395. In The Ghetto by Elvis Presley 1969

                                                                        
  In 1969 I was in Form 2 at Box Hill High School. I used to hate Music as a subject but every now and again we were allowed to bring in a song and play it to the rest of the class and tell everyone why we liked it so much. I don't know where I got a copy of this song but this was my choice. Not that I was a big follower of Elvis. I'd always thought of him as a leftover from the fifties. We had a family friend who had an entire back room kitted out like a Presley Museum. It was incredibly tacky. It was a long while before I actually got to see the real Elvis and realise just how good he was in the Fifties and how he changed music. But that was to come later. For now I was mesmerized more by the song "In The Ghetto" I was a bit of a sucker for story songs. Probably why I few years later I was into rock musicals and concept albums. I was always looking for a story in the song. This one was like a mini crime tragedy. And it came with a coda at the end. 
The music and that voice put me on the means streets of the USA. It was like reading a short story. I'm not even sure I knew exactly what a ghetto was at the time. Bit the world was getting quite political. Students kept talking about having a sit down strike or marching to the city to protest the Vietnam war. As some people say the Sixties started in 1963 and ended with the last days of the Vietnam War. I am always glad I was there to see it. But even happier when Punk came along and I found myself part of it.
But in 1969 I was listening to Casey Case  American Top 40 on my crystal radio set late on a Sunday Night.