Welcome To My World

by William Ruhlmann With Elvis Presley doing precious little new recording, and RCA needing new product, the record company cobbled together this compilation album from previously released live and studio work, most of it recorded between 1969 and 1973. The intention seemed to be to amass Presley's more country-oriented ballad material, which meant versions of Kris Kristofferson's "Help Me Make It Through the Night" and "For the Good Times," John Hartford's "Gentle on My Mind," and Hank Williams's "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" and "Your Cheatin' Heart" (a 1958 recording). The sole unreleased track was a live version of "I Can't Stop Loving You," recorded at Madison Square Garden on June 10, 1972. Pure profit-taking product, Welcome to My World nevertheless went platinum in the wake of Presley's death five months after its release.