Lisa Marie Presley Recorded a Virtual Duet of Elvis Presley’s ‘In the Ghetto’
It’s not always the most tasteful trend, but technology is now allowing artists to make music with singers who died. Lisa Marie Presley released a version of Elvis Presley’s “In the Ghetto” with her vocals added in. She had a righteous reason for doing that.
Lisa Marie Presley’s recorded a duet version of Elvis Presley’s ‘In the Ghetto’ for charity
Several times in her career, Lisa Marie recorded virtual duets with her father, editing her vocals into preexisting Elvis tracks. Some of the songs she recorded as virtual duets included “In the Ghetto,” “Don’t Cry Daddy,” “Where No One Stands Alone,” and “I Love You Because.” During a 2012 interview with Goldmine, Lisa Marie discussed why she chose to cover “In the Ghetto” and “Don’t Cry Daddy. “‘In the Ghetto’ was done for charity for Presley Place, which was a transitional housing program.
“It was made available for a limited amount of time on iTunes,” she added. “That was the reason I did it. It wasn’t a big release and it was nothing I was capitalizing on. It was done for charity.”
Lisa Marie Presley revealed Elvis Presley’s ‘Don’t Cry Daddy’ meant a lot to her
Lisa Marie had even more to say about her choice to record “Don’t Cry Daddy.” “I called David Foster and told him he needed to produce this thing for me, that it was only a one-time deal,” she recalled. “I’m not selling it, I’m not selling out, but I just wanted to do something for the fans that night that was something special for the fans. David said he’d do it. That was kind of the beginning of the whole deal. It was only done for the fans for that one night.
“Believe me, that could have been packaged and sold,” he added. “It actually turned out pretty good, I thought. There was a video done for ‘Don’t Cry Daddy.’ That was a special song for me.” Coincidentally, country music maestro Mac Davis wrote “In the Ghetto” and “Don’t Cry Daddy.”
How ‘In the Ghetto’ and ‘Don’t Cry Daddy’ performed on the charts in the United States
The original versions of “In the Ghetto” and “Don’t Cry Daddy” were both hits. The former hit No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and lasted a total of 13 weeks on the chart. The latter appeared on the compilation Elvis: 30 #1 Hits. The compilation topped the Billboard 200 for three of its 170 weeks on the chart.
“Don’t Cry Daddy” became a double A-side single with the far more upbeat tune “Rubberneckin’.” Those tracks climbed to No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and stayed on the chart for 13 weeks. It’s interesting that the song were about as successful as one another in the 1960s while “In the Ghetto” is far more popular today. Versions of both “Don’t Cry Daddy” and “Rubberneckin'” appeared on the album Elvis: 2nd to None, which reached No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and remained on the chart for 16 weeks.
“In the Ghetto” and “Don’t Cry Daddy” are great songs and Lisa Marie helped cement their places in music history.
