Favorite "City" Songs #8 - "In the City"

@teamfreak16 (43421)
Denver, Colorado
January 18, 2019 11:16am CST
It's time to come out to play. I am counting down my favorite songs with "Town," "City," "State," and "Country" in the title. This is the "City" edition of today's discussion, and we are at #8: "In the City" by Joe Walsh. Surely you have seen The Greatest Movie Ever Made, The Warriors (1979,) about a Coney Island street gang framed for the murder of Cyrus, the leader of New York City's largest gang? With every gang and cop in the city looking for them, the Warriors have to make their way through the city back to their Coney turf. Eagles guitarist Joe Walsh recorded "In the City" for the closing credits of the film, playing right after Cyrus' gang, the Grammercy Riffs, have learned who actually shot their leader and have called off the search. The Warriors are free to go. Perhaps I am a little too heavily emotionally invested in the movie, but damn, as soon as Walsh's opening guitar riffs start, I get goosebumps. "In the City" was, for some reason, never released as a single, but did receive a considerable amount of airplay (this was back when rock radio stations played whatever the hell they thought was good, rather than what some consultant in a different city told them they should play. Oh, those were the days!) Walsh's bandmates in the Eagles liked what they heard, and the band re-recorded it for their smash 1979 album, The Long Run (it wasn't released as a single then, either. What the hell is wrong with record execs, anyway?) "You see what you get, Warriors? You see what you get when you mess with the Orphans?" Well, apparently, you get the perfect song to end a great movie. (Info verified by Wikipedia)
One of my favourite scenes from cult classic film The Warriors. Director: Walter Hill
5 people like this
5 responses
@CarolDM (203454)
• Nashville, Tennessee
18 Jan 19
Wow, Joe Walsh is a legend. What about New Kid in Town, Nutbush City Limits, We Built This City. I could go on all day with this one.
2 people like this
@teamfreak16 (43421)
• Denver, Colorado
18 Jan 19
Lots of candidates for this one, but only 40 songs made the cut!
@JohnRoberts (109857)
• Los Angeles, California
18 Jan 19
Yes! You are picking all winners. Loved The Warriors.
2 people like this
@teamfreak16 (43421)
• Denver, Colorado
18 Jan 19
"Lighten up, Ajax. Swan's war chief." Classic movie!
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (61951)
• United States
18 Jan 19
You can hear differences in this version and the Eagles’ rendition. Relatively easy to play chords, too. Thanks, Joe, at least I can say I can play one of your songs on guitar.
1 person likes this
@teamfreak16 (43421)
• Denver, Colorado
18 Jan 19
Did you ever catch him as a recurring character on The Drew Carey Show? He was pretty funny.
1 person likes this
@Ronrybs (17836)
• London, England
19 Jan 19
Never saw this film all the way through, but when it comes to an Eagles track well worth it
1 person likes this
@teamfreak16 (43421)
• Denver, Colorado
19 Jan 19
I've watched it a couple hundred times!
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@dgobucks226 (34300)
22 Jan 19
Great song by Joe! I've got that one on The Hell Freezes Over CD and the harmonies on that tune are phenomenal PS- On that live version Joe forgets the words and the guys just keep singing the hook line "In the City" over and over again. Great stuff and if anybody noticed they aren't saying
1 person likes this
@teamfreak16 (43421)
• Denver, Colorado
22 Jan 19
I actually prefer his solo stuff better.
1 person likes this
@dgobucks226 (34300)
24 Jan 19
@teamfreak16 I liked his James Gang stuff best! But yes, Life's Been Good and All Night Long are two I really like a lot. Joe definitely has some quirky enjoyable lyrics to his tunes!
1 person likes this
@teamfreak16 (43421)
• Denver, Colorado
25 Jan 19
@dgobucks226 - "Rocky Mountain Way" is one of his best. Obviously, it still gets played on the radio here a lot!
1 person likes this