Vol. II No. 12

I was browsing through the Goldmine Record Album Price Guide when I pieced together the apparent story of Jim Croce. He has quite a few good songs more or less in the folk rock tradition.

According to the GRAPG discography, he put out an album under his own auspices – I guess this is akin to “vanity press” book publishing – in 1966. Then in 1970 a record appeared on Capital Records called Jim and Ingrid Croce. Here we may surmise he had gotten married.

In 1972 came You Don’t Mess Around With Jim which includes the hit song "Time In A Bottle". This song is really very poignant and perhaps it becomes all the more so when you learn that later editions of this LP released in 1973 are “posthumous” releases. Mr. Croce apparently died very shortly after this record came out.

I was led to wonder if upon contemplating "Time In A Bottle" he may have been led to feel that he had accomplished his masterwork, his eternal statement, indeed, his epitaph. And continuing to contemplate thus, he may have felt that he was ready to die – that he wanted to die.

I am convinced that this sort of pride in his work and powerful identification with the work could not exist in the case of digitalized recording. Croce may have occasionally listened to the record – most likely while consuming hallucinogens and alcohol – and felt transported by the power and beauty of its sound and statement. No digitalized version would move the listener so profoundly.