Did
Chips Moman have Hot Country in mind when he approached Tom Parker, Elvis Presley’s manager, in 1968? Presley’s career had been on the skids since the first wave of the British Invasion four years earlier. Parker had been collecting a massive percentage of Presley’s money, and it took a brave move on Elvis’ part, going against Parker’s wishes, to do the 1968 TV special that brought him back. Chips Moman wanted to take Elvis’ sound in a different direction, and he had the songwriters to make it happen.
This was the bus that Alex Chilton missed.
Mac Davis had been working for Nancy Sinatra for years. He had written a song, “The Vicious Circle”, that he pitched to Sammy Davis, Jr. in the presence of Jesse Jackson and other black leaders. Sammy wasn’t impressed, but Moman heard about it. Under a different title, it was to bring Elvis Presley’s recording career back from the grave. Moman’s use of a female gospel choir is nothing less than inspired.
Elvis Presley: “In the Ghetto”