There are some who have criticised Elvis for singing about the ghetto "What the hell does Elvis know about the ghetto". What the hell do they know about Elvis? He was born in Tupelo, in abject poverty, his community was the black community. His love for the black community stems from his neighbours keeping him fed when he was hungry. He NEVER forgot this. So, what the hell does Elvis know about the Ghetto? Far more than the vast majority who are quick to hate on you tube with their comments.

Elvis was raised in a ghetto, they were dirt poor. His twin died and was buried in a shoe box, his dad went to jail for doctoring a check to buy food. Elvis deserves respect for his kindness, his heart, and of course his talent which was immense. Long Live the King.

I'm a white man in the South & when I was a kid. My Dad would take me to our favorite BBQ Joint owned by a Black man named Mr. Smith. (Located in the poor black community) There was always a very poor black man that would come to our table & ask for a quarter to play his favorite song from the Jukebox in the corner & it was In The Ghetto, by Elvis. That poor black man would sit & cry through the whole song & my White Dad would always walk over, slip him a $20 & hold that poor black man as he cried. I learned at a very young age not to see color in people. We are all brothers & sisters in this sometimes harsh world. 🤟

this song was sung in 1969. Elvis was so poor he was fed by his black neighbors! he love the community he lived in. He never forgot their generosity when they were also poor.

Elvis was born in desperate poverty. He never forgot.

The song was released in 1969. Elvis was raised in a ghetto and his family was dirt poor. He wanted to use his platform to send a message, which took a lot of guts for a performer to do especially back then.

I cry every time I hear this song. He grew up in extreme poverty, and never forgot where he came from. Thank you so much for such an open and honest review of this.

He sang "If I Can Dream" as a tribute to Martin Luther King jr. A must listen

Elvis was born into poverty his family moved to a projects in Memphis his father went to prison for forgery to buy food for the family. That's why Elvis was so generous .

He grew up in the deepest poverty you can imagine. And, he never saw color. He was a rare and genuine human being.

My favorite thing about this song is that it never says who the child is or what they look like so that allows anyone listening to put themselves in that situation and to get a glimpse into either their past, their future, or what could have been if their family circumstances had been different. And that is a big thing for a quiet song. It makes you think.

The mother struggles to feed her children. The depth of her love is heartbreaking. The poor woman. This song should bring tears to a person.

Mac Davis wrote this and The King performed it perfectly!

Elvis was born into poverty ..... this song came out in 1969 written by Mac Davis ..... Elvis was the only one that would sing the song . Radio stations really never played the song . We had the album so I heard it all my life .... Kentucky Rain is another song he does that never got radio play .... beautiful songs both of them . Look up the Video Elvis and the black community the Echo will never die ... it’s a true look into Elvis’s life ...there’s 2 parts

"If I Can Dream" is a song Elvis sings as a tribute to his friend Dr. Martin Luther King who'd just been assassinated. Elvis was broken-hearted. Watch the video where Elvis is wearing a white suit. .

It's a shame that Elvis sang this over 50 years ago and we still haven't fixed it. We need to stop sending money to other nations and use it hete first to lift our inner-city's.

It’s a crying shame that everyone doesn’t know this song. 50 year old song and truly relevant today. How does it ever stop?

Mac Davis, who passed away few months ago, wrote and composed this song. A number of Name performers turned it down. The man who managed Elvis, Tom Parker, didn't want Elvis to do what might have been considered a controversial song. But Elvis knew best.

Give Elvis the credit his deserve ❤❤❤❤

Poverty is the worst form of violence 😪💔 Elvis understood all of this.. After 40 years this song brings tears to my eyes 🎶😭

Great song 👍✌ Elvis will always be the King 👑 Greatest voice and charisma ever ❤

Elvis went through a hard time himself when he was young, and naturally knows about the ghetto. He was remarkable to sing this song. So sincerely heartbreaking.

ELVIS new what poverty was,he came from a very poor and humble life, then he became thee as American dream.happy heavenly birthday to ELVIS Presley, would have been 86 today.🥲🙏🎂

“The SYSTEM is well greased by itself.” You said it all brother..

