Lost Dogs Message Board | Print: A Vegas Story (Free Drinks and a Dream)

Posted by Audiori J on 10-11-2007 at12:23:

A Vegas Story (Free Drinks and a Dream)

A Vegas Story (Free Drinks and a Dream)
from the Album "Gift Horse"
(Words and Music by Terry Taylor)

I heard the law came down in Vegas town
They no longer fear the mob
Told my wife and kids, "It's a business trip,
Daddy's only doin' his job"
So I emptied out the savings account
Sure that I could beat the odds
And though you might not rate a desert grave
That town still steals and robs

(CHORUS)
For free drinks and a dream
I gave them my wallet
I rolled the dice and upped my price
A soul for sale, they bought it
Now a billion lights gleam
They're twinkling 'bove this dead broke alcoholic
And I lost everything
To free drinks and a dream

The day I sold my car
I hit the bar across from my cheap motel room
That's when I thought hard about just gettin' out
Of this bright and lavish tomb
But this place don't sleep on its promise to keep
A light on against the gloom
She says maybe you got one more shot
And that's the lie that's been my ruin

A dream of livin' your years out
With just a little ease
Where a man can afford to be ill
And that extra bill won't bring him to his knees
Now I'm so alone, I can't go home
How could a family understand?
That your love for them can do you in
Make you a desperate man

Though youth is gone still the heart draws you on
To devise foolhardy plans
You set aside your guilt for kingdoms built
On shifting desert sands

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I was thinking about this song and had an obseervation. Its obvious its about choice between what is right and what is wrong and how what is wrong lures you in. But the line; "And that extra bill won't bring him to his knees" stuck out to me a little more than it had before. I believe that line sums up the song's point quite succinctly.

The idea that what we all really need is to be on our knees, that is, when things are rough we need to turn to God. But our pride, fools us into thinking we have another shot at saving ourselves from ruin. Build our house on shifting sands by not turning to God. We avoid being on our knees before God, that is the last place we want to be. The lure is that we can do it on our own without God.

"Doesn't bring him to his knees..." We want to live a life where we don't have to turn to God.

Posted by Ron E on 10-11-2007 at13:13:

That is a very interesting thought, I never really thought that through that deeply.

Posted by Audiori J on 10-11-2007 at15:02:

Luke 16:13
"No servant can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and wealth."

We'd rather serve money than fall to our knees before God.

This man in this song is basically saying I need enough money to not have to get on my knees. I will take my shot and risk it all for more money rather than face humility before God because that is the last thing I want to do.

The song is quite a scriptural commentary.

Posted by trcf on 10-11-2007 at21:21:

you might sing...

The humble man rises to a new low
The humble man rises to a new low
nothing is ending, it's all beginning
When he cuts a dashing figure on the rocks below

Score another crushing defeat
It’s just another crushing defeat
Sweeping you off your feet
You’re stronger and you’re strongest
When your knees are weak

You might sing:
Holy holy holy
Lord God Almighty
Holy holy holy
Lord God Almighty

Posted by vlricha on 10-12-2007 at10:26:

RE: A Vegas Story (Free Drinks and a Dream)

Thank you for your observation to the lyrics in that song. Whenever I am listening to a Lost Dogs' CD, I try to concentrate on what they are saying, especially when it is Christ-centered (the music is just the icing on the cake). The lyrics in Terry Taylor's songs (as well as Derri's and Mike's) have been a great blessing to me ever since I found out about them several years ago.

It would be nice to have a thread devoted just to their song lyrics so that anyone that only listens for the music would be able to understand what they are saying as well. I would go as far as saying that most of it is God inspired.

Romans 14: 8 For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's.

9 For to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord both of the dead and living.

10 But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

11 For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.

12 So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.