In the ghetto
| In the ghetto | |
|---|---|
| Elvis Presley | |
| publication | January 21, 1969 |
| length | 2:44 |
| Author (s) | Mac Davis |
| Publisher (s) | BnB Music / Gladys Music |
| album | From Elvis in Memphis |
In the Ghetto is a song by Elvis Presley . The piece was released as a single in April 1969 and reached top positions in the charts in many countries. It is the only Presley song that became a number one hit in Germany.
History of origin and successes
In the Ghetto 1968 year 26 from Texas was Country - singer and - songwriter Mac Davis wrote, the songs Memories and A Little Less Conversation was also success for Presley. In the Ghetto was the twelfth and final track of the Presley comeback LP From Elvis in Memphis , which was released on RCA Records .
The single was in April 1969, with the B-side Any Day Now released and reached the United States in third place on the charts in the UK number two and in Germany , where they are three months in the top 10 held the top position . For his success in Germany, Presley received a gold record from his music label for 500,000 copies sold. The song also topped the charts in Ireland , Norway , Australia and New Zealand .
Subject
The song deals with the short life of a man on a snowy day in the ghetto of Chicago is born, inevitably gets off the rails and whose young life is a violent end to an equally gray day. The song begins with the crying mother who cannot feed another child, and at the end the cycle starts again - another child is born in the ghetto. The song appeals to the listener not to look away and to help so that the vicious circle can be broken.
Presley's interpretation
The special thing about Presley's interpretation of the song, which describes the inevitable consequences of ghetto poverty and social indifference (the piece was originally subtitled The Vicious Circle ) and asks for sympathy for the situation of the young people, has the music journalist and author Peter Guralnick as follows formulated:
“If you had never heard of Elvis Presley before and were given the 23 meticulous takes of the piece that he recorded that night, it would be virtually impossible not to be taken by storm immediately. The singing is of such a modest, almost translucent eloquence , it is so unobtrusively confident in its simplicity, so perfectly carried by the kind of elegant, simple support from the small group that was the hallmark of the American style - it makes a statement, that is almost impossible to deny. […] You can hear a kind of tenderness that is almost reminiscent of Elvis, who first entered Sam Phillips' Sun Studio, and offered equal parts desire and social compassion. "
Far less lyrical, but nonetheless revealing, is Presley's own statement about In the Ghetto , which he gave in 1969 to a journalist's question about his motivation to record this socially critical song:
“Ghetto was such a great song. I just couldn't pass it up after I heard it. There are a lot of new records out now that have the same sound I started but they are better. I mean, you can't compare a song like Yesterday with Hound Dog , can you? "
“Ghetto is such a great song that I just had to do it. Today there are a lot of records that have the same sound that I started with, but they [the songs] are better. You just can't compare a song like 'Yesterday' to a song like 'Hound Dog', can you? "
Fischer / Prescher write in the encyclopedia of famous pop songs on pages 132/133: “... You can clearly hear the influence Elvis has on the success of the piece: the danger that the song will sound kitschy and emotional is great, but Presley's warm, soulful one Voice is full of empathy, it shows affection for the inevitably criminal 'angry young man' who dies face down on the street. "
Cover versions
Many other artists such as Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds , The Cranberries , Merle Haggard , Dolly Parton and Natalie Merchant have covered the song. In 1991, El Vez, known as "Mexican Elvis," released a Spanish-language version called En El Barrio . A version translated into German by Jörg Fauser was published by Achim Reichel in 1995 under the title Im Ghetto .
The world's most successful cover version of In the Ghetto was delivered by German singer Detlef Malinkewitz under the pseudonym L-Viz. In 1996 he achieved an international chart hit with his interpretation of the song, which earned him a gold record in Germany for more than 250,000 copies sold. The Swiss singer-songwriter Roland Zoss sang a dialect version in Härzland in 2004 . In August 2007, Presley's daughter Lisa Marie released a version in which she sings in a duet with her father.
Individual evidence
- ↑ List of the German number one hits from 1956–1996 ( Memento of the original from December 7, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Günter Ehnert: Hit balance sheet - German chart singles 1956-1980 . 1st edition. Verlag popular music-literature, Norderstedt 2000, ISBN 3-922542-24-7 , p. 446 .
- ^ Peter Guralnick: Careless Love , p. 399
- ↑ Interview in: Ken Sharp: Elvis '69. The Story of the King's Return to the Concert Stage , 2009, p. 149
