More Philly than the Rocky Theme
August 12, 2015 6:28 PM   Subscribe

"Move closer to your world, my friend / Take a little bit of time"

When you think of Philadelphia music, you may think of the Rocky theme, you may think of Philly Soul, or you may think of The Dead Milkmen, but no song is Philly quite like The Channel 6 Action News Theme, "Move Closer to Your World"

Composed by Al Ham for TV news "Move Closer To Your World" features music performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and vocals by The Hillside Singers of "I'd Like to Buy the World a Coke" fame.

How deeply associated is "Move Closer to Your World" with Philadelphia? It's so beloved that 1996 re-recording lasted only five broadcasts before being replaced due to public outcry. Even Philly's own The Roots sampled the theme's famous hook at a live performance for Philadelphia's 2015 "Welcome America" festival. (Broadcast on Channel 6, of course.)

"Move closer to your world, my friend, and you'll see..."

Bum-bum-bum-bum-BUUUUM... BA-DAH-DAH-DAH-DUH!
posted by SansPoint (45 comments total) 26 users marked this as a favorite
 
This post would be perfect if only it included the evolution of Jim Gardner's 'stache. Thanks for the earworm, SansPoint!

Bum-bum-bum-bum-BUUUUM... BA-DAH-DAH-DAH-DUH!
posted by MonkeyToes at 6:44 PM on August 12, 2015 [2 favorites]


I've also got a passion for fashion.
posted by ftrain at 6:46 PM on August 12, 2015 [5 favorites]


Oh my god, the first notes took me right back to childhood. I had no idea this song was so burned into my consciousness. Thanks for this!
posted by banal retentive at 6:46 PM on August 12, 2015 [3 favorites]


I've also got a passion for fashion.

Take the wheel of the automobile...
posted by MonkeyToes at 6:47 PM on August 12, 2015 [4 favorites]


Full disclosure... my family was a Channel 10 family growing up.
posted by SansPoint at 6:49 PM on August 12, 2015


I am so sorry. These references are the Triple Dent Gum of my childhood. All we need now are the Krass Brothers.
posted by MonkeyToes at 6:50 PM on August 12, 2015 [1 favorite]


some more useless hilarious Philadelphia music trivia
posted by ovvl at 6:58 PM on August 12, 2015 [1 favorite]




The Dean Ween Group
posted by whuppy at 7:05 PM on August 12, 2015 [3 favorites]


HELL YES.

I visited Philly back in May, and saw Action News for the first time since I left. Other than the theme, which brought back many memories of watching the news in the background during family dinners, what really shocked me was that Jim Gardner, Vernon Odom, and Cecily Tynan all look pretty much exactly how they looked when I left Philly over a decade ago.
posted by tonycpsu at 7:06 PM on August 12, 2015 [2 favorites]


The Sound of Philadelphia. Always was. Always will be.
and to me, everything that was boring about Disco and one reason I've never had any desire to visit Philly, even with the Cheesesteak - which lost me when somebody mentioned CheezWhiz
posted by oneswellfoop at 7:07 PM on August 12, 2015 [1 favorite]


I lived in Philly for 12 years and I never knew this song had WORDS.

This is your greengrocer Johnny Lerro with the Produce Tip of the Daaaaaaaaay.
posted by moonmilk at 7:07 PM on August 12, 2015 [2 favorites]


Oh wow, I haven't heard or thought about this theme song since I was a kid! If you had asked me about the local news theme music I grew up with I wouldn't have been able to tell you, but from the first note I remembered it allllll.

My favorite Philadelphia song will always be Atom and His Package - Philadelphia, though.
posted by jessypie at 7:16 PM on August 12, 2015 [2 favorites]


We watch it every night and sing along with the theme.
posted by Peach at 7:24 PM on August 12, 2015


Oh my goodness. This is amazing. Do they use the full two minutes of this song for every broadcast?
posted by asperity at 7:25 PM on August 12, 2015




I'm back in Philly today for my aunt's funeral and nostalgia abounds. Thanks for another happy memory to add to the pile. I remember many nights at her house where the game would end and someone would put on Action News. Bet you didn't expect to make someone cry with this post.
posted by cacophony at 8:09 PM on August 12, 2015 [6 favorites]


Second only to "Eye of the Tiger" from the omnipresent Pennco Tech ads on channel 48 for evocativeness of 1980's Philly TV for me...
posted by chortly at 8:36 PM on August 12, 2015 [2 favorites]




When you think of Philadelphia music, you may think of the Rocky theme, you may think of Philly Soul, or you may think of The Dead Milkmen

Missed a spot
posted by Itaxpica at 8:54 PM on August 12, 2015


Wow, I'd never known this was a thing. That's an epic song. Nice one, Philly!
posted by not_on_display at 9:33 PM on August 12, 2015


Yeah, we occasionally get a thing right in between throwing snow-covered batteries at professional athletes and demolishing hitchhiking robots.
posted by tonycpsu at 9:37 PM on August 12, 2015 [6 favorites]


Action News, Delaware Valley's Leading News Program. If you see news happening. Call our Action News Tipline by dialing NEWS-SIX. In New Jersey, dial 966-6666, or call our regional news bureaus.

