I registered with this site just to comment on this song.
Yes, the extended version is the better of them, but it originally appeared on the Let's Go To Bed 12" single. I have a bootleg called "Play For Radio" that has a radio broadcast studio recorded version of the song from 1989... it is really good!
This song is about two lovers standing on the beach at the very moment in which the world is destroyed... and they are having a kiss. Maybe the kiss caused the destruction? Unknown. But the kiss was so important that it occurred at the time when the world was ending. Also, it might be said that the "other people" not included in the kiss might have had a serious lack of appreciation for the end of the world, or possibly for love itself, since they ignored everything and slept through most of it.
If you break down the song, here is what it says:
"Remember the time that you reigned all night, the Queen of Siam in my arms" - there isnt actually a "Queen of Siam" (Thailand). When Japanese Whispers was being worked on, Robert and Lol spent a lot of time traveling about in Asia. He most likely used a visit to Thailand and a woman he met there (or maybe his wife Mary visited?) as a reason for the words. He refers to the woman as a queen, which denotes her control over him (and his heart). She has some sort of power over him. The original version of this song (available on the bootleg I mentioned) has more references to Siam (both "king" and "queen"), so maybe he saw himself and this girl as king and queen while he was in Thailand?
The rest is a straightforward explanation of the events...
The islands sank, trees fell down, loud sounds occurred, the sky went black, and then the oceans rushed into the shore. As all of this was happening, the two lovers shared a kiss, while everyone else in the world slept through the event, or completely ignored it all together.
"Somebody died for just one kiss" - that one kiss, in which time stops and the world is destroyed... was worth it all.
I registered with this site just to comment on this song.
Yes, the extended version is the better of them, but it originally appeared on the Let's Go To Bed 12" single. I have a bootleg called "Play For Radio" that has a radio broadcast studio recorded version of the song from 1989... it is really good!
This song is about two lovers standing on the beach at the very moment in which the world is destroyed... and they are having a kiss. Maybe the kiss caused the destruction? Unknown. But the kiss was so important that it occurred at the time when the world was ending. Also, it might be said that the "other people" not included in the kiss might have had a serious lack of appreciation for the end of the world, or possibly for love itself, since they ignored everything and slept through most of it.
If you break down the song, here is what it says:
"Remember the time that you reigned all night, the Queen of Siam in my arms" - there isnt actually a "Queen of Siam" (Thailand). When Japanese Whispers was being worked on, Robert and Lol spent a lot of time traveling about in Asia. He most likely used a visit to Thailand and a woman he met there (or maybe his wife Mary visited?) as a reason for the words. He refers to the woman as a queen, which denotes her control over him (and his heart). She has some sort of power over him. The original version of this song (available on the bootleg I mentioned) has more references to Siam (both "king" and "queen"), so maybe he saw himself and this girl as king and queen while he was in Thailand?
The rest is a straightforward explanation of the events...
The islands sank, trees fell down, loud sounds occurred, the sky went black, and then the oceans rushed into the shore. As all of this was happening, the two lovers shared a kiss, while everyone else in the world slept through the event, or completely ignored it all together.
"Somebody died for just one kiss" - that one kiss, in which time stops and the world is destroyed... was worth it all.