i didn't find Cat Stevens in your reactions. so many, but here are a few: Peace Train: czcams.com/video/CyeW62T7JVk/video.html Father & Son: czcams.com/video/JCQVnSOFqfM/video.html The Wind: czcams.com/video/F2f6xMuaawM/video.html his songs tend to be short, and highly spiritual in character. every song on the albums, "Tea for the Tillerman", and "Teaser and the Firecat" are worthy of a reaction.
He called from a payphone and he asked the operator to help him. His girl ran off to LA with his "best old ex-friend Ray." He just wanted to tell them both he's okay and he survived the betrayal of them. And at the end of the song he tells the operator to forget about the call and they can "keep the dime." Yeah, in 1972 a payphone local call was 10 cents! Yeah, some of us old timers remember that! Geez! Anyway, fantastic song...so smooth despite his pain. What a loss also to the music world. RIP, Jim...even after close to a half century, some of us still miss you... 😥🙏😇✌
Oh yeah Justine April, I remember those days and used those phones that are by today's standards behemoths is size. They were the kind of phone that even if they weren't bolted to the wall or phone booth, you'd still have to stand still to make the call because there was no way you'd ever carry it around with you.
Justine, you sadi "..even after close to a half century, some of us still miss you... 😥🙏😇✌" Truer words were never spoken. Such an amazing talent, such an interesting life. He had so much living still to do.
Yep Justine... I was there, too, and will never forget those wonderful days in the 70's. I still remember where I was when I heard (belatedly) that Jim Croce had died. Payphones were everywhere those days, even in my dorm hallway while in collage. This song never sounds old and always takes me back to better times.
He died in a plane crash at the age of of 30. Had just written a letter to his wife that he was coming home to stay, with her and their 2 year-old son, for whom he had written “Time in a Bottle.” She received that letter when she got home from his funeral. Greatly missed, Jim! You were the poet of our time.
Yes. "She's living in L.A. with my best old ex-friend Ray." A whole tragic love story crammed into 10 words. Prolly the most information-packed lyric in all of music.
Betrayed by the person he's in love with and, at the same time, betrayed by the person he would normally talk to about the betrayal of the person he's in love with -- his best friend. He needs to talk to him yet he can't. Now the only person he's left to talk to about all of this is the telephone operator -- a stranger. And then comes his realization that the two most intimate relationships in his life are now gone for good and he can't honestly hide the pain to salvage any of it. A beautiful yet painful song.
Jim Croce was in the military . This song is about the all the guys he witnessed that recieved "Dear John" letters from their wives or girlfriends . Beautifully sad song .....
I saw an interview with his widow who said he was in the military and standing in line to use the phone and all his buddies were waiting in line to answer their dear John letters and that’s what the song is about
Props to Maury Muehleisen, Jim's accompanist and friend; a fantastic guitarist and musician as well, who died in the same plane crash as Jim. You can see them play together in many videos.
Maury put out an album of his own titled Gingerbreadd. His voice isn't quite as powerful as Jim's but the album is very, very good. You can find Gingerbreadd on CZcams.
I love watching videos of them performing together. And if you watch enough, you'll notice they seem to share shirts, bc Maury would be wearing something Jim wore the other day. 😂
Time in a Bottle - we used it as part of my late father's memorial video for the section with pictures of him with his children. Jim Croce was one of his favorites and the lyrics were applicable for person who died relatively young.
My main man, this dude is the best and most honest of ALLLLLL the reaction videos. Jim Croce, man this is one talented man who can rip your heart out with his songs, and the next make you move to the groove. Such classic music from a far different time in our world. RIP Jim, you are missed
He was in a phone booth trying to reconnect with his lover who jilted him. I always cry at the line, "You can keep the dime." Kind of like in the Harry Chapin song Taxi when he said She handed me $20 for a 2.50 fare--I stashed the bill in my shirt. Really sells the song.
Pink is. She got me through some hard times. I have even told my granddaughter if she's having a bad day and feeling down to listen to her song Perfect.
The unsung hero behind Jim Croce is Maury Muehleisen. That's the guitar leads you're hearing. He was like Jim's hive mind partner on stage, sitting right next or behind Jim on stage. Their two guitars almost sound as one. He was a quiet legend. Maury died in the plane crash with Jim.
I'm sad to report that I'm old enough to not only remember pay phones, but I also remember when they only cost 10 cents! I also remember when they had individual slots for each type of coin, and also when they were surrounded by an actual privacy booth. But thankfully I'm old enough to remember great music like this when it was brand new!
@@mistabook there's nothing mainstream that isnt computerized or rap/hip hop. when did i say you cant make music if you dont rap? I said you wont get signed because money is all record labels care about and real music doesnt equal big sales anymore.
This song is so unbelievably and heart-breakingly beautiful. The first set of verses say it all. "She's living in LA, with my best old ex-friend Ray....A guy she said she knew well and sometimes hated." There isn't a dude alive that hears that line and just shakes their head and says......of course she did....
