem bells a-ringing
Roman cavalry choirs are singing
Be my mirror, my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
For some reason I can't explain
Once you'd gone there was never
Never an honest word
And that was when I ruled the world
It was a wicked and wild wind
Blew down the doors to let me in
Shattered windows and the sound of drums
People couldn't believe what I'd become
Revolutionaries wait
For my head on a silver plate
Just a puppet on a lonely string
Oh who would ever want to be king?
I hear Jerusalem bells a-ringing
Roman cavalry choirs are singing
Be my mirror, my sword and shield
My missionaries in a foreign field
For some reason I can't explain
I know St. Peter won't call my name
Never an honest word
But that was when I ruled the world
I think it definitely references a Brit’s perspective of what it means to rule an empire, but I always took it as being more about a person who’s lost a lover than literally about a king who’s lost his empire.
“Now in the morning I sleep alone
Sweep the streets I used to own...
For some reason I can’t explain
Once you’d gone there was never
Never an honest word
And that was when I ruled the world...”
I tend to take things very literally, but I guess you could argue the lover is the metaphor, rather than the empire. So I guess what I’m saying is I’m not meaning to assert that I’m right and you’re wrong.
A dark age - very dark - is descending.
It's not what I would call a fully realized or focused poem—just a pop song stream of consciousness. He may have scant idea what he was implying!
My mistake. I have gone a lifetime thinking that history is a written record of human events.
Here is a funny commercial from back then about what a Russian pageant might look like.
I'm sure that commercial wouldn't be allowed today.
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