"A Passage to Bangkok" | ||||
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Single by Rush | ||||
from the album 2112 | ||||
B-side | "Free Will" (live) | |||
Released | 1976 | |||
Format | 12" promo | |||
Genre | Hard rock, progressive rock | |||
Length | 3:34 | |||
Songwriter(s) | Neil Peart, Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson | |||
Producer(s) | Rush and Terry Brown | |||
Rush singles chronology | ||||
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2112 track listing | ||||
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Exit...Stage Left track listing | ||||
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"A Passage to Bangkok" is the second song on Rush's album, 2112. Released in 1976, the song follows the album's title song 2112. With the album's title track comprising the first half of the record, "A Passage to Bangkok" opens the second side of the album (on the original LP and audio cassette).
The song's lyrics, written by drummer Neil Peart, are widely interpreted as describing drug tourism, specifically cannabis. The lyrics employ innuendo, eschewing naming any actual drugs. The song describes visiting Colombia, Mexico, Jamaica, Morocco, Thailand, Afghanistan, "golden Acapulco nights" (a reference to Acapulco gold), Nepal, and Lebanon. Mention is made of "smoke rings", "pipe dreams", various fragrances, and welcoming natives who "pass along" their unspecified crops.
In the documentary Classic Albums Presents The Making of 2112 & Moving Pictures (2010), Peart states the intent was to be "light in tone and write some funny songs" when discussing "A Passage to Bangkok". In the film, Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins, Rush producer Terry Brown, and Peart explain and demonstrate the subtleties in the song that make it a tongue-in-cheek reference to drug use in the 1970s.
In earlier performances of the song (such as the version recorded on Exit...Stage Left), Geddy Lee would use a double neck Rickenbacker bass guitar, allowing him play rhythm guitar during Alex Lifeson's guitar solo, with Moog Taurus bass pedals filling the bottom end.