Early life
Croce was born in South Philadelphia. He graduated from Upper Darby High School in Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania in 1960 where in 1976, he was the first former student to be added to the high school's Wall of Fame. Then, while attending Villanova University (1965 graduate), Croce became interested in becoming a professional musician and met his future wife, Ingrid, at a hootenanny at Convention Hall in Philadelphia, where he was a judge for the contest.
Early career
During the early 1960s, Croce formed a number of college bands and performed at coffee houses and universities, and later with his wife Ingrid as a duo in the mid-1960s to early 1970s. At first their performances included songs by Ian and Sylvia, Gordon Lightfoot, Joan Baez, and Woody Guthrie, but in time they began writing their own music, such as "Age", "Hey Tomorrow", and "Spin, Spin Spin" which later led to Croce's hit songs in the early seventies.
At the same time, Croce got his first long-term gig at a rural bar and steak house in Lima, Pennsylvania, called the Riddle Paddock. There, over the next few years, Croce developed a very engaging rapport with tough audiences and built his musical repertoire to over 3,000 songs. His set list included every genre from blues to country, rock 'n roll to folk, with tender love songs and traditional Bawdy Ballads, always introduced with a story and an impish grin.
In 1968, Jim and Ingrid Croce were encouraged to move to New York City to record their first album with Capitol Records. For the next two years, they drove over 300,000 miles playing small clubs and concerts on the college concert circuit promoting their album Jim & Ingrid Croce.
Then, disillusioned by the music business and New York City, Croce sold all but one guitar to pay the rent, and they returned to the Pennsylvania countryside where Croce got a job driving trucks and doing construction to pay the bills. He called this his "Character Development Period" and spent a lot of his time sitting in the cab of a truck, composing songs about his buddies and the folks he enjoyed meeting at the local bars and truck stops.
Success
In 1970, Croce met classically trained pianist/guitarist, singer-songwriter Maury Muehleisen from Trenton, New Jersey. Initially, Croce backed Muehleisen on guitar at his gigs. But in time, their musical strengths led them each to new heights. Muehleisen's ethereal and inspired guitar leads became the perfect accompaniment to Croce's down-to-earth music.
In 1972, Croce signed to a three record deal with ABC Records releasing You Don't Mess Around with Jim and Life & Times in the same year. The singles "You Don't Mess Around with Jim", "Operator (That's Not The Way It Feels)" and "Time In A Bottle" (written for his newborn son, A. J. Croce) helped the former album reach #1 on the charts in 1974. Croce's biggest single "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown", hit number 1 on the US charts in the summer of 1973, selling two million copies.
Sudden death
Croce, 30, and Muehleisen, 24, died in a small commercial plane crash on September 20, 1973 in Natchitoches, Louisiana one day before releasing his third ABC album, I Got a Name. The posthumous release included three hits, "I Got A Name", "Workin' At The Car Wash Blues" and "I'll Have To Say I Love You In A Song."
Musical legacy
In 1990, Croce was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
In the late 1990s, Ingrid Croce, Croce's widow, and their son, A.J. Croce obtained the publishing rights for Croce's entire catalog of songs. Since then they have released Jim Croce Home Recordings, Facets, Jim Croce: Classic Hits, and the first-ever DVD of Jim's television performances on "Have You Heard – Jim Croce Live", with their most recent release in January 2006 of a CD of the same title. They also co-produced a PBS special, with archive footage from the Croce family collection, along with excerpts of their DVD Have You Heard – Jim Croce Live.
In 1985, Ingrid Croce opened "Croce's Restaurant & Jazz Bar", located in the historic Gaslamp District in San Diego, California, partially as a tribute to her late husband.
Quotes
His personal motto: "If you dig it, do it. If you really dig it, do it twice."
On his roots: "I never really thought of my neighborhood in South Philly as being a neighborhood, it was more a state of mind. For people who aren't familiar with those kind of places, it's a whole different thing. Like 42nd Street in New York City is a state of mind."
