Monday, November 24, 2014

Viva Las Vegas by Elvis Presley

Bright light city gonna set my soul
Gonna set my soul on fire
Got a whole lot of money that's ready to burn,
So get those stakes up higher
There's a thousand pretty women waitin' out there
And they're all livin' devil may care
And I'm just the devil with love to spare
Viva Las Vegas, Viva Las Vegas

How I wish that there were more
Than the twenty-four hours in the day
'Cause even if there were forty more
I wouldn't sleep a minute away
Oh, there's black jack and poker and the roulette wheel
A fortune won and lost on ev'ry deal
All you need's a strong heart and a nerve of steel
Viva Las Vegas, Viva Las Vegas

Viva Las Vegas with you neon flashin'
And your one armbandits crashin'
All those hopes down the drain
Viva Las Vegas turnin' day into nighttime
Turnin' night into daytime
If you see it once
You'll never be the same again

I'm gonna keep on the run
I'm gonna have me some fun
If it costs me my very last dime
If I wind up broke up well
I'll always remember that I had a swingin' time
I'm gonna give it ev'rything I've got
Lady luck please let the dice stay hot
Let me shout a seven with ev'ry shot
Viva Las Vegas, Viva Las Vegas,
Viva, Viva Las Vegas 
MAN ELVIS PULLED A MARLIN BRANDO, OR BRANDO PULLED AN ELVIS EITHER WAY IT DID NOT END PRETTY FOR EITHER OF EM

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Ok... is there an impeachment procedure for the office of song selector? Or maybe a request line? We need to do something about the quality of songs here. It's like we'really being fed spam and I would rather have a steak.

Dan Tschirhart said...

I concur! An Elvis song about Vegas? C'mon Chris, he didn't even write the damn thing!

Aaron said...

Wow. I suppose this is an example of just how strong we are conditioned to embrace things that are unsustainable and can only cause misery in the end. I read these lyrics and as much as I am appalled by them there is a small kernel of romantic desire to go to Vegas and live this crazy life. There is something inside me that recognizes the need to glorify this decadent insane lifestyle. Insane because it is a recipe for misery and retards human development. But escaping thousands of years of mental conditioning is not easy. We are bred to think this way. To think glorify the self and take as much as we can while we are here with zero thought of the consequences. As far as the artistic merit of this song it is no different than most American songs from this era. At least it doesn't try to hide what it is. It is a balls out, one note, glorification of stupidity. And yet, as I stated, it kinda makes me want to not go to work and hop in the car and put all my money on the roulette wheel.
Elvis is the perfect person to sing this song. Especially fat, drugged out elvis. Cuz when he sang this song he was close to death. And if one lives this lifestyle they are also close to death. Not a literal death Nescassarily but certainly death all the same. But fun death.

Pirate Aggro said...

Dear Sirs,

There is no impeachment process. I invite you to quit crying like a little girl.

Vattano your comment is stunningly insightful. I agree with your insight. It is the siren song that obviously led Elvis to crash his ship [body and brain] onto the rocks.