Jim Croce was a great songwriter/story teller. "You can keep the dime" -- a reference to the coin operated public phones we used to have everywhere before the days of cell phones. Beautifully sad song. RIP, Jim.
A long time ago operators literally operated a switch board and connected long distance calls between networks. No cell towers, no satellite, no internet. A person with plugs
Jim Croce is underrated. His music is simple, but he manages to tell a story even though he doesn't have a huge wall of sound like Beach Boys' legend Brian Wilson liked to use.
This was written while Jim Croce was in the military. According to an interview Croce actually said that this was written because he had seen a lot of friends get Dear John letters. So he decided to write this song as a reaction. He was still married to his wife at that time and stayed married until his untimely death in a plane crash. Such a beautifully written song and showed his amazing ability to tell a story! Great video brother as always!!
Jim and Maury were so underrated. Listening to their music was like a painting come to life, and for a short while they were the greatest painters across the American music landscape. Photographs and Memories, Christmas Cards you sent to me....
@@daveingrey2615 The irony is that he *wasn't* really enjoying it; according to a letter he wrote home to his wife (which she received a couple of days after the crash), he'd pretty much decided he didn't want to continue with a career in music anymore because he was homesick from being on the road and away from his family all the time, and was uncomfortable with all of the public attention. So even if he had lived, there's no telling how things could have gone; he might have changed his mind and gone on to greater things -- or, he might well have just retired from public view entirely and faded away. :-(
Jim Croce can make you cry in one song, make you laugh in the next one and then make you feel good about your life. The best damn folk singer, that ever lived.
i love the part where he just got the number from the operator but he has to ask for it again because "there's something in my eye", his tears. his tears smudged the numbers on the paper!! 😭😭
The song reflects a man simply wanting to talk with someone, ANYONE during a time when he feels totally alone and betrayed. If there is anything remotely human within your emotional makeup, I think you can relate to this song.
I think I remember an interview with his lovely wife saying this was about our soldiers coming home from Vietnam and their girls had moved on. 😔 It happened all over when those men came home. 🇺🇸
Read the lyrics again - when he says "I cant read the number you just gave me, somethings in my eyes, you know it happens every time" the ink is running because of his tears.
This guy could really write a song from the heart..."Cause I can't read the number that you just gave me. There's something in my eyes..." Thems tears brother. Something we all know from time to time
I wrote the Lyrics to that song down and mailed it to my High School Crush. She was flattered but that’s as far it got. 😢 That was back in 1974. She married someone else. We chat on Facebook…
Jim Croce left this world to soon. I love the line " I only wish my words could convince myself that it just wasn't real". Thanks for having a positive channel that keeps good music alive.
Glad you like the song Jamel....it's always been one of my favorites! Jim wrote this in 1972 and died the following year. Its a shame he never got to see the impact it would go on to have. RIP Jim Croce...one of the greatest singer/songwriters ever!
Jim Croce said he came up with the idea for this song while waiting to use the phone while he was in the military. Guys would be on the phone talking to their girls who had broken up with them and they were distraught. Brilliant piece of writing like much of his work. A big shout out to Maury (his guitarist and musical genius) who helped him put so many of these songs together. They were best friends and they were selfless and modest people. It was a sad day in the world when those two died in that plane crash.
To me this song is about missing a love, or an old friend you've lost touch with, and missing them so much, and not being able to tell them . . . and then trying to convince yourself your heart doesn't have a hole ripped in it, but knowing that it does, and also not wanting to change that fact of that hole in your heart, because the love/friendship was so true and real. So you know you must go on. And yeah . . . this song makes me CRY! In the best way
Definitely. He didn't write "Fire and Rain" or "You've got a Friend" but his take on those songs is beautiful. "Carolina in My Mind," "Country Road (single version)m" and "Shower the People" are excellent James Taylor originals.
This song and “I Got a Name” are two of my favorite Croce songs. Listening to Jim Croce always makes my eyes tear and I get a lump in my throat. The man was one of the most talented songwriters ever. Thanks for the reaction, Brother. 🔥
1 of my most favorite songs of all time! Jim Croce was a wizard at enunciating emotions that are hard to talk about. An amazing &, somewhat, unsung talent.
Oh this makes me so sad. My favorite Jim Croce song. He was killed in a plane crash. I was in high school at the time. My mother heard it on the radio. She was outside in the garden when I came home from school and she told me. I sat right down on the driveway and bawled my eyes out, it just broke my heart. So many just loved this man and his music! Thank you for reviewing this song!
Most gut punching line of the song to me: "There's something in my eyes, you know it happens every time, I think about the love that I thought would save me..." TEARS
I love his album, Photographs and Memories. Beautiful music and personal growth happen after pain. It takes something big and disruptful to make us look for answers inside.