Mac Davis, the greatest songwriter ever. The song was originally called the Vicious Circle, one baby dies and another takes his place. And so the vicious circle carries on.

Hey it's Elvis's 86th heavenly birthday today!!!

My favorite Elvis song. Sad but with a message that still needs to be heard. Enjoy

Elvis is one of the most famous people in music history, & no doubt, one of the most talented, however his heart & love for humanity, is his legacy 💚💜💗💚💜 Really enjoyed your heartfelt reaction! Please react to another performance he gave, on his comeback show, called If I can dream.....His heart was ripped apart by the recent assassinations of MLK & Bobby Kennedy, and insisted on singing this song, instead of another the network wanted him to sing......I believe you will really feel this performance to the depths of your soul 💗 Link: kzfaq.info/get/bejne/q5Ogg8KVqMvSenU.html

The alternate title was "The Vicious Circle."

He was to good to live long. People chewed him up, and he got lost after his mother died. He was also very spiritual, love many of his Gospel songs. It was mostly black artist that wrote all his songs. Many tried to change what he chose to sing, but most of the hit songs were written by black artists, even when hard rock came out they owned up to where there inspiration came from. I'm 65 years old and I saw how music evolved. It was awesome, so many memories.

I loved this song when it first came out. I was just a boy then, but I felt it. Born somewhere in NYC - I don't know exactly where, or to whom - I lived in an orphanage until I was adopted by a couple from the Bronx. She was an emergency room nurse who worked in East Harlem, then the Bx. He was a homicide detective, my own personal Archie Bunker. When someone said the Old Man was a racist, he'd say, "I'm not prejudiced. I hate everybody equally." I think he was being truthful. Dad moved us out of his mom's house in Soundview in the South Bronx to a nice little house in Long Island, about a half-mile from the border with Queens. I used to say, my dad fought his way out of the ghetto & I fought my way back in. For a long time, I thought it was White Guilt bringing me back to the city, to the shooting galleries and, later, the crack houses where I tried to erase myself. Only recently I realized I was looking for my roots, for my parents, for myself. I was an angry young man and only barely escaped the fate of the youth Elvis sang about 'In The Ghetto'. I still love this song, it still makes me stop and listen. I still wonder who my mom & dad were, if I had any siblings. My adopted brother was also a cop. He took his own life just a few months before I was released from prison, 15 years ago. I miss him so much. Almost everyone I knew and loved from way back is dead. I have no one to share 'the good old days' with. So I come to places like this, to share with you. To hear your thoughts and feelings about the music that has meant so much to me. If you've read this far, thanks. Thanks for sharing the experience with me. I'll leave one suggestion for a song reaction: Southern Cross by Crosby, Stills, & Nash (& sometimes Young). "I have my ship and all her flags are a-flying. She is all that I have left, and Music is her name."

I wish you’d react to more Elvis, you’ll understand why he’s so loved and why there won’t ever be anyone like him ever again ☮️💜

Unfortunately the situation will never get better until fathers are present on the home.

I love Elvis but this is my favorite his heart is put out there. Love it

You nailed it. This song used a "circle of life" story approach. In fact, it was originally (briefly, before being recorded) called "The Cycle". The tragic story of life in the ghetto keeps repeating itself, generation after generation, which is so, so sad.

Elvis. Great entertainer. Better yet, a wonderful person.

In 1969 when Elvis Presley sang this song 🎵 the southside of Chicago was a black neighborhood called the ghetto. Today its got a mixed ethnic group of people and its a gangland community where mothers are still crying. Elvis knew poverty and lived in the projects of Memphis where he attended a black church. Soul and gospel music colored his experience in the music industry. 🎶

The black community embraced Elvis when white rock and roll stations were refusing to play his records, calling it n-word music. He found acceptance and encouragement in the black community.

Such a touching song. You had an amazing reaction.

