one night in bangkok...
- John Bessant
- 1 day ago
- 2 min read
The power of the innovation 'mash-up'
Imagine. Skyscraper skyline by night, rainbows of neon and laser cutting tracks into the velvet darkness, shimmering half-light draping a city, pregnant with possibilities. The soundscape blends a pulsing beat, slight techno-edge, with shouts and street noise, flares of laughter and intrigues of muttered conversations in dark corners. Wrap it in a tapestry of music woven from songs leaking from a hundred clubs and cafes. Above you the rumble of the Skytrain, beneath your feet there’s the echo of the MTR. Everywhere there’s the endless traffic noise, a city always moving. Tuk-tuks puttering, scooters scuttering, cars and trucks grinding their way through, hissing and honking like angry geese. This is no sleep city — in fact it’s hard to escape the reality which is that, to quote the song:
‘One night in Bangkok is worth a year in any other town’
That was how I planned to start this blog piece, using the metaphor of an exciting and exotic city as a rich source of stimulation of all the senses, a sea of sensation from which you can’t escape. The ultimate inspirational bath in which to immerse yourself, one from which even the most reluctant Archimedes would find the urge to leap out and tell the world of his flash of insight…….
My idea was to use this device to report on the many insights I took from the ISPIM conference which took place last week. Arguing that if one night in the city could have this effect, think what a few days could do in terms of offering a huge treasure-trove of rich and stimulating experiences.
Except that I got side-tracked, tripped up by a seemingly small detail which turns out to have some interesting implications.
I thought I ought to double-check the quote — I’ve often used it to describe the city but I wanted to make sure I had it correct, tried to trace it to its source. My memory was that it featured in a song from the 1980s musical ‘Chess’, co-written by Tim Rice (lyricist for the Lion King, Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita and so many other shows) and Benny Ulvaeus, one of the Abba powerhouse team.
Only it turned out that no-one ever sang these words. They don’t exist as a song lyric anywhere I can trace.
I made them up.
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