In The Ghetto - "my song"

We are talking about Germany, only 20 years after the founding of the new state in 1949 under the dictates of the winners. You have to imagine what it means to a nine year-old-child to love a song in the language of the war victor. I remember well that we even had a lot of people who wanted the emperor back! And, like said, we had war winners downstairs in the house. Let's say: German adults had slightly different ideas about what their children should like. Elvis wasn't such a superstar as in the USA. An adolescent might have been successful with "Listen, I wanna hear it because it has a wonderful melody, an easygoing rhythm and a well-sung choir that complements a particularly outstanding voice exceptionally well.", but I was just willing to use short forms like "It's my favourite song, over and out!" - which my mother always rewarded with a red cheek.
So, what happens? I sang "In The Ghetto" what I understood phonetically as words without knowing their meaning and just hummed the rest - when I was alone or on the street. Luckily, "In The Ghetto" was also for Germans exceptional - some weeks later it became number one in the german charts and things got simpler.

1969 - dressed up for visits...

Understanding

Through my contacts with the American soldiers, who had continued to develop, starting with Cathy's family, and through English lessons at school from 1970 onwards, I was able to sing along to the entire text and also translated it. But really understanding is still something completely different. To put it in the words of Goethe: "There are many people who just imagine that they understand what they hear." That's how it was for me too. Unfortunately, it was a long time before I fully understood the meaning of "In The Ghetto".

Maybe I would have been able to understand it earlier if I had thought more deeply about the rather strong difference between the American soldiers in Wiesbaden, because there were very clear differences between the Air Force soldiers in Camp Lindsey and those of the Army in Camp Pieri. Both groups hung out in the area where I grew up - and that was the inner city of Wiesbaden with its nightlife: bars, clubs, discotheques, pubs, restaurants and the red light district. The US military police were often deployed, but it was extremely rare for Air Force soldiers to attract attention. Most of the time it was about drugs, arrogant actings as "occupiers", black market deals and also about advances towards German girls, which also led to physical confrontations between locals and Army soldiers.
These are also certainly visible results of childhoods that motivated Mac Davis to write about "The Viscious Circle", the song known as "In The Ghetto". Why? Poor children are always socially disadvantaged and in this case I'm talking about social participation. If children grow up in a ghetto, where will their inner security, their psychological stability come from when they are later confronted with leisure activities in so-called “better” or even completely different social systems?

The author of "In The Ghetto", Mr. Morris Mac Davis

But I was too young for such thoughts. I don't think any German thought about it at that time and certainly not in Wiesbaden – historically the emperor's spa resort, a centre of aristocratic money with the "most beautiful" gambling casino in Europe, the regiment in Wiesbaden was the emporer's summer guard and the city a deep brown stronghold in the Third Reich.

For me, "In The Ghetto" was always present and I heard it here and there again, but in the face of school, job training, military duties and career, it slipped into the background. It was only after I became a father myself and had to consider children and their environment that I became more aware of it. Being a father means also to think much more deeply about your own childhood. This added to me one more perspective on my favorite song - it was supplemented by the call for justice that is contained in it and is easy to miss despite all the enthusiasm to the song.

Layout

In 1998, our business as a graphic design company also included the possibility of producing films. Digitization, which we did from the very first serious moment in 1991 with a "Macintosh IIci" (the Windows stuff crashed constantly, it was never seriously "deadline-proof" in high-quality use) and the emerging Internet (radio) offered new opportunities. To get an impression of 1998 have a look at our Showreel at that time... "M&P Showreel until 2000"

Despite a short film spectacle in the music sector for so many years (MTV etc.), there wasn't a special video of "In The Ghetto"!

Don't get me wrong. Of course, there are and were videos of "In The Ghetto". But in 1998 nothing matched what I had in mind and the idea of making a video of the message with the song underneath felt great to me. So, I made a layout and created a first work. Unfortunately, once the mood board and images corresponding to the text existed, there were objections to producing the film. There was also an abstract alternative draft to show me how else it could be done. But that was too abstract for me because, like Elvis, I wanted the message of the "Vicious Circle" to be clearly understood. Preferably word for word. There were also talkings about the copyright and the associated risk because it might not be published, i.e. that the video had been made for nothing. This put the project on hold because there was no way for me to make the video on my own between 1998 and 2002.

