'One Night In Bangkok' Idioms?

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Hello, everyone.

I'm new to here and new to English too.

I'm attempting to translate the song "one nigt in Bangkok",

and now stucking with some parts.

The song came from "Chess", the musical

,about Chess competition (I don't know much about the story.I would be really appreciate if you tell some more.)

The song's scene is that The american player participates the tournament at Bangkok, Thailand.

He expresses about the local nightlife.

For full lyric >> http://www.80smusiclyrics.com/artists/murrayhead.htm


1. One night in Bangkok and the world's your oyster
The bars are temples but the pearls ain't free

I think the world's your oyster means the world's yours. You can do anything you want.

But I'm not clear about the pearls ain't free.

2. One town's very like another
When your head's down over your pieces, brother

3. Get Thai'd! You're talking to a tourist
Whose every move's among the purest
I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine
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Comments  
1) You understand the meaning of the world's your oyster just fine.

So, 'but the pearls ain't free' - extend the metaphor a bit, the pearls are the good things found inside the oyster. So, the world may be all yours but you may not be able to have everything you want. It's possible given the setting that 'pearls' also refers to women...

2) Think chess pieces.

3) Thailand/Bankok is infamous for providing kicks (pleasures) that involve areas 'below the waistline'. This guy is unusual because he is there to play chess - involving his brain not anything else!
1. One night in Bangkok and the world's your oyster
The bars are temples but the pearls ain't free

I think the world's your oyster means the world's yours. You can do anything you want.

CORRECT

But I'm not clear about the pearls ain't free.

He's referring to the women as "pearls".

2. One town's very like another
When your head's down over your pieces, brother

He means that you can't tell one city from another when you're just staring at your chess pieces

3. Get Thai'd! You're talking to a tourist
Whose every move's among the purest
I get my kicks above the waistline, sunshine

This just means that he's pure, doesn't go to "massage parlors" (brothels) - the last line means he has his fun above his waistline
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the world is one's oyster
Everything is going well,
http://www.answers.com/topic/world-is-one-s-oyster-the
The song is meant to be sarcastic and tongue-in-cheek as the narrator isn't as innocent as he claims to be. The musical itself is a love story that uses the Cold War as a backdrop for a Chess tournament between a Russian and American. "One Night in Bangkok" is a sort of extended metaphor for relationships between the West (esp America) and Asia (esp Thailand).
He is referring the the pearl as a womans private parts!
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He is referring the the pearl as a womans private parts!

Do you think so, Anon? Why not simply the women themselves?

MrP

The word, "Thai'd" is a pun. A pun is a literary term when you play with words. The pun is = Thai'd, may be get a Thai women, with the word, "tied" the past tense of the word, "tie." To be tied up means to get involved or to be tied up with rope means to be caught and unable to escape. Maybe they mean you get tied up in Thailand or get Thai'd or trapped in the nightlife.

<edited to make legible - please don't use grey text>
The pearls are girls, and they are hookers, and are not free..
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