Eagles – In The City

Joe Walsh’s Warriors Track That Barry De Vorzon Almost Killed Himself Over

Never officially released as a single, “In The City” entered the Billboard Hot 100 in late 1979 due to significant radio airplay and peaked at number 31 in January 1980, spending ten weeks on the chart. The track appeared on The Long Run, released September 24, 1979, which debuted at number two before hitting number one the following week and staying there for nine weeks. But here’s the fascinating backstory: Joe Walsh originally recorded the song alone for The Warriors film soundtrack, never releasing it as a single because the movie received mixed reviews and didn’t generate much buzz. When Henley and Frey heard Walsh’s version, they insisted on re-recording it for the Eagles. Co-writer Barry De Vorzon was so excited about the possibility that he begged Walsh not to mention it again until he could walk into his house with an actual album, because if it didn’t make the cut, De Vorzon joked he would kill himself.

The album became a massive commercial success despite the tensions tearing the band apart. The Long Run was certified platinum on February 1, 1980, eventually reaching seven times platinum with over eight million copies sold in the United States alone. The album generated three top ten singles: “Heartache Tonight” hit number one and won a Grammy, while both “The Long Run” and “I Can’t Tell You Why” reached number eight. Walsh’s track accumulated over 50 million streams on Spotify and approximately 200,000 digital downloads, becoming a staple of classic rock radio despite never being promoted as a commercial single. The song captured the grittier side of the Eagles during an era when Henley and Frey’s California soft-rock perfection was colliding with Walsh’s harder-edged rock sensibilities.

Walsh co-wrote “In The City” with his Santa Barbara neighbor Barry De Vorzon, who was composing the score for The Warriors, director Walter Hill’s dystopian film about New York street gangs. Walsh had East Coast connections from his youth, having attended junior high in Queens and high school in Montclair, New Jersey, before moving west. After reading the screenplay, Walsh and De Vorzon crafted urban survival lyrics that fit the film’s violent setting. The original Warriors soundtrack version was rawer and more stripped down, featuring Walsh alone with minimal production. That version appeared over the film’s closing credits in early 1979, but the movie’s initial reception was cold and the soundtrack peaked at only number 125 on the Billboard 200. Walsh never released it as a single and figured the song would disappear into obscurity.

Six months later, the Eagles re-recorded the track during the grueling Long Run sessions at Bayshore Recording Studio in Coconut Grove, Florida. Producer Bill Szymczyk oversaw the transformation from solo track to full band arrangement, with Walsh continuing as lead vocalist and guitarist. The band beefed up the instrumentation significantly: Don Henley’s Ludwig drum kit provided the foundation, Glenn Frey added piano, Don Felder played Fender Stratocaster, Timothy B. Schmit handled Fender bass, and Joe Vitale contributed congas. Walsh played a Gibson double-neck guitar, using the twelve-string neck for rhythm parts and the six-string for slide guitar work. The Eagles added their signature harmonies, giving the song a broader, more powerful feel while preserving Walsh’s streetwise attitude. They transformed it from a good solo track into something that could hold its own on an album alongside “Heartache Tonight” and “I Can’t Tell You Why.”

“In The City” appeared as track three on The Long Run, the Eagles’ sixth studio album and their first since Hotel California had sold over 14 million copies three years earlier. The album took nearly two years and reportedly one million dollars in studio time to complete, with Henley later admitting he had very dark memories of making it. Randy Meisner had left after an argument with Frey in 1977, replaced by Timothy B. Schmit who brought the unfinished “I Can’t Tell You Why” with him. Henley and Frey were barely speaking, fighting about creativity and lyrics, unable to write much together. They turned to their bandmates for help, and Walsh delivered this heavy stomper about his humble beginnings. Rolling Stone called the album bitter, wrathful, and difficult, full of piss and vinegar and poisoned expectations, while other critics questioned whether some tracks justified the three-year wait.

The song found new life through its appearances in popular culture decades later. In 2014, The Simpsons episode titled “The Winter of His Content” featured the Eagles version during a Warriors parody where Bart gets mixed up with gangs. Three years later, Rick and Morty used it brilliantly in “The Ricklantis Mixup” episode, playing over a montage of Citadel life that echoed the song’s themes of urban chaos and the search for something better beyond neon lights. The 2005 video game adaptation of The Warriors included the track on its soundtrack, finally giving Walsh’s original version proper recognition. In 2025, a cover by Stuck On Planet Earth appeared on the Rick and Morty Mixtape, introducing the song to yet another generation. The live version from the Eagles’ 1994 reunion album Hell Freezes Over became definitive, ending with a slower take on the Beatles’ “Day Tripper” riff that drove audiences wild.

Looking back, “In The City” represented everything the Eagles were struggling with during The Long Run sessions: Walsh’s grittier sensibility pushing against Henley and Frey’s desire for polished perfection, the band’s exhaustion after years of relentless success, and the creative well running dry as personal friction reached breaking points. The song about survival in hostile urban environments became a metaphor for the band’s own situation, barely surviving the hostile environment of their own making. Shaquille O’Neal once told Walsh that The Warriors was his favorite film ever, proving the cult following emerged exactly as Walsh predicted. Sometimes the songs that feel like throwaways become the ones that endure, especially when they capture something honest about struggling to find something better out beyond the neon lights.