I lived through the Elvis craze. Honestly, I was never much of a fan. However, THIS song was special. THIS is my favorite Elvis songl A beautiful, poiognant song that is, unfortuantely, still true. Appreciate your reaction.

Please do: If I can dream 1968 (white suit), tribute to MLK

His home as a kid had no floor inside was just dirt ❤️ he understands every word

Thanks for your insightful reaction. Yes, the few ways out are effed up. Elvis himself knew this because of the album on which this hit single also appeared. It was the final song of "From Elvis In Memphis," and it's best heard as part of that album. It certainly wasn't initially intended as a "concept album," but that's how it turned out. I suggest listening to an audio-only version of "Long Black Limousine" from the same album. The songs work in tandem. And both end in death as both protagonists attempt escape from poverty. I can't imagine Elvis wasn't thinking of himself while singing "Long Black Limousine." He "got out," for a little while. Elvis was no middle class poser. He grew up in the projects after his parents qualified for a spot. During these recording sessions, he changed words to several of the songs, clearly sensing a pattern forming as these very emotional sessions in Memphis took shape. He sang of dreams, dreams that died, "empty" dreams . . . it's all over the album. The studio wasn't far from where he first lived in Memphis as a child in The Big City for the first time. On this album, he questions the whole point of "escape." Where does it lead? To a hearse? And not just in one song. By early 1969, the city was in shambles after the murder of Dr. King. 827 Thomas St., where he sang "In The Ghetto" WAS in the ghetto. And that north Memphis ghetto was already becoming something of a ghost town. It had an eerie sense of emptiness and silence in the 1970s, when I first visited and took photos of the little pink studio that was soon to be demolished. Along with many, I recommend "If I Can Dream" from 1968. Oh! There's that word again. "Dream." "If I Can Dream" was written by a television-based songwriter who was asked to use Elvis' own words as they all heard them that summer of 1968 to come up with a new song to close out the legendary "Comeback Special" as it later came to be called. That's how television worked back then. Everyone had a specialty. W. Earl Brown wrote songs for TV Specials. Michael Jackson sang at least one of his songs. That was Brown's job. But this show was unique. Everyone rose to the challenge. Especially Elvis. You will see him singing "If I Can Dream" live with no audience in a white preacher's suit with a small dark blood-red scarf. For all the blood that was so recently spilled. He and the wardrobe man discussed some very serious issues, including that little red scarf. And Vietnam body counts. 1968 may have lost out to 2020/21 as "the worst year ever," but 1968 is still especially horrific as I write this on Dr. King's birthday.

Check out , If I Can Dream from 1968 Come Back Special , Don't Cry Daddy , Kentucky Rain if you like deep songs. There are so many Elvis songs and styles, Try Power Of My Love and Wear in That Love On Look From Elvis In Memphis album

This is a Lyrical Masterpiece , bringing the reality from the urban streets , and Elvis has that sad real tone , so perfect from The King

Your reaction was so heartfelt, which I believe is exactly what The King himself would have hoped for.

A deep song that’s very applicable today. It’s very sad and unfortunately true. 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

Elvis's "If I can Dream" from the 68 comeback special. (White suit version) will Move you also. perhaps one of the greatest in both content and performance.

A great, heartfelt reaction to a song sadly still relevant today! "If I Can Dream" (68 Comeback Special) is another great song to check out.

Good on you for listening and reacting to this song. It's easy to be caught up in the emotion of it by the end. It gets me almost every time. Just don't forget the pre-chorus "people don't you understand, this child needs a helping hand" we all have that option. Want to break the cycling, a little bit of kindness and time can go a long way

Brilliant reaction man

Loved your reaction you got the meaning on point he did it in 69 sad to think still applys today he did it because he believed he needed to be sung check out If I can dream Walk a mile in my shoes Suspicious minds and Polk salad Annie thank you be safe 😷✌

Still exactly the same in the projects of Chicago unfortunately. One of my favorite Elvis song. My favorite: if I can dream

Amazing song

Elvis could sing anything. He was raised in the Ghettos of Miss and Memphis.

