'In The Ghetto' by Elvis Presley

The series was supposed to be against xenophobia and not in support of it.I know,I haven't forgotten that,don't think I ever will......The man was old school,the man was absolutely capitalist,the man hated progressive music of the '60s,in fact he hated anarchism and communists and socialists as a whole but the song doesn't do any of that.The song is about a bitter truth,a truth that needs exposure FOR people.The song is NOT xenophobic.The country has been,for a very,very long time.


'In The Ghetto' Lyrics
(Credit : www.azlyrics.com)

As the snow flies
On a cold and gray Chicago mornin'
A poor little baby child is born
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

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

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

Then one night in desperation
a 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

As her young man dies,
on a cold and gray Chicago mornin',
another little baby child is born
In the ghetto







About The Song
(Credit : Wikipedia)

"In the Ghetto" (originally titled "The Vicious Circle") is a song written by Mac Davis and made famous by Elvis Presley, who had a major comeback hit with it in 1969.
It is a narrative of generational poverty: a boy is born to a mother who already has more children than she can feed in the ghetto of Chicago. The boy grows up hungry, steals and fights, purchases a gun and steals a car, attempts to run, but is shot and killed just as his own child is born. The song implies that the newborn will meet the same fate, continuing the cycle of poverty and violence. The feeling of an inescapable circle is created by the structure of the song, with its simple, stark phrasing; by the repetition of the phrase "in the ghetto" as the close of every fourth line; and finally by the repetition of the first verse's "and his mama cries" just before the beginning and as the close of the last verse.

Song Review

The song begins with the description of a cold and grey Chicago morning,with a poor,little child being born and his mother still anxious,not about the pain she has had to bear all along,neither about the satisfaction of giving birth but about the dilemma if she would be able to feed one more hungry mouth.

The next part describes the trail the child follows to grow up into "an angry,young man".He plays in the streets as the cold wind blows,hungry,with a runny nose and ultimately learns to steal and learns to fight in the ghetto.This is almost a picture that fits into every economically backward part of the society in the world.I can recollect the numerous times I have observed hungry children,with runny noses,in the extreme cold of December or January,playing in the street,playing on the field,spiralling pseudo pleasure that kids find in imagination,while being able to keep aside all the stark condition they have to face in real life.
Then they learn to steal,they learn to fight,from an animal instinct that calls to live,amidst all the unfavourable conditions.And one day,when the hunger burns to an unbearable extent and erases the line of fear and rules,of right and wrong,of all demarcations marked,he buys a gun,he steals a car but then again,rules gather around him.Rules incarcerate the devil,the wrong urge to erase,the wrong,hungry instincts.And as the young man dies,two mothers cry.One being his own and the other of a newborn child who is born in the cold,grey Chicago morning...in the same ghetto.
The lyrics are amazing in a word,they are just what they could have been at their best.The melody is basically perfect. The voice behind is great,too but I find it really plastic at places.Elvis must have been a little more concerned about how his baritone ringed through and not the feelings that the singer should have had for the song ever show up in the entire time.The instrumentals were good but could have been better.Overall,lyrics win,the voice is obviously nice and the melody and the instrumentals together make it worth a listen.It is a very,very popular track but in case somebody hasn't listened to it yet,this is worth recommendation.

Here goes the scores - 

Lyrics - 5/5
Instrumentals - 4.5/5
Melody - 5/5
The voice behind - 4.5/5


As a song - {(19/20 * 100)%} = 95%

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