Early 1969 marked a seismic shift for Elvis Presley.
Fresh off his legendary ’68 Comeback Special, the King of Rock and Roll walked into Memphis’ American Sound Studio determined to reclaim his place at the top of the charts. While the session produced the monumental No. 3 Billboard hit “In the Ghetto,” the single’s flip side quietly carried a soulful masterpiece of its own: a deeply emotional rendition of Burt Bacharach and Bob Hilliard’s “Any Day Now.”
The song served as a crucial bridge between Elvis’s explosive studio comeback and his triumphant return to the live stage in Las Vegas later that summer. With “Any Day Now,” Presley delivered a performance dripping with genuine emotion and soul.
While Mac Davis’s poignant narrative of poverty and tragedy made “In the Ghetto” an undeniable cultural watershed, “Any Day Now” offered a starkly different emotional pulse on the reverse side. Moving from the sobering narrative of social struggle to the deeply personal ache of lost love, Presley proved he could anchor both sides of one single.
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“In the Ghetto” was a vast departure from Presley’s earlier works, marking his transition into gritty, adult storytelling. That willingness to take creative risks extended directly to the flip side, where his version of “Any Day Now” proved that he was no longer playing it safe.
The tune, originally performed by Chuck Jackson, was released in 1962. His version peaked at No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 2 on the Hot R&B Singles chart, according to the website Chimes of Freedom.
The website describes the song as “unique” in that it is “not directly a love song and not about a breakup. Instead, it is about an in-between time, where the singer laments that his lover will soon leave him ‘any day now.’”
Originally penned by Burt Bacharach and Bob Hilliard in 1962, the soul classic found new life when Elvis laid down his own track in Memphis. Released on his acclaimed tenth studio album, From Elvis in Memphis, on June 2, 1969, “Any Day Now” quickly stood out as one of the record’s finest vocal showcases.
Additionally, the classic song became a No. 1 Billboard Hot 100 hit in 1982 for Ronnie Milsap. According to Country Universe, Milsap’s “phrasing is flawless, bringing complex nuances of the lyric to the surface.”
Decades later, “Any Day Now” stands as proof of just how inspired Elvis was in 1969. While “In the Ghetto” grabbed the big headlines, the flip side captured a singer at the absolute top of his game. It remains one of the purest, most soulful recordings of his entire career.
Related: Elvis Presley Turned a 1970 James Taylor ‘Joke’ Song Into a Massive Top 20 Hit
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