Jim Croce -- Saving Time in a Bottle

On Thursday, September 20, 1973, the world lost singer/songwriter Jim Croce when a Beechcraft E18S crashed on take off. Those who died in the crash with Jim include singer/songwriter Maury Muehleisen (touring with Jim), comedian George Stevens (opening act), Kenneth D. Cortose (manager/booking agent), Dennis Rast (road manager), and the pilot, Robert N. Elliott.

The world lost a tremendous voice that day.

My introduction to Jim Croce came when I was very young. I found an album in the collection of someone who was older than me, whose musical tastes varied, and who's always been a great influence on my early listening ventures. I happened upon the greatest hit album by Jim Croce entitled Photographs and Memories. Something happened to me the instant I put the record (yes, a vinyl record) on the turntable. From the opening swagger of Bad, Bad Leroy Brown to the melancholy strains of Operator (That's Not the Way It Feels), from the soaring pride of I Got a Name to the bold One Less Set of Footsteps, I enthralled.

There is no other way to put it. I knew that day I wanted to be able to write half as good as that. I wanted to be able to reach people on that level. I wanted to be able to communicate through song like Jim Croce.

The first record Jim released was Facets (1966). It was self-released, indie before indie was cool. He pressed five hundred copies of the record, financed with five hundred dollars cash given to he and his wife Ingrid by Ingrid;s parents. He sold the records at his shows and turned a profit of nearly twenty-five hundred dollars. While vinyl copies of the record are hard to come by, Facets has since been released on CD (speacial edition with bonus material).

The next album, Jim and Ingrid Croce (1969), was released on Capitol Records. The album featured many songs co-written by Jim and Ingrid, including Age and Spin, Spin, Spin, as well as Big Wheel written by Jim. The songs leaned heavily on the folk feel and strong vocal harmonies. Ingrid had a beautiful voice that complimented Jim's and fit the songs well.

There were only three more studio albums before Jim's death, You Don't Mess Around with Jim (1972), Life and Times (1973), and I Got a Name (1973), all on ABC Records. It's amazing when you think about it. All of the Jim Croce songs we know and love came mostly from these three albums. Three studio albums that are basically greatest hits albums, each one containing Jim's best-loved songs.

There were two wonderful live albums as well, Jim Croce Live: the Final Tour (1980) and Have You Heard Jim Croce Live (2006). Numerous compilation albums have surfaced, most notably The 50th Anniversary Collection, which brings together all of Jim's hits and includes some of the earlier stuff he did with Ingrid, and The Way It Used to Be (2004), which includes his 1972 and 1973 albums in their entirety, Jim Croce Live: the Final Tour, and some rare demos (including songs cut with Ingrid).

Jim is a big inspiration to me as a songwriter. He's a storytelling genius who could make you laugh, cry, and think with his lyrics, each song a story unto itself. Any songwriter could benefit from studying the craft through Jim's eyes and ears. This is a man who believed in what he played.

Some of my favorite Jim Croce songs? I put myself on the spot with such a question. You could randomly name a song and I would say, "Yep, that's a favorite." Why? Because they're all my favorites. Still, I'll highlight a couple here that really blow me away.

Bad, Bad Leroy Brown and You Don't Mess Around with Jim are obvious. No need to talk about them. Very cool songs that tell very cool stories. Hey Tomorrow, a positive song about making changes in your life regardless of where or who you've been, is at the top of my list. Also the song Which Way Are You Goin"?, a protest song that has some tremendous lyrics, two beautiful love songs, Alabama Rain and Long Time Ago (both of which feature Jim remembering a long-lost love with fondness), One Less Set of Footsteps (a declaration of independence from a relationship gone stale), and I Got a Name, its lyric proclaiming with pride the beauty of knowing who you are and where you fit in.

I could go on and on. In fact, I could start at the beginning and talk about each of Jim Croce's songs and what they mean to me. His lyrics, his music -- the experience that is listening to Jim Croce.

Ingrid has never let Jim's legacy die. Over the years, she's actively promoted his work in an effort to keep the spirit of Jim and his music at the forefront of musical Americana. She's done a fantastic job. She recently released the book I Got a Name: The Jim Croce Story and the Jim Croce Anthology Songbook -- the Stories Behind the Songs (a great find for any musician, songwriter, or fan).