No doubt, I was a pissed-off. Over the years, I assumed that someone would produce something that took up my idea and would make my project redundant because it would then seem copied. That is the fate of things if you are not the first. But I was never a freeloader and to this day I have no intention of becoming one.

Preface to the production

After newly discussions, especially with my friend Eric, I decided to go ahead with the project on the basis of my work from 1998 and with the partial support of my brother (more about him here), because there was still no video in the style of the layout I had created so many years ago. In addition, I decided, in keeping with my age, how to spend the rest of my life in the most meaningful way - this website is also a result of this decision. Finally, the production over the many months would not have been possible without the support of my wife Lydia and daughter Katharina.

About the production

Once again: Of course there are still videos with Elvis for this song today. But that is all something that is considered fan service today. The fans see and hear it with the enthusiasm of a young person, just like I did back then. However, the author Mac Davis intended to have an effect and if the message contained in "In The Ghetto", the cruelty behind it had been understood for what it is and something had been done to fight it, then things might look different with "Vicious Circle" today - especially since the song has found millions of fans all over the world.

Elvis Presley in 1947 from a Trading Card

Elvis certainly understood the message very well and did the best with his unique interpretation. What Mac Davis perceived in his early environment was what Elvis experienced as a child and he certainly knew what he could have become also without music. In any case, his inner involvement in the song is noticeable to me and I know not only for me. I've often encountered agreement in this context - always accompanied by: "But you can't change anything about it!"

So how to do it now?

The song is a legend and its visualization had to be in keeping with the content of a legend. It's unthinkable what would happen if just one image in the video looked cheap or perhaps comes with Disney's sugar glazing or in the creepy style of Asian fast-movie-productions. Meanwhile there are also interpretations of the song that almost make me a bit sick. Aimlessly jumping around to a garbled disco-rhythm version of “In The Ghetto” that distorts the message is actually not what Mac Davis and Elvis had in mind.

For my work...

I choosed black and white with the look of a rough pencil and drew on my memories as a child and the interpretation of serious themes by great artists. This includes indistinctness, transparency and simplifications in things that are not immediately clear, because the viewer also needs space for own imagination in what is actually a very short song. Nevertheless, I gave the introduction time. Time for that one become familiar with the style.

A particular challenge was to show the child growing up and the depiction of the burning hunger. The time for this is extremely short in the song and the fact that I wanted the gospel choir makes the boy visible to us is something that repeatedly called for a new solution and therefore required a lot of time.

"The solution is always simple, you just have to find it" - seldom has a quote been so true.

Another issue that was not easy to resolve was the fact that no man is appearing in the song. In fact, it is the overburdened mother whose helplessness had the decisive consequences here and there.

Bringing role models from the social environment and forms of violence into play required difficult decisions - the song also calls for the violent death of the young man, which leads to the dramatic climax - the innocent face of that newborn baby - one should feel that the death you have just seen is not what you want for this baby.

The simplicity of the depiction of the plaintive choir is intended to leave the viewer in peace at the end of the song so that the new images in his mind can unfold - what may leave him speechless.

Ultimately, the review of a consistent style and the homogeneity of the visualization led to further changes, because despite all the imaginative vagueness, a few clear representations were needed to stage the text in a credible way, for example to show who has to ensure that the young man dies on the street with a gun in his hand.

Where it was made

Conclusion

I really hope my "In The Ghetto Video" is renewing the song and, makes a strong contribution in a renewing way to what the author and Elvis had to say. If you like the video, I would be happy and honored to have my work recognized by donating directly here.

Politicians...

...always speak openly about child poverty, but what they actually do about it is something completely different and they like to claim that there are no people or groups whose specific goal is to maintain or even create child poverty: So who should a politician fight? That sounds logical on first thought. But that argument is as widely spreaded as it is stupid, because there are very strong interests and structures that ensure that nothing changes for the better - and it is as clear as water that those interests depend indirectly, or even directly, on political decisions.

Well, talking for pages (just if necessary), promising nothing, remaining inactive but following the interests of lobbyists is easier than anything else. Although action is desperately needed, perhaps more than ever, as child poverty has increased since Elvis days - despite all these great big oganizations. But more on that under "Child Poverty".