Question of the Day - 23 May 2007

Today it's my (Deke's) turn to select a favorite QoD -- in praise of Jessica. This one doesn't spotlight Jessica's flair for creative prose (as we all witnessed this past Saturday in her piece on the Las Vegas heat), or her fearless willingness to get on the phone and cold-call whomever's necessary to get an answer (as we've seen countless times, such as in another of my favorites: her 02/17/2007 answer about the maker of the World Series of Poker bracelets).

But this one does show off Jessica's love of arcane research, as well as her enormous capacity for collecting and compiling feedback from you, our faithful readers, which, of course, points to her devotion to this particular feature of lasvegasadvisor.com.

So here it is again, the complete list, courtesy of Jessica Roe and many of you out there in QoDland, of songs about gambling and Las Vegas.

• Viva Las Vegas - Elvis (or take your pick from ZZ Top, Bruce Springsteen, Dread Zeppelin, Nina Hagen, Dead Kennedys, Engelbert Humperdinck, et al)
• The Gambler - Kenny Rogers
• Luck Be a Lady - Frank Sinatra
• Lucky Too (Christmas in Las Vegas) - Bob Neuwirth
• Las Vegas Virgin – Sonia Dada
• Gambler – Madonna
• Ace of Spades – Motorhead
• Son of a Rotten Gambler – Emmylou Harris
• I Let a Gambler Lead Me Astray – Odetta
• Blackjack – Ray Charles
• Shooting High Dice - Mississippi Sheiks
• Draw of the Cards - Kim Carnes
• Poker – Electric Light Orchestra
• Riverboat Gambler – Carly Simon
• Shape of My Heart - Sting
• House of the Rising Sun – The Animals (or Bob Dylan)
• The Angel and the Gambler – Iron Maiden
• Tumbling Dice - Rolling Stones
• The Card Cheat – The Clash
• The Winner Takes It All – ABBA
• The Gambler – Leonard Cohen
• A Good Run of Bad Luck - Clint Black
• Easy Money – Billy Joel
• No Luck in Gambling - Yellowman
• No Cheap Thrill – Suzanne Vega
• Las Vegas Turnaround (The Stewardess Song) - Hall & Oates
• Desperado – The Eagles
• Life is Just a Card Game - Big Joe Turner
• Karma Hotel - Spooks
• Roulette - Bon Jovi
• Ramblin' Gamblin' Man - Bob Seger
• Ooh Las Vegas - Emmylou Harris
• Gamblin' Man - Bonnie Raitt
• The Jack – ACDC
• Dealer - Traffic
• It's Okay - Eminem (featuring Eye-Kyu)
• Deal 'em Again - Christopher Cross
• Go Down Gambling - Blood, Sweat and Tears
• Whisky, Women And Loaded Dice – Joe Liggins
• Midnight Train - The Monkees
• Gambling Woman – Memphis Minnie
• Lay Your Money Down – Bread
• The Gambling Song - Cliff Richard
• Gambling Polka Dot Blues - Hank Snow
• The Loser – Grateful Dead
• Turn Of A Friendly Card - Alan Parsons
• Norman The Gambler (rides around in a Rambler) - Max Romeo and the Upsetters
• Leavin' Las Vegas – Sheryl Crow
• Moonlight Gambler - Frankie Laine
• Queen of Las Vegas - B52s
• Roll the Bones - Rush
• Wind Him Up - Saga
• People Get Really Drunk in Las Vegas - Size 14
• Vegas Two Times - Stereophonics
• Me and My Monkey - Robbie Williams
• Vegas Remains - Reclinerland
• Vegas Baby - The Weepies
• Vegas - Clowns for Progress
• Vegas - The Regulars
• Vegas - Dan Mackenzie
• Vegas Bound - Evan Olson
• Vegas - PenthouseJ
• Vegas Dream - Rick McGuire
• Vegas Drag (Instrumental) - Count Basie
• Vegas - Suitcase Pimps
• Vegas Polka - Frankie Yankovic
• Vegas - Bobby Bare
• Jesus in Vegas - Chumbawamba
• Pretty Vegas - INXS
• Goin' to Vegas - Jimmy Ray
• Do It Again - Steely Dan
• Casino Queen - Wilco
• Roll of the Dice - Bruce Springsteen
• It's Midnight and I'm Not Famous Yet - Jimmy Buffett (or Steve Goodman)
• Sin City - Gram Parsons (or Emmylou Harris)
• Here's to the Losers - Frank Sinatra
• I Love Vegas - Dean Martin
• With Plenty of Money and You - Count Basie (or Tony Bennett)
• Silver and Gold - U2
• Street of Dreams - Sinatra
• Mr Siegal - Tom Waits
• Five Card Stud - Ace Frehley

