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’ (the) 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 blackjack and poker and the roulette wheel
A fortune won and lost on every 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 arm bandits 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 everything I’ve got
Lady luck please let the dice stay hot
Let me shout a seven with every shot
Viva Las Vegas, viva Las Vegas,
Viva, viva Las Vegas
Las Vegas - or, rather: Gambling Capital of the World, Entertainment Capital of the World, Glitter Gulch, Lost Wages and Sin City!
This is the city that unites all the pleasures in the world, and the King himself sang about it. Even if you’re not a big fan of the rest of America or the West, Las Vegas’ myth and appeal sooner or later casts a spell on everyone. In the state of Nevada, the big desert, it is situated: the haven of thousands of people who dream to become the lucky ones hitting the jackpot, get a taste for the glamorous life, escape their everyday routine and get a kick out of risking everything. Nowhere else you can find as many casinos and entertainment shows as in Vegas; it is the city that lives 24 hours a day, lives life to the fullest and doesn’t look back.
Except when it comes to the symbolic representative of the city, who is none other than Elvis Presley.
These two figures have risen to fame tremendously in the late ‘60s and ‘70s and helped shaping each other’s larger-than-life images. He is still called the King of Las Vegas, not only for his many shows he mastered but also due to his one of a kind song “Viva Las Vegas”. Written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman in 1963/4, the song is featured in a film (of the same name) starring Elvis, which became his most successful movie. This ode of admiration and appreciation performed before becoming the star of the city shows his genuine liking of it and makes it evident why the figure of Elvis has become such an important one in Las Vegas.
The song contains many positive images of the West such as the idea of the realization of the American Dream; the idea that everything is possible-even in the desert, where there is nothing to grow or cultivate on, you can create something that lasts and steadies itself. Las Vegas has succeeded in turning the negative connotation of fire, hotness and the devil into something positive:
“Set my soul on fire (…) I’m just the devil with love to spare (…) let the dice stay hot”
Linking passion, one’s heart desire and love to these themes, it transforms a disadvantage into a possession worth striving for. Fire and burning do not always have to be sinful (although it is also a huge part of Vegas) but can be life animating and making your blood boil of excitement. To live for the moment is another element that comes across quite clearly: It is better to have played the game/life and lost; that is more worth than not having tried at all. You have to risk a lot in order to have the chance to gain a lot.
That is what makes Las Vegas so attractive to Europeans; surely you can gamble in Germany or any other country, too, but ‘the West’ in America offers this mysterious, thrilling and wild atmosphere in a far bigger scale. Being able to say “I played poker in Las Vegas” is absolutely more notable than saying to have played anywhere else.
“How I wish that there were more than the twenty-four hours in the day”
In such a luminous and never sleeping city time also plays an important role. When squandering money in the casinos it is all about the presence, the Now, having in mind the possible bright future. Thus it is normal to be longing for an expansion or stretch of time; the happy experience has to be enjoyed as much and long as possible. And since money can buy time, you can very easily become addicted trying to get more money and more time.
“Viva Las Vegas turning day into nighttime, turning night into daytime”
This reminds me of the liberated feeling of having the freedom to stay awake all night or going to bed at the time that I wanted to when coming of age. The power to fulfill these infantile dreams is a huge magnet that pulls many tourists and visitors to this particular city even though it is more show and staging than actual freedom or everlastingness.
The illusion becomes reality in this city: You can be whoever you want to be, the neon flashin’ distracts and disperses all your problems and makes you rethink everything you have experienced so far:
“If you see it once, you’ll never be the same again”
Of course, Las Vegas has also a lot of downsides and isn’t seen by everyone as the oasis of chances and fortune. It is said to be money-driven and heartless; it lives only for its commercial aspect and people are not provided with chances but are being stripped off their money and badly treated. The exaggerated show facet of Las Vegas might be seen as an indicator of superficiality and of containing no real substance, which is often named as a prejudice of Germans against Americans.
I like the song and the image of Las Vegas anyway because it celebrates one side of ‘the West’ that isn’t necessarily only about money or something material; it circles mostly around the idea of hope and the belief in something good, and it is an American city that’s an exception to the rule by connecting many people and nations in a way that no other city is able to: They have the magic of the past in form of the spirit of Elvis, the main focus on the present and its fugacity, and the fascination of the unknown but bright-looking future.
Sources:
- http://babyology.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/las_vegas_01.jpg
- http://www.sandiegomagazine.com/images/2012/may/city_files/travel/travel_viva_las_vegas.jpg
- http://www.abendblatt.de/img/kultur-live/crop105597673/1680695295-ci3x2l-h307/elvis7-HA-Kultur-Friedberg.jpg
- http://www.vegas.com/elvis/
- http://www.elvis.de/biografie
- http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=9203
