ABC 756
Producers: Terry Cashman and Tommy West
Track listing: You Don’t Mess Around with Jim / Tomorrow’s Gonna be a Brighter Day / New York’s Not My Home / Hard Time Losin’ Man / Photographs and Memories / Walkin’ Back to Georgia / Operator (That’s Not the Way It Feels) / Time in a Bottle / Rapid Roy (The Stock Car Boy) / Box # 10/ A Long Time Ago / Hey Tomorrow
January 12, 1974
5 weeks
In the late ’60s, the career of an aspiring songwriter named Jim Croce didn’t hold much promise. An album he recorded for Capitol with his wife Ingrid, appropriately titled Jim and Ingrid Croce, failed to chart in 1969. “Jim was a mediocre writer in the ’60s,” says his friend and co-producer Tommy West. “He was a great folk singer and great performer, but he wasn’t a great writer.”
Two things happened in Croce’s life that would greatly affect his career. First he met guitarist Maury Muehleisen. Then, in February 1971, he found out that Ingrid was pregnant with their first child. “All of a sudden his writing changed,” says West. “He decided to tell the truth.”
West first noticed the change in Croce’s writing when he received a new demo tape containing such songs as “Time in a Bottle” and “Operator.” West was so impressed, he shared his enthusiasm with his partner Terry Cashman. “I played it for him and he said, ‘Jesus, this is better than anything he has done.”‘ The pair invited Croce into the studio to cut more demos in hopes of landing Croce a new record deal. “We cut some demos and nobody liked them,” West says. “Then we went back into the studio and cut some more and nobody liked those. We couldn’t get a deal. Nobody saw what we thought we saw.” Finally, with financial assistance from a friend, West and Cashman took Croce to the Hit Factory in New York on October 5, 1971, without a record deal.
The album, which was cut in three weeks, was shopped to nearly every major label. “Every label in the business turned it down,” says West. “The only way we got it released on ABC Records was because Cashman and I were signed to the label as artists.”
The sessions were done totally live, says West. “We would cut it as an ensemble and Jim did the final vocal right then and there.” The track “Time in a Bottle” was originally cut on an eight-track, West says. “We bumped it up to 16 tracks, but I couldn’t figure out what to put on the other tracks.” Then West noticed a harpsichord in the studio that was lying around from an earlier session. “In the back of my mind, I grafted a line from a doo-wop record by the Jesters called ‘The Wind’ and I put that in there on harpsichord and doubled that,” West says. The combination of harpsichord, guitar, and bass led many to assume that a string section had played on the track.
Initially, the album spawned two hit singles. The title track reached number eight in September, while “Operator (That’s Not the Way It Feels)” peaked at number 17 in December. Croce’s success continued with his second solo album, Life and Times, which included the Number One single “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown.”
You Don’t Mess Around with Jim took on a second life after the album cut “Time in a Bottle” was featured prominently in an ABC Movie of the Week called She Lives. Says West, “It was like a rip-off of Love Story, but the song was all over it.” Croce, who was already experiencing tremendous success, now had another hit on his hands. Yet on September 20, 1973, only eight days after the TV movie telecast, the 30-yearÂ-old singer-songwriter was killed in a plane crash in Louisiana. Five others on the chartered plane, including Muehleisen, were also killed.
“Time in a Bottle” became Croce’s second Number One single on December 29, 1973. Two weeks later Croce scored his posthumous album chart-topper with You Don’t Mess Around with Jim, which had been on the chart for 47 weeks. On January 26, 1974, with You Don’t Mess Around with Jim still at the summit, Croce’s final album, I Got a Name peaked at number two.
THE TOP FIVE
Week of January 12, 1974
1. You Don’t Mess Around with Jim, Jim Croce
2. The Singles, 1969-1973, The Carpenters
3. Goodbye Yellow Brick, Road Elton John
4. I’ve Got a Name, Jim Croce
5. The Joker, Steve Miller Band