Words & Music:
Doc Pomus
Mort Shuman
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
Recordingdate: 1963/07/10, first released on: single (album)
Musicians
Musicians who contributed to the first recording of Viva Las Vegas:
(guitar)
(guitar)
(guitar)
(bass)
(drums)
(drums)
(drums)
(piano)
(piano)
(vocals)
(vocals)
(vocals)
(vocals)
(percussion)
(percussion)
(percussion)
(percussion)
(percussion)
(sax)
(sax)
(trombone)
(trombone)
(trumpet)
Availability
Find available albums with Viva Las Vegas.
Good Elvis film songs are as rare as honest politicians but this was outstanding and should be remixed and served out again to a "modern" buying public.As for me I'm happy listening too the original. It moves on at a great pace and is a diamond in the rough
What a song! What a Swing! What a Rock! Viva Viva Viva Viva!!!
This should have been a monster hit. When I bought it , I thought it was the best Elvis single since Return To Sender and the best movie title song since King Creole. Dont know why it didnt click in 1964, but today it stands as an Elvis classic.
Taken at a slower pace, take 1 is almost a different song entirely. The piano melody is brought to the fore. This soft approach only lasted one take.
I challenge anyone to listen to this whilst standing still... Greatness. TCB
What more is there to add! Sheer fun. Great song that is always on my super list! So is the movie.
it's a stand alone song. president clinton sang it by heart, springsteen does it...is it too exagerating to call this the last real presley song till the burbank & memphis sessions in '68/'69?
Viva Las Vegas was Elvis' greatest movie song of the 60's and deserved to be a number 1. Everyone loved it. It is now considered a classic but wasnt even top 10 in 1964. How strange.
It seemed to me as if very few non fans knew this terrific song until ZZ Top covered it and then it appeared in the movie Honeymoon in Las Vegas. All of a sudden everybody knew it so I say let's get some other underappreciated Elvis gems covered (not the hits everybody knows - leave them alone!) and into blockbuster movies. Seems like a good way to spread the love. :)
Just can't put my finger on why this wasn't a Uk #1. I remember someone doin reviews some years ago and stating that in his view this song was about 10 years too early. Had the orginal recording been stored away and released during the early 70's it could have been another 'Chapel'. Do I like it, yes, but to me it does'nt fit the early / mid 60's.
The slow version is better
A song that still sounds god today, would make a great single remixed by the right person.
A good song & enjoy watching him sing it. Not to be tampered with !
A high energy classic from Elvis that apparently was not considered special by fans or RCA when it was released in 1964. Just one week before the release of this single backed with "What I'd Say", RCA released "Suspicion" backed with "Kiss Me Quick" as a "gold standard" single. This was seemingly done because Terry Stafford was riding high on the charts with his version of "Suspicion" and a lot of people were calling their local radio stations requesting Terry's record; but thinking it was Elvis. Unfortunately, RCA waited too long and Elvis' version of "Suspicion" bubbled under at #103. Oddly, "Kiss Me Quick" charted (5/2/1964) and later peaked at #34. The very next week VLV charted (5/9/64) and basically had to compete with KMQ for airplay. As VLV was peaking at #29, the inferior WIS entered the charts on 5/23/64 and wound up charting the highest of the four songs at #21. Today there is little doubt among most fans that VLV is by far the best song of the three songs; but in 1964 it became the first A-side (non-gold standard series) of Elvis' not to at least hit the top 12.
A song now well known outside the Elvis fan circle as it has grown in impact through the years. The visuals from the film are brilliant and the song now timeless. Cashbox the big rival to Billboard at the time had this as a fairly big double sided hit, with this song peaking at 16 and the A side What'd I Say at 13.
One of my all time favourite A side singles. I've never understood why this wasn't at least a top 5 hit. In Scandinavia it managed to climb within top 5. Well deserved imo. The only thing about it is the stereo version appearing with that strange channel fade in at the beginning. It's almost better in mono. It's like binaural more than stereo. Wonder why they never managed to fix that!
This is easily one of Elvis' very best movie songs and I've never understood why it wasn't a huge hit for Elvis here in the United States back in 1964 after it was released as a single. It should have been a #1 smash hit for Elvis here in the United States back then, but it wasn't even a top ten hit. Now, the song is hugely popular worldwide and it's the most popular song about Las Vegas. This song would have been a perfect fit for Elvis' Las Vegas concerts. It's unfortunate that Elvis never sang this song live on stage. I do think that a re-mixed version of this Elvis recording will eventually get made and then issued as a single and that it would become a #1 smash hit.
I enjoy the slightly slower mellow outake of this song, even more so, than the master version. Love to have RCA, blend both versions into one song with a new music overdub.
If Elvis would've viewed this a classic, he would have sung it in Las Vagas. Dead Kennedys, Bruce Springsteen, ZZ Top, Johnny ramone & Slim Jim Phanton, Lee Rocker, Vince Neil & Dread Zeppelin all consider it classic enough to record their versions. I love it.
A classic mid tempo rocker that perfectly sums up the experience and the legend that is the city of Las Vegas. It is a great mystery why this song was not the monster hit it deserved to be. However, the passage of time seems to have given the song its position in history it deserves.
I agree, it's an Elvis classic now.
A timeless classic, period! Surprised a long playing soundtrack album wasn't released back in the 1960's. Like everything in looking back, a wasted opportunity by the powers that be.
Iconic Americana at its fun loving best.
Why this was only a b side? Well, i don't know, but that wasn't a clever decision. Along with AOMM the most well known recording by elvis that was never a hit for him. And it's no miracle why this is so well remembered,0; it's original, it's catchy, it's fun and it häs a great rhythm. A true classic: 5 stars.