In The Ghetto
When My Kid Learned the Truth About a Song’s Origin
She’s a singer, my daughter. I often hear her singing along to something while she’s holed up in her bedroom drawing or gaming. She sings with gusto in the shower or at a lowered volume while cooking breakfast.
Most of the songs my daughter sings aren’t familiar to me. I’m kinda stuck in the 70’s, 80’s, and 90’s musically, although I love me some St. Vincent and Warpaint.
One afternoon, as I was doom scrolling instead of writing, my daughter was in the kitchen fixing herself a cup of tea. She sort of half mumbled-hummed a familiar tune, capping off each verse with, in the ghetto, which she repeated twice, the second time in falsetto.
Curious, I asked her how she knew that song. She told me it was from an episode of South Park. Cartman sings the words in the ghetto on the way to, and inside of, Kenny’s house, which is located in a blighted neighborhood.
As anyone who’s ever watched South Park knows, the show is littered with cultural references. I informed my lovely daughter that In The Ghetto is actually a real song from way back in the day, only I couldn’t recall who the original artist was. She didn’t believe me.
“Look it up.”
This is what she found, per Wikipedia:
“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.
“Oh, my God.” Then she played it.
As the snow flies
On a cold and gray Chicago mornin’
A poor little baby child is born
In the ghetto
(In the ghetto)
And his mama cries
’Cause if there’s one thing that she don’t need
It is another hungry mouth to feed
In the ghetto
(In the ghetto)
And so it goes, until that poor little baby child eventually grows up and turns to a life of crime, gets arrested, and dies — just as another little baby child is born on a cold, gray Chicago morn, in the ghetto — thus, continuing the “vicious cycle.”
There’s nothing at all humorous about the song, In The Ghetto, but leave it to the boys of South Park to poke fun at what I surmise may have actually been a sincere attempt by Elvis to bring into focus the dire consequences of when we, as a society, ignore the plight of children who are born 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
What I found most amusing was my daughter’s reaction upon hearing the original — not Eric Cartman — version of In The Ghetto, especially when she said she was expecting to hear a song more in the musical vein of Gangsta’s Paradise, which is a totally different genre.
“Well, at least now I finally understand what Cartman is singing.”
Indeed.