Time in a Bottle
Jim Croce Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The first thing that I'd like to do
Is to save every day
'Til eternity passes away
Just to spend them with you
If I could make days last forever
If words could make wishes come true
Again, I would spend them with you
But there never seems to be enough time
To do the things you want to do
Once you find them
I've looked around enough to know
That you're the one I want to go
Through time with
If I had a box just for wishes
And dreams that had never come true
The box would be empty
Except for the memory
Of how they were answered by you
But there never seems to be enough time
To do the things you want to do
Once you find them
I've looked around enough to know
That you're the one I want to go
Through time with
Jim Croce's beautiful song Time in a Bottle describes the singer's desire to save time and spend it with the person he loves. The opening line "If I could save time in a bottle" immediately captures the imagination and leads the listener down a path of contemplation and reflection. The theme of the song is the fleeting nature of time and the singer's desire to cherish and make the most of every moment.
The first stanza of the song expresses the singer's desire to save every day until eternity passes away just to spend them with his love. He longs to make time last forever, if only words could make wishes come true. The second and third stanzas reveal the futility of this desire as the singer realizes that there never seems to be enough time to do the things he wants to do. Instead, he focuses on cherishing the moments he does have with his love and recognizes that she is the one he wants to go through time with.
The final stanza drives home the message of the song as the singer describes a box just for wishes and dreams that have never come true. He realizes that the box would be empty except for the memory of how they were answered by his love. In the end, the song is a poignant reminder that time is precious and fleeting and that true love and memories are the most important things we can cherish.
Line by Line Meaning
If I could save time in a bottle
If only time could be stored, like in a bottle
The first thing that I'd like to do
The top priority on my list
Is to save every day
To preserve each day
'Til eternity passes away
Until forever is no more
Just to spend them with you
To cherish them alongside you
If I could make days last forever
If days could be endless
If words could make wishes come true
If mere words could turn wishes into reality
I'd save every day like a treasure and then
I would treasure every day by saving them
Again, I would spend them with you
Once more, I would share them with you
But there never seems to be enough time
Time always feels limited
To do the things you want to do
To do what you desire
Once you find them
Once you discover those desires
I've looked around enough to know
After much searching, I'm certain
That you're the one I want to go
You're the person I want
Through time with
To journey through time alongside
If I had a box just for wishes
If I owned a box, solely for wishes
And dreams that had never come true
As well as unrealized dreams
The box would be empty
The box would be bare
Except for the memory
Except for the recollection
Of how they were answered by you
Of you being the one who fulfilled them
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: Jim Croce
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@myjourney5205
Lyrics:
If I could save time in a bottle
The first thing that I'd like to do
It's to save everyday till eternity passes away
Just to spend them with you
If I could make days last forever
If words could make wishes come true
I'd save everyday like a treasure and then
Again I would spend them with you
But there never seems to be enough time
To do the things you wanna do
Once you find them
I looked around enough to know
That you're the one I wanna go through time with
If I had a box just for wishes
And dreams that had never come true
The box would be empty except for the memory of how
They were answered by you
But there never seems to be enough time
To do the things you wanna do
Once you find them
I looked around enough to know
That you're the one I wanna go through time with
@vukmaksimov6464
Sad story: 3 days after Jim Croce died in a plane crash, his wife received a letter from him, saying he was quitting concert touring so he could retire and spend the next 30+ years with his wife and 1-year-old son. So the lyrics of the "Time In A Bottle" song are almost a preminition, like he knew he wouldn't get to spend much time with his family, so he recorded a beautiful song for their memories.
@h0rn3d_h1st0r1an
😭
@bluewaflles
@@h0rn3d_h1st0r1an fr thats sad af
@gregsouls2666
Yeah, and his ex-wife also got together with a guy after Jim that beat his son and made him go partially blind. The whole story is quite sad, I feel so bad for Jim's son, he was the one who was truly robbed.
@h0rn3d_h1st0r1an
@@gregsouls2666 Yeah, I read about that. It's just super tragic. I've heard that Jim's son makes music, like his father now.
@vivekshri
You RUINED it for me mate. Good soul left too soon
@SCB09
Didn't even go two comments down and already teared up with this story of Jim. Rest In Peace you absolute legend.
@LarryVarner-zq5zd
Great Song , Jim.
@KentWard-oi1dr
@@LarryVarner-zq5zd.
xxm
@lizardheisei1984
@@drwllceto man up is to accept your emotions and who you truly are, so yes, do man up