"Vegas" is a pop-rock song performed by English

Britpop Britpop was a mid-1990s British-based music culture movement that emphasised Britishness. It produced brighter, catchier alternative rock, partly in reaction to the popularity of the darker lyrical themes of the US-led grunge music and to the ...

band Sleeper, written by the band's vocalist and guitarist Louise Wener. In March 1995, it was released as the fourth and final single from Sleeper's debut album, ''

Smart Smart or SMART may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Smart'' (Hey! Say! JUMP album), 2014 * Smart (Hotels.com), former mascot of Hotels.com * ''Smart'' (Sleeper album), 1995 debut album by Sleeper * '' SMart'', a children's television se ...

'', where it followed the success of " Inbetweener" by peaking within the UK top 40. The single release of "Vegas" was backed with a number of specially recorded B-sides, including a cover of

the Pretenders Pretenders are an English–American rock band formed in March 1978. The original band consisted of founder and main songwriter Chrissie Hynde (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), James Honeyman-Scott (lead guitar, backing vocals, keyboards), Pete ...

" Hymn to Her".

Writing and composition

Louise Wener explained to the band's official fanzine that "Vegas" was about "this guy who lives in a really dingy bedsit in Peckham who's really lonely", adding that he saves up his money to fly to

Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

, gambles it away and meets Frank Sinatra. Andy Maclure described the song as "a study of the kind of life people get trapped in, in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

", adding that he thought that the character in the song would probably never get around to doing what he does. Wener compared the song to "early Rod Stewart" material. Percussion on "Vegas" was performed by Primal Scream's drummer. For the single release of "Vegas", the band went into the studio to completely re-record the track with

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure. Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

Bruce Lampcov. Sleeper happened to be in the studio at the same time as Blur, whom Sleeper had supported on tour previously, and asked

Graham Coxon Graham Leslie Coxon (born 12 March 1969) is an English musician, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and painter who came to prominence as a founding member of the rock band Blur. As the group's lead guitarist and secondary vocalist, Cox ...

to record a

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

part for the new version. Coxon's performance is credited to Morgan C. Hoax – an anagram of his name. The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

for "Vegas" featured fifty

Elvis Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the " King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. His ener ...

-lookalikes. The impersonator agency did not have enough Elvises to meet the needs of the production, so sent their Humphrey Bogarts and Clint Eastwoods to make up the numbers, who were reportedly unhappy at having to dress as Elvis. "Anyone can do Elvis, they reasoned, but a Bogart, or an Eastwood, now that takes real skill!" Wener recalled later.

Track listings

* UK 7-inch single Indolent SLEEP 008 * UK cassette single Indolent SLEEP 008MC # "Vegas" – 3:21 # "Hymn to Her" – 3:34 * UK 12-inch single Indolent SLEEP 008T * UK CD single Indolent SLEEP 008CD * German CD single BMG 74321 27639 2 # "Vegas" – 3:21 # "Hymn to Her" – 3:34 # "It's Wrong of You to Breed" – 3:02 # "Close" – 4:46

Personnel

* Diid Osman – bass * Andy MacLure – drums * Jon Stewart – guitar * Louise Wener – vocals, guitar * Morgan C. Hoax – saxophone * Caroline Dale – strings * Bruce Lampcov – production ("Vegas" (Single Version)) * Sleeper – production ("Hymn to Her" and "It's Wrong of You to Breed") * Jon Stewart – production ("Close")

Charts

References

External links

"Vegas" music video

Sleeper @ BBC Music

Sleeper release discography @ We Heart Music
{{Authority control 1994 songs 1995 singles Sleeper (band) songs Songs about Las Vegas Songs written by Louise Wener