New Rochelle Mayor’s Radio Show Theme Song Makes “Positive Statement” About Dealing with Gang Violence and Desperation

“In the City”, a song written by Barry DeVorzon and Joe Walsh, has served as the title and theme song for New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson’s radio show on WVOX since he was appointed to the position in 2006. The Mayor shares the show with City Manager Charles B. Strome and inherited it from his predecessor, current Westchester County Clerk, Timothy Idoni.

For those not familiar with the song, it was written for the soundtrack to the film The Warriors. The song was first recorded by Walsh and released on The Warriors soundtrack album in 1979. Another version recorded by the Eagles was included on their 1979 album The Long Run. The song was covered by rapper Anybody Killa on his debut album with Psychopathic Records, Hatchet Warrior in 2003.

Listening to the entire song and not just the brief chorus that plays at the beginning and end of each segment on the show it is puzzling why any municipal leader would ever choose “In the City” to represent their city, let alone New Rochelle which has had its own brush with a scene right out of The Warriors during the Easter Riots in 2007.

Perhaps on his radio show tomorrow at 9 AM on WVOX 1460 AM, someone can call in ask the Mayor whether he has ever considered the context of the song, the lyrics and whether it might be wise to find a more appropriate theme for his show?

“In The City”

Somewhere out there on that horizon
Out beyond the neon lights
I know there must be somethin’ better
but there’s nowhere else in sight
It’s survival in the city
When you live from day to day
City streets don’t have much pity
When you’re down, that’s where you’ll stay
In the city, oh, oh.
In the city

I was born here in the city
With my back against the wall
Nothing grows, and life ain’t very pretty
No one’s there to catch you when you fall
Somewhere out on that horizon
Faraway from the neon sky
I know there must be somethin’ better
And I can’t stay another night
In the city, oh, oh.
In the city

The Warriors is a 1979 American cult action/thriller film directed by Walter Hill, based on Sol Yurick’s 1965 novel of the same name.

In the film, Cyrus, the leader of the Gramercy Riffs, the most powerful gang in New York City, calls a midnight summit of all New York area gangs, requesting them to send nine unarmed representatives to Van Cortlandt Park. The Warriors, from Coney Island, Brooklyn, are one such gang. The plan is to establish a permanent citywide truce that would allow the gangs to control the city. Most of the gangs support the idea but one gang member shoots
Cyrus and frames the Warriors. In the ensuing panic, the Warriors escape. However, the Riffs call a hit on them and the Warriors flee for their lives, trying to make their way back to their home turf. Along the way they engage in various battles with The Turnbull AC’s, The Orphans, The Baseball Furies, The Punks, and The Rogues. Members are lost along the way — killed by other gangs and the police, one is arrested for attempted rape.

The film was linked to sporadic outbreaks of vandalism and three killings – two in Southern California and one in Boston – involving moviegoers on their way to or from showings. This prompted Paramount to remove advertisements from radio and television completely and display ads in the press were reduced to the film’s title, rating and participating theaters. In reaction, 200 theaters across the country added security personnel. Due to safety concerns, theater owners were relieved of their contractual obligations if they did not want to show the film, and Paramount offered to pay costs for additional security and damages due to vandalism.

The subject matter of the song was not a fit for the laid-back Eagles. In a 1981 BBC interview, Walsh was asked why the gritty, urban song wound up released on Eagles album.

The Warriors was made about gang-type city situations, and I related to that, having grown up in New York City, so again it was a positive statement to go against the desperation of miles and miles of concrete and growing up in a city – that really can affect you, and we thought it was a valid thing to put on The Long Run, and so we chose to do it.

Wikipedia: New Rochelle Easter Riots 2007

On Easter Sunday, April 8, 2007, 200 police officers were called in to disperse a crowd of approximately 1,000 teenagers from New York City who converged on the complex. A melee erupted after select individuals had been denied entrance into the complex. Many of the teenagers were from New York City and had also been denied entrance to the New York Auto Show at the Jacob Javits Center earlier that afternoon. Two were injured and six individuals were arrested for inciting the riot. Following the incident, management and local officials announced plans to improve security and discourage loitering at New Roc City. It was also reported that the complex was undergoing transition to “a primarily retail facility.”