Elvis didnt even use a shit ton of words to describe how the ghetto is but he laid down a few words to describe it and those words still stand today! Death immediately replaced by a birth.

He was the first, with so much visibility, to call for social justice

Elvis never turned his eyes away.

Big respect for your reaction. I was born poor, hungry, brown, girl. Heard this song, I got out of the ghetto, song, after 60 years, I still cry when I hear it.

Bro you are missing out,,, Elvis was the greatest of all time. He sang so many great songs,,, his favourite music was Gospel. He sang to tell a story and to bring awareness to many different things going on in the World. He actually makes Christmas music sound really good,,, I listen to his holiday album all year it’s that great.

Elvis was, as all of us are, an amalgamation of all his experiences and influences. He was a man who drew no lines. He learned from all and cared about everybody.

There is no way any man can erase history. Elvis was getting it across how his fellow man struggled in life. He lived in poverty himself, the first big hit that made him money he went out and bought his Mama a house to end her struggle. Elvis was close to the Black Community he worshiped every walk of life.. R.I.P Elvis, your music will live on..

Your emotional honesty and appreciation of this song by Elvis -- priceless BizMatik. Lots of respect for your assessment. I only wish more people knew about this side of Presley. And yes, he too grew up in poverty so he could sing about this subject. Despite his rock background, this song was a hit on the charts. You said, "he didn't have to sing a song like this." He did meet with resistance when he considered it -- but he listened to no one except himself. Says a lot about the man.

THE KING! 👑

This is Mrs. Ace x. Elvis passed August 16,1977. He's #1. I believe that the man who wrote this song was the late Mac Davis. He was a great writer and performer of music. This song was easy for Elvis to have a heart for. His heart I'm sure has stayed huge, in God's Kingdom. He could feel others pain and had sympathy for them. Mac, was a great performer, with a lot of charisma. It was obvious that he loved his audience, and all people, by the words in his songs. He had his own TV show for awhile, long ago. I think that if you could see him connecting to his audience, you would feel his soul. We all came from the same place and will return there together. People need to open themselves to love. It is more about expressing your humanity to others. It feels good, to those who don'tknow. Loved your review.

Elvis was born in real bad poverty during the depression. They moved from their small house in Tupelo Mississippi to Memphis Tennessee into public housing apartments. They really struggled. He can sing this song because it was his reality.

As someone who came from the suburbs of Chicago, even way back when, we all knew about Cabrini Green... Sad to hear it's the same or worse now there. Great reaction.

Yeah man everyone tears up when they hear this. (And see the other REACTION vids). It's a real good song: really good combination of knowledgeable lyrics and music suiting each other really well, and it reaches down deep really good. Ain't the Tempts or Marvin or Stevie, but it is its own thing. Thank you.

Many Elvis song's make you shed a tear👑

I really enjoyed your reaction,I could tell it was real honest. Your black but I'm White but your my brother! Only one race, Humanity 👊 Thanks again.

I think it came out in 1969.

Did you guys know this song was rejected by renowned artists of those times because of the associated controversy including rejected by Elvis’ manager T Parker. But The King what he did, The Greatest. No wonder Ali had immense respect for this man

Much respect to you for a great reaction to Elvis singing what must be one of the most heartfelt and greatest performances in history.

He was born dirt poor and raised in the ghetto as a little boy in tupelo mississippi and as a teenager in memphis and lived in public housing until he made it big.so you see he never forgot where he came from oh Mac davis, wrote the song for The GOAT ❤💯🙏 amen, thank you so much for sharing and love your reaction to the GOAT.god bless you and your family, 👍☝👌🌹🎉🔥🤒😷🇵🇷🇺🇸

He was an incredible man, In real life, he also gave cars ,money, food to people in need, his daughter did a clauberation of in the ghetto. Its on tube very moving as well made me cry as well.look for Elvis / Lisa singing in the Ghetto so beautiful. I think you have beautiful emotions, never be inbarresed and your beautifu

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

The song was written by Mac Davis, based in what he saw as a child growing up in Chicago. He started calling it The Vicious Circle but had trouble making the lyrics work. He changed the lyrics and it became In the Ghetto. While Elvis did not grow up in an inner city ghetto, he grew up in extreme poverty and mixed neighborhoods in the South. He knew poverty and the hopelessness for many. As a young man, his main goal was to find a way to get his family out of poverty. Love your reaction. Elvis had great compassion for everyone.

