When Did Vegas Die

I must report the passing of a dear old friend today I'm not sure when it happened, but I felt I had to say That the Vegas that's in movies, books, and on TV Is not the one that you will find, it's not the one you'll see I know your expectations are of glitter and of lights Of singers in the lounges that play into the night The lounges now are empty of the singers and the bands Instead they're full of djs, and bad magicians badly tanned, The song that was Las Vegas is not one thats in your head The one you know with Elvis, is now gone, you see it's dead The old hotels are gone now, It's not like it was before The new buzzword in Vegas is now just, MORE, MORE, MORE It's now a culture aimed at being bigger than the rest For now it seems that bigger, means you're now known as the best There's hotels full of bedbugs and the service is the shits But, the casino doesn't care if there are people in the pits The strip is nearly two miles long, and almost half is blank It's like the desert opened up and ten casinos sank At one end is the Stratosphere, it's got a real cool view But, because of it's location it's not easy to get to The Sahara was next closest, but now the Lady's gone And to walk from this tram stop at night, well I cannot say it's fun It's dingy and it's dirty and it's not a place to be I wouldn't recommend this part, it's not a place to see Freemont Street, The Old Vegas is off the beaten path It's an hour ride upon the bus, and a taxi...do the math It's just a place to go to once, there's no reason to return And if you ever visit here, I think that's what you'll learn The middle part of the strip is glitzy and spread out It's kind of close to what Las Vegas is about It's not all geared to people who have childeren all in tow These ultra cool casinos is where you might just want to go The other end is busy, but it's full of gloom and doom And on every single corner, you can get girls to your room There's people handing out small cards with women with a price Who'll come up to your room and well....let's say they don't play dice On every bridge across the strip, there's beggars and there's hawkers They're selling everything from cds to bottled dollar water It's tourist town, a fast food mess, it's Disneyland on crack There's lots of things to do down here, but you must always watch your back Did The Mirage kill it?, when Steve Wynn said let's go really huge Hotels like this were ten times larger than the Moulin Rouge It wasn't when Hughes came to town and bought the Desert Inn You know the land that's now the new home of the casino known as Wynn? It didn't die when Elvis left, it sill was full of life But at someime since the town has died, it has fallen on the knife The strip itself is two miles long, but you know that that's not all In the years since Elvis left, it's become a big strip mall There's stores here selling plastic , and the people shop in streams I'm not sure, but to me NIKE is not the Vegas in my dreams Rolling in their graves, I bet the stars who made this town Are sitting in heaven or hell, saying when did it go down There's more shows now of tribute acts and hypnotists galore And you can find a Circus from Quebec through nearly every hotel door At some point rigor mortis set into this old girl I wish they could revive her, at least give it a whirl There's buffets selling fried foods, obesity....my lord And if you don't go out to Denny's, the restaurants you can't afford My mind has got an image of Vegas that is cool It involves going out late and spending daytime at the pool You dress to go to dinner, maybe dancing and a show And the concierge at the hotel is someone you should know But now, you go out shopping to the outlet in the day The casinos are all empty, since there's no one left to play Getting dressed to go to dinner, means you switch from shorts to jeans And the ways some people act now, well it's borders on obscene. So, today I'd like to ask you all, for you may know more than I But, can anybody tell me, just when did Vegas die?