Medley: Drink To Me Only With Thine Eyes/I Don’t Care If The Sun Don’t Shine/I Love Vegas (Paris) (Live At The Sands Hotel, Las Vegas/1963)

Song Meaning

This medley kicks off with a tender, almost shy "Drink to me only... that's all I ask." It's a quiet moment, a simple toast to connection, before abruptly pivoting. The interlude, "How long have I been on?" signals a shift, a self-awareness of the performance, and then plunges into the brash, sun-averse hedonism of "I Don't Care If The Sun Don't Shine." The core tension emerges in the contrast between the intimate opening and the defiant embrace of Vegas nightlife. The narrator actively avoids natural light, preferring "sun ray lamp" and "evening time" for their "drinking." This isn't just about preference; it's a declaration of a lifestyle that thrives in artificiality and nocturnal revelry, a stark departure from pastoral romance. The lyrics cleverly use hyperbole and unexpected comparisons to sell the Vegas experience. The advice about bringing a wife being "like going to China with a sack of rice" is a hilariously blunt way to say it's a bad idea, highlighting the city's singular, perhaps destructive, allure. Later, the narrator's love for Vegas is compared to Nasser's Egypt, the army's manuals, and even Sinatra's love for Jack Daniels, all serving to amplify the intensity and specific, almost obsessive, nature of this affection. What makes this medley hit so hard is its unapologetic embrace of excess and its self-aware performance of it. The shift from a gentle toast to a full-throated, almost manic declaration of love for Vegas, complete with wild comparisons and a wink to the audience (the interlude, the advice about the wife), captures a specific kind of showman's charm. It’s the sound of someone living large, aware of the absurdity, and loving every minute of it because, ultimately, "my girl's right here"—a final, grounding, yet still Vegas-tinged reason for it all.