In the Ghetto

Mac Davis wrote it under the title The Vicious Circle. Presley recorded it on 20 January 1969 at American Sound Studio in Memphis, produced by Chips Moman, with John Hughey on pedal steel. The single came out on 14 April 1969 with Any Day Now on the B-side. The song tells of a boy born in a Chicago ghetto who turns to delinquency and is shot dead as another child is born.

It reached number three on the US Hot 100 and number two in the UK, and was number one in Germany, Ireland, Australia and Norway among other countries. Dolly Parton covered it in 1969, Candi Staton in 1972, and James Cleveland in 1975, winning a Grammy. Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds made it their debut single in 1984, produced by Flood, and Beats International followed in 1991. It was Presley's first non-gospel top ten hit since Bossa Nova Baby in 1963.