Today's "Sing City: Best Las Vegas Las Vegas Themed Tunes" article in the R-J has inspired us to do a long overdue update of out ultimate Vegas/gambling-song list. Thanks to them for inspiring us -- we're incorporating a couple we missed from that list -- plus a whole bunch of other ones:

• Poker Face - Lady Gaga
• Waking Up in Vegas - Katy Perry
• Vegas Nights - Hootie & the Blowfish
• Las Vegas With the Lights Out - Geggy Tah
• Vegas - Nico
• Conventioneers - Barenaked Ladies
• Your Love Is Like Las Vegas - The Thrills
• Vegas - Clubstrophobia
• Las Vegas Dealer - Gomez
• Here's To Las Vegas - Barry Manilow
• Me and My Monkey - Robbie Williams
• Sin City - Flying Burrito Brothers
• L.V. (Las Vegas) - Clint Holmes
• Big in Vegas - Buck Owens
05/24/2007 Some last-minute stragglers: "Another absolutely cool gambling song: Reno, Nevada, by Richard Farina." "I cannot believe someone did not mention Sin City by AC/DC. I have to hear that song on the way to the airport." 05/23/2007 OK, enough already! Only joking. Keep 'em coming. "Great gambling songs: 'Jack of Diamonds' (Blind Lemon Jefferson); 'I Got Mine' (Jim Kweskin, Dan Hicks, et al.); 'Sunday Street' (Dave Van Ronk); 'Playing Policy' (Blind Blake); 'Gambler's Yodel' (Delmore Bros./Doc Watson)." It's not over yet: "One more great Las Vegas song (my favorite!): 'Hey Louie Prima' by Brian Setzer Orchestra." And there's more: "Please add 'I Take My Chances' by Mary Chapin Carpenter to the gambling songs. Great song list by the way. I'll be adding a new file to my iPod!" "Yet one more gambling song: 'Lonesome Loser' by the Little River Band." Latest: "Las Vegas songs additions: 'Christmas In Vegas' by Dale Watson, '40 Miles To Vegas' by Southern Culture On the Skids, and 'Casino Road' by Kevin Gordon. There's also a Reckless Kelly song called 'I Saw It Coming', about gambling and a broken heart." They just keep on comin'! "How about Jerry Reed's 'When you're Hot, you're Hot'?" More: "Concerning your ultimate song list about Las Vegas, I can't believe that no one has submitted to me the second most obvious song there is after only 'Viva Las Vegas' and that is 'Show Biz Kids' from Steely Dan. It is track #5 on their 'Countdown to Ecstasy' CD. Maybe nobody else knows this song, but I think it's a CLASSIC Las Vegas song. When you guys play it at the office and you listen to the words, PLEASE let me know what the reaction was from everyone." Another: "Thanks for the great Question of the Day about gambling songs. One song that should be added to this great list is 'Me and my Uncle' sung by the Grateful Dead and written by John Phillips about a card game gone bad." And another one: "'New Bad Habit' is a great song that every video poker player should hear. The great Louisiana blues guitarist Larry Garner recorded it on a CD named Baton Rouge." 05/22/2007 Yup, this one's already getting "updated" before it's even run! Thanks to the reader who wrote in with the following, and feel free to keep 'em coming if you know of any other gambling songs that we don't. "I just noticed that the topic for tomorrow is the gambling songs - there is a new one out - just this spring - it's by the Small Stars: http://www.thesmallstars.com/ off their new album - Tijunana Dreams. The song is called Twenty-One. I'll leave it to the slow people to figure out what game its about. Anyway, you can listen to a 30-second clip on iTunes - you can listen to longer clip at CD-Baby -- http://cdbaby.com/cd/smallstars2 - track 10. I have to say this is the best gambling song I've ever heard."