In The Ghetto

Album

From Elvis in Memphis

Label

RCA Victor

Genre

Country rock

Composer(s)

Mac Davis

Entered Chart

May 3, 1969

Peak Date

Jun 14, 1969

Released

April 14, 1969

Recorded

January 20, 1969 Studio American Sound Studio, Memphis

Catalog #

RCA Victor 47-9741

B-Side

Any Day Now

This song is about poverty, describing a child who can't overcome his surroundings and turns to crime, which leads to his death. It was the first song Elvis recorded with a socially conscious message. He was reluctant to do it for that reason, but knew it would be a hit. This was written by Mac Davis, who entered the Songwriters Hall Of Fame in 2006. At the ceremony, Davis explained: "It's a simple matter of growing up with a little boy who's father worked with my father. He lived in a part of town that was a dirt-street ghetto. I grew up in Lubbock, Texas, and it was a ghetto in every since of the word, but we didn't use that word back then. I was trying to come up with a song called 'The Vicious Circle,' how a child is born, he has no father, and the same thing happens. The word 'Ghetto' became popular in the late '60s to describe the poor parts of town. A friend of mine, Freddy Weller, who used to play guitar for Paul Revere And The Raiders, showed me lick on the guitar one day. I went home and fiddled around with it, I wrote the song and called him up at 4 in the morning and sang it to him. He knew I'd written a hit with his lick, but that's the way it goes." Davis wrote this as "In The Ghetto (The Vicious Circle)." RCA Records got Davis' permission to drop the subtitle before presenting it to Elvis. Davis had written some songs for Elvis that were used in his movies, including "A Little Less Conversation" and "Clean Up Your Own Backyard." When Elvis was making his comeback and recording in Memphis, his management asked Davis if he had anything they could use. Davis sent them a tape with this and "Don't Cry Daddy," as the first two songs, and Elvis recorded both of them. In a Songfacts interview with Mac Davis, he told the story: "When they decided to do the album In Memphis at American Music, with Chips Moman, they came to me because we'd had a little bit of success. 'Memories' was also a Top 10 record, and according to Priscilla, Elvis liked my writing. He wanted to hear more of my stuff, so they asked me to send in some songs for this Memphis album. I had 19 songs. I had done a tape of them, just me and my guitar, and I sent them the whole tape of everything I had, and the first song on the tape was 'In The Ghetto.' I had just finished writing it. And the second song was 'Don't Cry Daddy.' They recorded both of them. It was a big brouhaha of him recording 'In the Ghetto.' I think he had to fight to get that out as a single. RCA was afraid of it and Col. Parker was afraid of it, but Elvis believed in it and he wanted to be taken seriously. He wanted to do a song that said something. It was one of my prideful moments, one of my most exciting moments, because I didn't know if anyone would ever cut that song. It was controversial at the time." In America, this was Elvis' first Top 10 hit in four years ("Crying In The Chapel" also hit #3 in 1965). If Elvis turned this down, the song would have gone to Rosie Grier, a minister and former football player. Memphis was Elvis' hometown. It was the first time he recorded there since 1956. This was the first release from those sessions. In 2007, Elvis' daughter Lisa Marie Presley recorded tracks that were composited with Elvis' original version to create a duet with this song - similar to what Natalie Cole did with her father's song "Unforgettable." Some proceeds from the sale of the song went to benefit victims of Hurricane Katrina. As part of a series of re-releases of Elvis songs in the UK in 2007, this re-entered the UK chart at #15. Elvis' friend Marty Lacker urged him to record in Memphis and connected him with producer Chips Moman. "Elvis was hesitant to do 'In The Ghetto,'" Lacker told Goldmine magazine. "Colonel Parker had always drilled into his head, 'Don't do message songs. If you do message song it's just like taking a political side. Whatever side you're gonna take is gonna offend the others'. I was in the control room after Elvis and the musicians had been working on 'In The Ghetto' a little bit. He said, 'Look, I don't think I should do this song'. I said, 'Elvis, if you're ever gonna do a song like this, this is the one'. He looked over at Chips and Chips said, 'This is a hit record. But I'll tell you what, if you don't want it, can I have the song?' Elvis didn't blink. He said, 'No, I'm gonna do it.'" One of the backup singers on this track was Donna Jean Thatcher, who a few years later married Keith Godchaux and became the only female member of the Grateful Dead. She and the other backup singers - Jeanie Greene and the sisters Mary and Ginger Holliday - got their start in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, working on sessions for the likes of Percy Sledge and Ray Stevens. Dolly Parton, Elvis' labelmate at RCA, recorded a version for her fourth solo album, My Blue Ridge Mountain Boy. It peaked at #50 on the Country chart.

As the snow flies
On a cold and gray Chicago mornin'
A poor little baby child is born
In the ghetto (in the ghetto)

And his mama cries
'Cause if there's one thing that she don't need
It's another hungry mouth to feed
In the ghetto (in the ghetto)

People, don't you understand
The child needs a helping hand
Or he'll grow to be an angry young man some day?
Take a look at you and me
Are we too blind to see?
Do we simply turn our heads and look the other way?

Well, the world turns
And a hungry little boy with a runny nose
Plays in the street as the cold wind blows
In the ghetto (in the ghetto)

And his hunger burns
So he starts to roam the streets at night
And he learns how to steal, and he learns how to fight
In the ghetto (in the ghetto)

Then one night in desperation
The young man breaks away
He buys a gun, steals a car
Tries to run, but he don't get far
And his mama cries

As a crowd gathers 'round an angry young man
Face down on the street with a gun in his hand
In the ghetto (in the ghetto)

And as her young man dies (in the ghetto)
On a cold and gray Chicago mornin'
Another little baby child is born
In the ghetto (in the ghetto)

And his mama cries (in the ghetto)
(In the ghetto)
(Ah)