Jim Croce's life was tragically cut short by a plane crash in 1973. When I was learning to play guitar his were among the songs I had a burning desire to learn how to play. It wasn't just the great music that made his songs so much fun to play... it was the lyrics. Clever, funny, touching are just a few of the words that come to mind when you talk about his lyrical style. And very few people wrote songs like he did. As one who has practically memorized his lyrics let me offer you my thoughts as to what were his best lyrics from the beginning of his career:
1. "You Don't Mess Around With Jim". This was his first hit, from 1972. Twice he wrote songs about "bad" characters who get into trouble because they run into somebody who's "badder" than they are. This was the first. The Jim of the song is not Croce himself. It was an actual person named Jim Walker who Croce met in pool halls in south and west Philadelphia where Croce was making the rounds trying to sell air time to support himself and his wife, Ingrid. Walker, in fact, really was
a "pool-shootin' son of a gun." Half the fun is imitating Croce's streetwise accent as you belt this song out. (Sample Lyric: "You don't tug on Superman's cape. You don't spit into the wind. You don't pull the mask off that ol' Lone Ranger and you don't mess around with Jim.")
2. "New York's Not My Home". Loneliness was a theme that Croce turned to time and again, writing about both his own feelings and all the people he'd met who felt the same way. Croce live in New York between 1968 and 1971 as he and Ingrid tried to get their music career started. Croce "never once felt at home" and he and Ingrid ended up returning to Pennsylvania, where he had grown up. (Sample Lyrics: "Though all the streets are crowded there's something strange about it")
3. "Operator". When Croce was in the National Guard life wasn't easy: he didn't handle authority well, he had to repeat basic training and he was lonely for his life with Ingrid. Croce was one of a long line of recruits waiting in the rain to use a payphone so they could call their wives or girlfriends for 3 minutes. At least Ingrid never left him: some of the other recruits would be using the phone to have their "Dear John" conversations (Sample Lyric: "She's living in L.A. with my best old ex-friend Ray"). And, yes, they truly did use the operator because it was easier to make calls that way.
Q: How do you replace a guy like that? A: You don't. In the end we should be grateful that Croce had the chance to make as many albums as he did before Fate stole him from us. As Horatio said of Hamlet, "May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest".
If you are fond of folk-rock then you can click here to download a free folk-rock song.
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