Jim Croce - 1973-02-02 - Palantine, IL (SBD)

Jim Croce

1973-02-02

Harper College

Palatine, Illinois

Soundboard Recording

320 kbps

Artwork Included

01. Careful Man

02. Operator

03. Box #10

04. A Good Time Man Like Me Ain't Got No Business

05. It Doesn't Have To Be That Way

06. Next Time This Time

07. Speedball Tucker

08. I've Been Framed

09. Roller Derby Queen

10. New York's Not My Home

11. One Less Set Of Footsteps

12. Ball Of Kerrymuir

13. You Don't Mess Around With Jim

Jim Croce - 1973-02-02 - Palantine, IL (SBD)

Our first post in February is also our first one at So Many Roads featuring folk rock legend Jim Croce, making it a perfect fit with our folk/country western theme this month. In April 1972, Jim Croce released his first solo album on ABC records, entitled You Don’t Mess Around With Jim. Featuring tracks such as New York’s Not My Home, Photographs and Memories, Operator and Time in A Bottle, the album showcased Croce’s songwriting talent and unique folk rock style. The title track, telling the tale of tough guy Big Jim Walker, features the memorable lyrics, "You don't tug on Superman's cape/You don't spit into the wind/You don't pull the mask off the ol' Lone Ranger/And you don't mess around with Jim.” The song rose to number 8 on the Billboard charts, putting Jim Croce on the musical map. Croce’s next album, Life and Times, would be released a year later, in July 1973, and would feature another song with a legendary character, the only and only Bad Bad Leroy Brown. That tune would go to #1 on the charts, and the future appeared to be unlimited for Croce. Tragically, just 2 months later, on September 20, 1973, the music world lost Jim Croce in a plane crash. In the wake of his death, his third album, I’ve Got A Name, which he completed just a week before his death would reach the number 2 position on the charts. In addition, the single Time in A Bottle, from his first album, was re-released, and became just the 3rd posthumous chart-topping song of the rock era following Otis Redding's (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay and Janis Joplin's recording of Me and Bobby McGee. This soundboard recording captures Croce on February 2, 1973, 39 years ago today, right between the release of his first 2 albums. Download this one and take a moment to remember a great singer songwriter who was taken from us way too soon.