Everytime goosebumps! 👑

that was a hard hitting song when it came out , the American dream didn't work for poor people back then and the song is still relevant today

How can a grown man age 62 shed tears listening to this beautiful song , very easily I am this man ❤️

Elvis sang from the heart. This song was such a Huge hit , not because it was a catchy tune. He was singing about real life and people knew it.

I am 66 years old and I still cry listening to this song. Did it just now. Probably heard this 50 times.

Bro, I’m greatly appreciate, you discovered elvis - he was never of colour. He had an ability and made you feel, this song was written before you were born A great loss to you and our world

Brother; 60 years later the world 🌎is still talking about The King, and he's been gone for almost 44 years 😢

God help us all to break these ties to poverty and truly love and help each other !! There were people who didn't want Elvis to sing this song...he didn't care and sang it anyway because he knew the message was relevant and true to those times....and still are true today !!! Elvis gone but never ever forgotten !!!

Check out if I can dream from 68 comeback.

Elvis was my distant cousin and grew up dirt poor and he was always hungry and being native American that jim crow crap affected us too and he grew up in shot gun shacks ( crappy houses ) laid out in a community and he never forgot where he came from and he passed before I was born but I grew up poor and hungry too poverty knows no color its an equal opportunity pain in the butt..and Elvis knew exactly what he was singing about

The song came out in 1969. Elvis was born in 1935 during the depression in Tupelo Mississippi. They moved to Memphis Tennessee in 1948. He lived in government housing in object poverty. Elvis knew what it was to go hungry. That’s why he helped so many. He was a humanitarian and a Samaritan. He bought his maids their own homes. He was full of love.

Welcome to the world of Elvis..x

If I can dream is a must hear!! Now that you've heard this I strongly recommend listening to what 3 6 Mafia did with this on documentary Elvis and the black community that echo will never die. Its eye opening..Thanks for great reaction 👍✌

His boy home us on display I think even today. The man was living talented miracle that loved his fans and family.

Credit to Mac Davis as someone pointed out below for writing the song. For folks who only know Elvis from his pop songs or don't know him at all, do yourselves a favor and check out his gospel music. His voice is INCREDIBLE singing gospel music (something else he grew up with)

Surprise! Isn't that a beautiful voice. 😲 Warning, Elvis is addictive, but it's a truly wonderful addiction. ☺ Check out, "Unchained Melody", from a concert 6 weeks before he died. 😪 He was VERY, VERY sick, but gave his best for his fans, as always. 😇 Incredible performance!!!👏👏👏 He had a fantastic sense of humor and loved to joke with his band, backup singers, and the audience. You'll see some of that in the video.

This song makes me cry every time I hear it. He sang this in 1969 and things haven't changed. In the beginning when he says "people, don't you understand the child needs a helping hand or he's going to grow up to be an angry young man someday" touches my soul. I've worked for social services for 20 years and I can't believe how many in this country are against helping people if it means they have a few dollars less to spend on Starbucks.

I used to play with kids from Cabrini Green as a kid. I also grew up an Elvis fan. He died when I was 4. So this song has always been my favorite. Thanks for reviewing it.

Elvis had such an amazing voice but also an amazing visionl... He died when I was 10... 1977... Find his song... If I Can DREAM

So little has changed, Elvis was a strong supporter of black rights...

Poverty is poverty. G'day from Australia this is my first visit to your channel

"In the Ghetto" (originally titled "The Vicious Circle") is a 1969 song recorded by Elvis Presley and written by Mac Davis. It was a major hit released in 1969 as a part of Presley's comeback album, and also on the single release of "Any Day Now" as the flip side.

Another song you might enjoy if i can dream its a very heartfelt song beautiful lyrics