The first Presley single of 1971 was released on February 23rd and included the songs "Where Did They Go, Lord" and "Rags To Riches". Starting on March 13th Billboard listed the recorded on their "Hot 100" for seven weeks in which it climed from number 80 to number 33. On March 20th "Where Did They Go, Lord" also entered the "Easy Listening Chart". Here it could be found for five weeks and peaked at number 18. Finally the 45 was listed on the "Hot Country Singles Chart", where it stayed for eight weeks and reached number 55. In total "Where Did They Go, Lord" / "Rags To Riches" sold 1.1 million units and therefore 500,000 copies less than the previous single. And even that one had not been regarded a success. According to the RIAA the physical sales can be translated to 165 million paid streams. Today the situation isn't much different. On Spotify "Rags To Riches" was streamed just 1.7 million times, "Where Did They Go Lord" doesn't even hit the million mark.

The sleeve was designed with two photos made during the king's Vegas stint in early 1970. The one on the front cover would later also appear on the back of the album "Love Letters From Elvis". Of course RCA Victor didn't forget to advertise the forthcoming budget album "You'll Never Walk Alone" and the current long player "Elvis Country - I'm 10,000 Years Old".

During Elvis' lifetime both songs were never available on an album. In the digital world of today Sony Music Entertainment has added the songs as bonus tracks to "Love Letters From Elvis" and therefore made them available on the streaming platforms.

Elvis recorded the song on September 22, 1970 within six takes. On the same day harmony vocals were added, additional backup voces followed on September 23rd. The song by Dallas Frazier and A. L. Owens was available on this single only until 1978 when RCA finally included it on the album "He Walks Beside Me". In the song the narrator bemoans the end of his relationship and askes where the love and passion had gone. I really like this song, because on the chorus Elvis belts out "his" feelings in a big voiced, impressive way.

If the woman of his heart answers his love, everything will turn out to be good. At least that's the hope of the singer, who belts his feelings out to the world. The original version was released by Tony Bennett in 1953, the authors are Richard Adler and Jerry Ross. Elvis recorded "Rags To Riches" on September 22, 1970 at RCA Studio B in Nashville/Tennessee, the master take is a splice of take 4 and take 3 (just a single line was used). The piano intro and the backup voices were recorded on September 23rd. On December 31, 1976 Elvis performed "Rags To Riches" live on stage in Pittsburgh/Pennsylvania. It took RCA until 1980 before they released the studio cut beyond this single. Three years after the king's demise it was finally included on the boxed set "Elvis Aron Presley".