Took a little bit of time my friend, but ‘Move Closer to Your World’ is now an officially released song

After filling the ears and hearts of Philadelphians for generations, the Action News theme, “Move Closer to Your World,” was officially released on Wednesday.

Philly-based producer duo Maxwell Perla and Vincent John released the iconic theme under their synth-soul imprint, Eraserhood Sound.

The funky, 1970s-style theme is a sound that’s as Philly as it gets, and Perla and John wanted the world to hear it outside of the unofficial YouTube uploads and 6abc broadcasts.

“We love the song, and it’s from an era of music that’s influential to us as producers, label owners, and there’s a synergy of our history with us being from Philadelphia,” John said. “If we were going to do an archival release, it would be this one.”

The two contacted the family of composer Al Ham, who developed the legendary theme with former 6abc executive Walter Liss.

» READ MORE: The song that has moved Philadelphians closer to the world for decades

Liss wanted a theme similar to the popular Coca-Cola jingle, “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony).” He reached out to the Hillside Singers, a band created by the advertising agency McCann Erickson just to sing in the Coke ad. He tapped their producer, Ham, to create a similar theme for Action News.

Ham, who died in 2001, wrote the music, and Liss, who died in 2022, wrote the lyrics in 1970. Replacing an older theme song written by 21-year-old Temple University student Tom Sellers, “Move Closer to Your World” debuted in 1972 on what was then called WPVI-TV, and has been in rotation ever since.

(Sellers’ version, also extremely popular, was available as a 45 RPM recording that The Inquirer shipped to people for free.)

To release “Move Closer to Your World,” John and Perla connected with Ham’s son Sean, who flew from Santa Fe, N.M., to meet the two producers in October 2023.

The three men struck a “reasonable agreement,” John said. Ham would get them the tapes of the original song, and Perla and John would release it together.

“It was a pleasure to hear that my dad’s work meant so much after he passed away,” Ham said. “He would be really happy and overjoyed to see what’s going on.”

To retrieve his father’s tapes, Ham dropped into his aunt Bonnie’s home in Cleveland, N.Y., where the tapes had been stored in a pre-Civil War barn since the mid-1990s.

He grabbed a bunch of tapes and delivered them to Perla and John. But, as the producers quickly found out, they were all duplicate versions of the song, but none of them, Perla said, had the original, full-length track they needed in order to restore and release the song.

Which meant a second trip to the barn for Ham. This time, he visited a family friend’s storage facility that they were in the process of clearing out. He grabbed tapes from the storage, potentially saving them from being lost forever.

The trip paid off. John and Perla now had nearly 30 versions of Liss and Ham’s “Move Closer to Your World” in their hands.

“It was all fate we made it in the nick of time,” Perla said. “It just adds to how special this.”

They brought the 50-year-old tapes to audio expert Toby Seay at Drexel University, who removed mold and other grime from the tapes. Mastering engineer Ryan Schwabe placed the final touches on cleaning up the record, and Grammy-nominated designer Perry Shall crafted the cover art for the official release.

Among the variations among the tapes, the Eraserhood Sound team stuck with the original and two never-before-heard alternate versions of Philadelphia’s favorite song.

The first is the “Riviera Version,” which mirrors Italian cinema soundtracks from the mid-1970s. And Perla said the more orchestral “Chamber Version” has as big of an emotional and “somber” quality as the original record.

“We thought three was a digestible amount, and [listeners] get three delicious flavors,” John said.

To commemorate the release, John and Perla first produced 300 limited-edition vinyls priced at $16 each, then ordered a second pressing of 300 to keep up with preorders.

“It’s a honor and a joy to be a steward of this, and to just put it on some kind of level that people can extra enjoy it,” Perla said.

In a video in June 2024, Philly comedian Chip Chantry said the Action News theme is an unmistakable symbol of patriotism for him.

“If you’re in my home, you better stand for the Action News theme song,” Chantry said in the clip from a Helium Club routine last year, which has amassed nearly 700,000 views.

The Norristown native — like millions of other Philly-area viewers — grew up watching legendary broadcasters like Jim Gardner relay the evening news.

After a series of conservation efforts, the song’s original sheet music and replicated notes page are on display at the 6abc office.

Given his father’s legacy, Sean Ham said he’s thrilled to know “Move Closer to Your World” remains such an integral part of Philly history.

“I’m glad that this thing has been a part of everybody’s life, and I’m glad [John and Perla] reached out to memorialize it again for the future.”

Stream the official “Move Closer to Your World” on Spotify and Apple Music. The vinyls can be purchased on the Eraserhood website and Bandcamp.