The Ultimate Storyteller: Jim Croce

Songwriters are often told they should be "storytellers," and weave colorful tales of characters and situations. One very special master of this is Jim Croce.

Jim Croce was a rising singer-songwriter in the early 1970s who was scorching the charts and the radio waves with raucous "fightin' songs" like Bad Bad Leroy Brown, and ballads like Operator, and Time In A Bottle. I Got A Name is a strong declaration of how one man wants to live his life.

Unfortunately, Jim was killed in a plane crash in September 1973, at only thirty years old, leaving behind a wife, a young son, and heartbroken fans who were just beginning to enjoy his treasure trove of music. Jim was a huge favorite in my family, and I still remember my shock when my sister told me what had happened.

Many of his songs were released posthumously, like the sweet, emotional I'll Have To Say I Love You (In A Song), which he wrote after an argument with his wife, to make up with her. That's my favorite of his. Toss me a hankie, because I always cry when I hear it. 

Jim's specialty was his ability to draw the listener in with vivid descriptions of people and situations. Operator describes an attempt to call his ex-lover and the man she left him for: "Operator, could you help me place this call/See the number on the matchbook is old and faded..." 

In Roller Derby Queen, he describes a roller derby skater he has a crush on as being "built like a 'fridgerator with a head." The breakup song Lover's Cross makes it clear why he left a lover: "It seems that you wanted a martyr/just a regular guy wouldn't do..." Ouch. 

Time In A Bottle had such an impact on my family that two of my sisters had guitarists play and sing it at their weddings after Croce's death. It tells what Jim would do if he could indeed "save time in a bottle." Only Jim Croce could make people care about that.

He still makes people laugh, smile, cry, and care about the characters in his songs with his magical storytelling. He will always be one of the most beloved storytellers of all time.