No matter how poorly ABC has been in the ratings, nothing has beaten WPVI's Action News juggernaut. It's probably the strongest owned and operated affiliate in the country.
posted by inturnaround at 9:39 PM on August 12, 2015 [1 favorite]


Even as someone who has never been to Philadelphia and had never heard this news theme until 5 minutes ago, I'm ready to go to the mat for it because of its awesomenes, so it doesn't surprise me that natives who grew up with it would do the same.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 9:52 PM on August 12, 2015 [5 favorites]


Who'd have thought I'd miss that? I'll probably never go back but fuck yeah, I remember that.
posted by evilDoug at 10:17 PM on August 12, 2015


Hey...where'd everybody go?
posted by adamgreenfield at 1:36 AM on August 13, 2015 [3 favorites]


I read this post and the theme immediately appeared in my head. I would also put forth the soundtrack to that flying-through-Philly short movie that they used to show in the Imax theatre in the Franklin Institute.
posted by kalimac at 2:25 AM on August 13, 2015


No love for the A's?
https://youtu.be/EIFklXp3cmQ
posted by james33 at 2:44 AM on August 13, 2015


Man, even if you didn't watch Action News every day, you can't have grown up in the Philadelphia area and hear this without thinking "that music means the news." It's epic.

But one of the most quintessentially Philly music moments that I've ever been a part of was when Will Smith got the best reaction of Live 8 Philadelphia (jeez, already a decade ago...) when he performed the Fresh Prince theme song with the audience singing along.
posted by graymouser at 3:29 AM on August 13, 2015 [1 favorite]


man that Ideal jingle used to freak me out when I was younger. Not sure why exactly, but I think in part because I only saw the commercials at night when nobody else was around, and something about the fanfare at the end I found very unsettling.
posted by spinn at 4:39 AM on August 13, 2015


There's that news van again.
posted by radwolf76 at 5:26 AM on August 13, 2015 [4 favorites]


some more useless hilarious Philadelphia music trivia
posted by ovvl at 9:58 PM on August 12 [1 favorite +] [!]

Useless hilarious trivia: 'Philadelphia Freedom' was a #1 hit throughout the USA in April 1975... except in the city of Philadelphia, where a novelty hockey song 'Penalty Box' by rough NHL player Dave Schultz briefly stole the local #1 spot during the NHL playoffs.


JESUS CHRIST, ovvl. I was just singing Penalty Box in the car this morning.

Baby, how long, will you keep me in the penalty box?
Baby, I'm wrong, but it's lonely in the penalty box.
I know I made you mad
But girl, I ain't all bad.
Baby, how long, will you keep me in the penalty box?

posted by SPUTNIK at 5:36 AM on August 13, 2015


Even more Philly music: You Can't Get to Heaven on the Frankford El.
posted by ActionPopulated at 6:00 AM on August 13, 2015 [2 favorites]


Philly has many kinds of music but only one source of Real Rock.

Also Pierre Robert can never die because if he ever does the world will have no meaning and might as well stop.
posted by delfin at 6:09 AM on August 13, 2015


Like most TV production music this has been used in other markets (even earlier than Philly) around the world since '72. Also like most production music, different versions, all recorded at the same time as well, have been popular.

The version linked above appears to be processed fake stereo. Better quality mono versions and alternate instrumental versions linked here...
posted by acroyear at 6:09 AM on August 13, 2015


Also, the Action News theme indisputably means news in Philadelphia... on TV. But there's a better source with its own musical hook that's on 24/7.

KYW... News Radio... Ten Sixty!
posted by delfin at 6:20 AM on August 13, 2015 [9 favorites]


delfin: Ah, the sound of snowy mornings waiting for the school closing announcements.
posted by SansPoint at 6:40 AM on August 13, 2015


I was just singing Penalty Box in the car this morning.

I am usually fairly disinterested in most professional sports, but the whole story of how The Flyers brought brawling-style hockey to the Stanley Cup playoffs in the mid-1970's is really fascinating.
posted by ovvl at 8:06 AM on August 13, 2015


I got to the second word in "Move closer to the world my friend..." before I was singing the song. And then every other jingle in this thread. Damnit, now I want Wawa. (They do it just a little bit better...)
posted by okayokayigive at 8:45 AM on August 13, 2015


Another thing that reminds me of my childhood is the Phillies winning a World Series in 1980 and then being okay for a while before fading into awfulness until around 1993. I'm really hoping this iteration doesn't last that long.
posted by tonycpsu at 9:36 AM on August 13, 2015




My mom says that my first crush (when I was very small in the late '70s) was Jim Gardner.
posted by dayintoday at 3:10 PM on August 13, 2015


"It's not a fancy salon. It's nothing but a quonset hut. But!..."

"Doors Unlimited! Unlimited doors!"

"Nobody bakes a cake as tasty as a Tastykake. Bum-ba-dum-ba-da."
posted by dayintoday at 3:13 PM on August 13, 2015 [1 favorite]


"Doors Unlimited! Unlimited doors!"

Don't forget Window Wizards!
posted by tonycpsu at 10:33 PM on August 13, 2015 [1 favorite]


For the home of auto parts
Where saving money starts
At Jimmie's Used Auto Parts!
posted by whuppy at 6:27 AM on August 18, 2015


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