Form the Onions songs that could be movies. Boy named sue was #1, thus the Johnny Cash photo to illustrate the article.
18. Elvis Presley, "In The Ghetto"
"In The Ghetto" might be a more soulful song if Elvis Presley didn't sound entirely aware of how very, very soulful he sounds, but the material is still mighty sad—and general enough to be an iconic illustration rather than the story of any one specific person. In an unspecified Chicago ghetto, "a poor little baby child is born" to a mother who can't deal with another mouth to feed. Growing up impoverished and hungry, he also grows up mad and desperate, leading to a tragedy that Mac Davis' lyrics present as inevitable. Davis' much-covered (even on American Idol) song could stand to be subtler—the bridge where Presley demands "People, don't you understand / The child needs a helping hand / Or he'll grow to be an angry young man some day"—is particularly overwrought. Then again, it's also true.
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