Manipulation

(Murray's Club, the summer of the following
Year the topless dancers
Has gained a new performer: MANDY
RICE-DAVIES, sixteen, a pert
Attractive blonde

WARD sit's at his usual table
For four with a
New acquaintance, a stocky Russian
In naval uniform, cAPTAIN
EUGENE IVANOV, thirty-seven a nearby
Table seats three men, rONNIE
AND REGGIE KRAY, twins in
Their late twenties
And LORD "BOB" BOOTHBY further away
Is a chunky forty-year-old
With a very young girl: he's PETER RACHMAN)

This is a world
Where there's all kinds of pressures
Where everybody's anxious
And despеrate for remediеs

I use my hands to alleviate suffering
Slowly but surely, I massage your cares away

Aches and pains and fractures and sprains
Manipulation - that's what I do
Lumps and knots and bruises and clots
Manipulation

Doesn't sound very nice

It isn't

Take a look at everyone here
Manipulation that's what they do
I stretch limbs and they stretch the truth
Manipulation

(He smiles and lights a cigarette
Not offering one
To anybody cHRISTINE sips at her vodka
Makes a face)

Never fancied Russia much

Russia is beautiful
And home of greatest social
Experiment in history!

Wouldn't suit me at all

So, important to make friends
Russia and West otherwise

(Makes a sound and gesture
Signifying a massive explosion)

(to WARD)
What did you mean about manipulation?

You've heard of the Kray twins?

Sort of

Well, there they are

Two of the most powerful men in London

But what do they do?

They're gangsters

They have the police and the politicians
In their pocket even Harold Macmillan
Did he but know it

Who?

(pause) harold Macmillan, dear?

The Prime Minister?

(He draws on his cigarette
As MANDY discreetly stares at the twins)

There at that table
The Kray twins are plotting
With Ronnie's new boyfriend
Lord Boothby of Aberdeen
Also the lover of Lady Macmillan
Who we must assume
Is close to the Prime Minister

Ron and Reggie want something done
Bob Boothby breathes in Lady M's ear
Lady M sleeps with the PM
Manipulation - it's right here

Every table there's someone at it

(He points at a table in the back)

That chap in the Savile Row suit
That's Charlie Clore, the entrepreneur
Built the Hilton mad about sex

Didn't they just make him a sir?

Yes, but he was not at all pleased
Lord Clore's more what he had in mind

Bloody hell, the people you know!
Don't suppose he's the marrying kind?

(WARD points over to RACHMAN's table)

That fat fellow rachman's his name
Owns two-thirds of Notting Hill Gate

He's the king of bedsitter land
Manipulation

I only try to manipulate bodies
I try to put people together and rescue them
I don't approve of exploiting the vulnerable
Lining your pockets from
Other men's weaknesses

Everywhere, wherever you look
Manipulation rearing it's head
London life, there is no escape manipulation

I know what you're talking about
Manipulation, just like you said
I spent every evening with men
Trying to sweet talk me into bed

Everywhere, wherever you look
Manipulation rearing it's head
London life, there is no escape manipulation

Everywhere, wherever you look
Manipulation rearing it's head
London life, there is no escape manipulation
Til you're dead