Truth be told, Elvis Presley’s “In the Ghetto” is the only crossover effort by the King that references Chicago in winter. “As the snow flies / On a cold and gray Chicago mornin’ / A poor little baby child is born / In the ghetto (in the ghetto).” It was embarrassing at the time, as it seemed a transparent effort to curry a connection with black listeners who were not, as a rule, Elvis fans. In retrospect, the song now seems just as much a Southern man’s effort to say that, sure, our society was built on slavery, but things up North ain’t so sweet neither. (David Hammond)
