Las Vegas is a city of dreams; an oasis in the middle of the desert where you can do pretty much everything from going to the casino to seeing your favourite musician perform at their hotel residency.
Nowadays, gambling is more commonly done online, and at the moment casino fans can receive a special sign-up bonus at https://plainenglish.io/gambling/de/online-casinos/bonuses/sign-up, but Vegas still has that charm we all remember from films like Casino (1995), and naturally Viva Las Vegas (1964).
Talking about the latter, who can forget the eponymous song by Presley? We certainly can’t, so in this article, we will show you what we think are the best five songs about Las Vegas. Let us know if you agree!
Elvis Presley – Viva Las Vegas
We just had to start with this one, you know we did. There can be no list about the top Vegas songs without mentioning the inarguably most famous song written about the city. “Viva Las Vegas” was written by Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman and performed by Elvis Presley for the film bearing the same name.
Surprisingly, the song never made it to top 10 in the most notable US charts, but there are few tracks that can survive the test of time and even fewer that can become the very theme song of a real place.
“Viva Las Vegas” captures the sheer magnetism of Las Vegas with descriptions about the many pleasures that our lyrical hero can and does indulge in. Listen to it in the car or play it at a party and you’re sure to perk up and sing along.
Elvis Presley – Night Life
“Night Life” was also written for the film Viva Las Vegas and it serves as a companion piece to “Viva Las Vegas”, but it didn’t end up being featured, releasing four years later in 1968.
The song never mentions Las Vegas by name, but it delves deeper into the gambling excitement that the city offers than its companion piece. The sound is definitively rock with Elvis’ voice being huskier and all the more intriguing.
Faith Hill – Let’s Go to Vegas
Faith Hill, a country star and now also a successful actress with the release of the show 1883, invites you on a wild trip to Vegas and you know you want to go. Many songs about Vegas focus on gambling and clubbing, but Hill has another idea – ‘take a gamble and say “I do”’.
Las Vegas is world famous for offering weddings on demand; you don’t need to wait weeks for an appointment and a marriage licence, simply ‘find a little wedding chapel/A pair of wings and a preacher too’ and say “I do”, as Hill encourages us.
While we do not advise you to impulsively marry someone, “Let’s Go to Vegas” is an enduring country hit that represents Vegas in a different light, one that is all about the love that two wild kids have for each other.
Barry Manilow – Here’s to Las Vegas
Barry Manilow is Las Vegas in human flesh. Manilow is one of the most prolific American musicians with his career spanning over six decades, and for the past two decades, he has been committed exclusively to Las Vegas, producing multimillion shows for the top hotels on the Strip.
If his decades-long residency contracts were not evidence enough that Barry Manilow loves Vegas, his song “Here’s to Las Vegas” is there to clear all suspicion. Manilow’s ode to the city of neon lights is nothing short of a love letter.
Recorded in 2006, or two years after his first residency contract, “Here’s to Las Vegas” shows the busy city in all of its beauty and glamour. In Manilow’s song, everyone is “smiles all around” with “music and passion/All over town”.
The artist also pays homage to the Vegas legends before him such as Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley. Presley might have popularised the Vegas residency, but Manilow perfected it and he even broke the King of Rock’s record of most shows performed by a single artist at Westgate Las Vegas Resort & Casino.
AC/DC – Sin City
Just like there can be no list of the best Vegas songs without Elvis, there can be no list about the best gambling songs without including AC/DC. The rock band has many hit pieces about gambling from the very obvious “The Jack” to “Sin City” which is naturally inspired by the Las Vegas experience.
Released in May 1978, part of their album “Powerage”, “Sin City” is about a man deciding to go to Vegas and see what all the talk is about. He mentions symbols of wealth like ‘Lamborghinis and caviar’ in a critique of the disparity between the city’s richest and poorest inhabitants.
The lyrical speaker then goes on to explore the gambling options in Vegas, asking the dealer to ‘spin that wheel, cut that pack’ but he then also says ‘roll those loaded dice’, signalling that the game is rigged, in another veiled critique of society indifferent to those who have less. While the song might sound like another typical AC/DC banger meant to be taken lightly, a deeper look into the lyrics reveals that “Sin City” is in fact a well-crafted social commentary.
Conclusion
We hope you enjoyed reading this article and listening to the songs we believe to be the best five Vegas songs ever.