Marriott Riyadh Blues
What's an Account Director to do when he's stuck in Marriott Riyadh on a Ladies' Night? Might as well write some country music..
First, a little history. We completed a website for a client about six months ago and, despite a thorough training session over the phone, they were still struggling with managing & updating the site themselves.
And so, a few weeks ago, I was invited to Saudi Arabia for two days of meetings to receive what they promised were “briefs for lots of exciting new projects.” And so, off to Riyadh I went. I arrived on Monday night, and rocked up at the client’s office at 9:00 a.m. for what I expected to be an exhaustive marathon briefing session.
Instead, I spent the morning training the new admnistrator on how to use the Content Management System, and then spent 15 minutes with the Marketing Manager, who informed me that it was “very nice to see you, and I hope to speak to you after the summer when we will have some briefs.”
So there I was, at 4:00 on a Tuesday in Riyadh, with my meetings done, no juicy new briefs in my hand, another 36 hours to spend in Riyadh before my flight home the next night, and no way to get back to Dubai in time for Ladies’ Night. So back to the hotel I went, where I spent the entire night sat in front of my computer pushing emails and cursing my misfortune.
I felt so miserable, and I was reminded of the scene from Walk The Line when Johnny Cash is sitting alone in the aeroplane hangar, lonely and feeling blue, and strumming the opening bars of Folsom Prison Blues… “I hear the train a-coming, it’s coming round the bend…”
Like Johnny Cash decades before me, I knew I had the Blues, as I felt a Ladies’ Night in Dubai passing me by. And so, I wrote the Marriott Riyadh Blues, watchin Ghana get spanked by Brazil on the TV, and thinking how I would have loved nothing more than to be in Scarlett’s with a drink in my hand.
Marriott Riyadh Blues
Sung to the tune of “Folsom Prison Blues“, by Johnny Cash
I know it’s Ladies Night -
The girls are coming out to play
But I ain’t nowhere near it, why I cannot say
I’m stuck in Marriott Riyadh, and time keeps draggin’ on.
And there ain’t no flights home tonight, they’re all long gone..
Well I received a phone call and the client told me, Son..
Come on down to Riyadh, there’s briefs to be done
But I got to Dar Al Arkan, and they got none to share
So I go home empty-handed, please pay my air fare..
Well I bet there’s lot of girls tonight,out there looking fine
They’re probably down at Scarlett’s, drinking free white wine
Then on to karaoke, where they sing their songs.
But I’m stuck here in my hotel room
Man it feels so wrong..
Well if they freed me from this country
If Emirates gets me home on time
I’ll go out every Ladies night, and make those ladies mine
Take them all out dancing, give them all a smile
And the next time the client calls me, I’ll let it ring a while..
comments
Pj
July 27th, 2006 at 11:34 amIs this the beginining of a new career?
Roberto
February 5th, 2007 at 3:58 amI’m too in Marriott Riyadh tonight,
I’m Italian and my song play a different sound !
Sound is different but not word !!!
I’m arrived now and just check if it is true.
True true but never give up, lady night is far but tomorrow I will flight there !!
Ciao Ciao and thank you for your suggestion !
Degio