Davis said: “I heard it on the radio, driving down the street. I remember going, ‘I wish he hadn’t said ‘Ghet-to.’ I wish he had just said ‘In the Ghetto.’

“That’s a typical, songwriter, you know. But that lasted about maybe five seconds, and then I realised that I had a huge hit. I knew it was going to be a really, really big hit.”

Davis’ minor quibbles quickly disappeared when the royalties cheques started to arrive: “Elvis’ picture was on a cheque. I’d never made more than $12,000 dollars a year in my life. I’d been depositing my cheques in the same bank, my little weekly salary…

“I walked in with this big old cheque with a lot of zeros on it and Elvis’ picture on it… I handed her the cheque and I said, ‘I want to deposit this and I’d like a $10,000 cashier’s cheque because I’ve got a Mercedes picked out.'”