Who here likes Jim Croce
 

My brother recently gave me the Jim Croce 50th Anniversay Collection, and I've been playing it ever since.

What a great singer / songwriter, yet you never hear his music played anymore, not even on the Oldies radio stations.

Listening to songs like New York's Not my Home, Photographs and Memories, and Operator just brings back memories of my early childhood.

Me. (Very much!) :)

Yeah, for some reason the soundtrack of my youth is found in Jim Croce's music, more so than any other musician.

i never liked him all that much back then but i recently picked up one of his albums and was listening to it on my trip to wyoming. i think his stuff is really fine. it is amazing he did these kindof retrospective things when he was pretty young. they have kindof an experienced feel to them you would expect from an old fart.

tom w

New York Is Not My Home, I've Got a Name and Lover's Cross are among my favorite Croce songs. He was one hell of a songwriter.

I was sad the day I found out he had been killed in an accident. :(

The only time I am aware of a Chinese person singing a Jim Croce song (Bad Bad Leroy Brown) was in "Sneakers". It's pretty funny too.

He also happened to be the guy who gets blown up by Rambo's exploding arrow in Rambo First Blood Part II.

So just in case you're on Jeopardy and Alex pulls that one, you're set. :D

Not a slam on Jim Croce but
 

I confess, I heard "Bad Bad Leroy Brown" SOOOO many times performed by bad lounge bands in Singles Bars back in the 1970's, that Jim Croce will never be in the top 10 on my Hit Parade.....nunca nunca nunca

Likewise, "Celebration" and "Long Train Running" (for the same reason!)

I've never sought out any "tribute" performers either, blecch. Though they live on in Las Vegas and Calif. valley towns...

:bowrofl:

kind of a downer
 

Croce was a great song writer and singer, but I always found his songs to be rather depressing. I still like him now, though. when they're new, you seem to evaluate songs for themselves. once a few years have passed, you may find you like them for the memories they congure up. I do anyhow.
Maybe I'll throw some on my new I Pod. . . . just in case the mood strikes . . .

I love Jim Croce. I always put on a Jim Croce album to showcase my stereo. :) Turns people into believers. It's like Lazarus man.

He died escaping from an impending drug bust in my hometown.

Really?

Yup. Rumor was that the pilot was so rushed by Croce's entourage that he failed to do a preflight and just jumped-in, cranked her up and flew.

Cop told me (small town). Cop said coke, others said evil devil weed and the coke thingy was just to make it sound important. They got to the airport as his plane was scooting up the runway.

Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown- what's not to love? Randy Newman too- "Short People Got No Reason."

I never heard that before, Bot
 

What a price to pay to stay out of jail! I guess he's laughing at the cops now. Ah, ha! (Nelson laugh from the Simpsons):P

Working at the Carwash Blues

http://www.lyricsfreak.com/j/jim+croce/workin+at+the+car+wash+blues_20071487.html

Shome Mishtake Shurely???!!!
 

What next??!!! Anita Ward (?) "Ring My Bell", Paul Anka, "She's Having My Baby"? Some 70's stuff best REMAINS forgotten

Jim Croce was a GREAT songwriter though - "I've Got A Name" (Thanks Ernesto for reminding me of that one) immensely evocative, a perfectly rendered poem of hope and longing.

Good stuff
 

I liked his stuff a lot. A long time ago a friend had a "blue" album of his stuff. The only line I remember is something like "careful when you make love to a heavy woman, generates lots of heat"

Chuck

How can you all forget "Rapid Roy, the Stock Car Boy" or "Speedball Tucker" or "Roller Derby Queen" sheesh! ;)

Croce and Maury Muelheisen's duet picking style really hooked me. I have to admit that I have an eBay favorite search for the limited edition Martin D-21 JC. Only 73 were made (for the year of his death) and there's a dime inset at the 3rd fret (for the song "Operator"). There was one for auction earlier this year, but I let it slip away.

According to the NTSB Accident Report, the pilot had coronary artery disease and ran the 3 miles from the hotel to the airport.

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=84416&key=0

Croce (or at least his family and record company) was lucky that he died young. His music was pretty dated and he would have aged disgracefully. I liked some of that stuff at the time, but in all fairness, it was a pretty crappy time for muzak across the board. :(

how can you be lucky to die young?

tom w

Okay, I'm getting Jim Croce confused with someone else, but don't remember the name.

Who was it that was a singer/songwriter ex-patriot who made the news sometime last year because he was on a flight or something and there were ties to terrorism?

I just have vague recolections of this and Jim Croce comes to mind. I hope I'm mistaken, 'cause I've always loved his music.

Actually, now I realze it couldn't have been him because he's been dead for a while!!

Anyone heard his son's music? Pretty good.

http://www.ajcroce.com/

So who's the ex-patriot terrorist who made the news last year??

Nobody has mentioned 'Time in a bottle'. Haven't heard any of his music for at least 20 years.

One of my favorites, written late one night after an argument with his wife:

I'll Have To Say I Love You In A Song

Well, I know it's kind of late
I hope I didnt wake you
But what I got to say cant wait
I know youd understand
'cause every time I tried to tell you
The words just came out wrong
So I'll have to say I love you in a song

Yeah, I know it's kind of strange
But every time I'm near you
I just run out of things to say
I know youd understand
'cause every time I tried to tell you
The words just came out wrong
So I'll have to say I love you in a song

'cause every time the time was right
All the words just came out wrong
So I'll have to say I love you in a song

Yeah, I know it's kind of late
I hope I didnt wake you
But there's something that I just got to say
I know you'd understand
'cause every time I tried to tell you
The words just came out wrong
So I'll have to say I love you in a song

You might be thinking of Cat Stevens. He is banned from the country or something like that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_Stevens

Bobby Fischer is also banned, what a croc.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobby_Fischer

Jim Croce is more than banned.

Jim Croce

I've played Bobby Fischer on fics. Freechess.org.

Some people are more famous for dying young than they would be had they lived. Buddy Holly, Elvis, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison, Duane Allman and Kurt Cobain come to mind. Some examples of musicians that have lived too long include Cat Stevens, David Bowie, Paul McCartney and Ozzy Osbourne. Imagine how famous Ozzy would be if he had died after the bat biting incident!;)

still doesnt seem too lucky to me.

cat stevens is now a muslim with a name like muhammad mustafi or something similar. i think he is living in england but i didnt think he was banned. i listened to an interview with him about five years or so ago when driving back from memphis after meeting a guy from texas to buy a 240 from him.

he seemed ok to me.

tom w

I think it's Yuseff Islam or something like that. Not too long ago he was on a plane headed to Nashville or Memphis to do some recording. His name was on the "no-fly" list and his plane was diverted to Canada. At any rate, his music would sell better if he was dead.

yeah, now that you mention it i remember hearing that.

most folks probably think he is dead.

tom w

So, it's better to burn out, than it is to rust?

i would say ozzie is definately burned out!

but not dead yet.

tom w

Man I forgot about Neil Young! He should have died in 1970! I LOVED his music until he dissed Alabama. After that, I would have volunteered to pull the rope on the drugged out Canadian bastard!

not being from alabama i still love his music.

i saw him live one time by accident. i went to a joanie mitchell concert at purdue in about 1975. he just showed up and sang a few of his more popular songs. he looked like death warmed over....like he was really strung out or very very sick.

i saw him on tv the other day. he looked kindof like an old jethro from the beverly hillbillies. if i hadnt recognized his music style i would never have known it was him.

tom w

Have you ever seen Neil Young and Keith Richards in the same place?

B

I am waiting for the day they just wheel Keith Richards out on stage, he is a medical marvel.