Song: “In the Ghetto”
Elvis’ first socially conscious song, it gets new life amid continued relevance
EPiC: Elvis Presley in Concert is a stunning new film by Baz Luhrmann, director of 2022’s Elvis with Austin Butler. Unlike that film, EPiC consists of actual footage of Elvis in concert, rehearsals, interviews, and life.
I saw it last week in IMAX, and was blown away. It opens wide today and captures Presley in his prime with superb sound, visuals, and editing, reinforcing why he was such a phenomenon, and how he earned it all with his voice, talent, and genuine nature.
The film briefly features a snippet of this performance of Presley’s 1969 hit, “In the Ghetto.”
- Often called the singer’s first socially conscious song, 1968’s “If I Can Dream” might be a contender.
“In the Ghetto” reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It was written by Mac Davis, a country singer and songwriter of renown who also wrote another Presley hit, “A Little Less Conversation.” Davis was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2006. Davis recalled in a later interview:
It was a big brouhaha of [Presley] 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 most exciting moments, because I didn’t know if anyone would ever cut that song. It was controversial at the time.
- In EPiC, the colors, sound, and clarity of film are pristine. This is the rough footage they started with. For instance, the red snakeskin trim of his leather pantsuit virtually glows with vivid detail in EPiC.
The song is a straightforward and eloquent story of a mother living in poverty, a child born into it, and the uncaring society around them that perpetuates a cycle of desperation, despair, and ultimately violence and death.
After decades of progress fighting poverty, disease, and despair across the globe, we are resetting in the US to bring them all back.
Here is a reminder from an era where many of these problems started to get addressed, and the empathy it takes to realize our better angels.
Go see EPiC, and enjoy!