Croce, another one of the many Minstrels from my youth... Buffet, Chapin, Dillan, Stevens, Taylor.... now I'm soaring 50 years back in time again. Glad it's Friday afternoon.
Yes, Do you also remember rotary phones? When I was very young, we had what was called "party lines" where neighbors would share one telephone line and we all had to take turns placing a call. LOL. Boy, have we come a long way.
Congratulations, Jamel! You have completed the telephone heartbreak trifecta. First "Telephone Line", then "Sylvia's Mother", and now finishing off with "Operator". Talking on the phone, calling people up, used to be such a big part in our lives...a lost era..
I remember watching “The Midnight Special” and “Don Kurchner’s” and Jim telling stories about his various vocations. Those experiences came through in his writing.
Classic Croce and one of my favorite songs. Letting go of a relationship is hard enough, but even harder when you're not there physically, but are still there mentally and emotionally.
Jamal, it's an evocative song even without knowing entirely what he is saying: loss, mourning, heartbreak all come through so clearly. Thanks for sharing your response! I love how expressive you are in your videos and you are usually right on with the sentiments that I feel as well. I find this a nice place to connect that way.
I grew up listening to this album on 8-track on my dad’s giant old stereo system. I loved Jim Croce and my little heart broke when he died in that plane crash. He was an amazing talent.
Jim Croce was a friend in my head .Growing up in the inner city his music helped me escape so much pain You made me smile cause I always called him Brother Jim .I miss him so much
I saw this notifcation and stopped everythign to see you react to this heartbreakingly beautiful song. Please React to You don't mess around with Jim next, a little humor to balance out this beautiful song.
Oh, how we loved Jim Croce and his music. His untimely death was a huge blow.... The song itself doesn't specify him being in the military, just that his best friend and girlfriend betrayed him, and that he's on a pay phone calling from a distance It's interesting that because of your own experience being far away in the military, that's how you heard it. That's one of the things about great music: we relate to it from where we're at, and it moves us. So interesting that younger generations may not understand the line, "You can keep the dime," because they've never used a pay phone and probably can't imagine that it could only cost a 10 cents to make a call. Or that back in the day, we could talk to an operator.
Such a loss. He was only 30 when his plane clipped a tree upon takeoff and Jim along with everyone else died. Jim could absolutely break your heart, or deliver some swampy bluesy rock. Photographs and Memories, Time in a Bottle, Rapid Roy, Lovers Cross, Bad Bad Leroy Brown, I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song.
That reminds me of a Shel Silverstein song, "The Winner.": czcams.com/video/JRWlnv0_svU/video.html Who does a better version, Bobby Bare or Kris Kristofferson?
This was the first song I ever heard of Jim Croce. And has been a life long fan ever since. He just keep getting better, then died in that plane crash, what a lose! He died a month after having his first number 1 in August 73 with" Bad bad Leroy Brown." And died in Sept 73. His second number 1 was " Time in a bottle", which was the last week of 73 and first week of 74.
One of my favorite songs of all time! I’m learning it on guitar right now! I love how it tells a story: “I think I’ll call my old flame, show her I’m doing all right...Uh-oh, I’m crying again...Aw screw it, I don’t want to talk to her!”
"She's living in L. A. with my best old ex-friend Ray"... JIm's character didn't go away, his girl ran off with his best friend. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operator_(That%27s_Not_the_Way_It_Feels)
I've always loved this song. It's so sad but in a beautiful way. He's trying to show strength thru the pain of it and act like he's fine when he's not. What an amazing song!
A guitar, a voice, love, pain and longing. It's what makes great, long lasting music... :) I always took this song as being the singer (Jim), lonely, dropping a dime at a phone booth to call the woman he loved but lost to his 'best, old, ex-friend Ray'. All he has is a matchbook with her number on it, faded, so asks the Operator to find it (the new number for him. She does, but he can't read the number she just gave him. It happens every time, something in his eyes (tears, we can assume), so he changes his mind... because there's no one there he really wanted to talk to... Damn! :) Not sure where you got the military connection... unless it was the line about 'overcome the blow'. I always took that to mean the blow of her leaving him for his best friend. I've been hoping you'd do this reaction for a long time... Thank You! And so glad you enjoyed it! :)---(: 'Photographs and Memories', the Album and the title song is amazing too. I often lament what more Jim Croce (Krow'-shay) could have given us all!
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react to Gordon Lightfoot Rainy day people
I been following a long time. Have I missed a John Denver Song? He's worth a listen
Another jam kinda like this, Steve Miller Electro Lux imbroglio/Sacrifice, you'll love it....
czcams.com/video/DV0GJfxAtQY/video.html
i didn't find Cat Stevens in your reactions. so many, but here are a few:
Peace Train: czcams.com/video/CyeW62T7JVk/video.html
Father & Son: czcams.com/video/JCQVnSOFqfM/video.html
The Wind: czcams.com/video/F2f6xMuaawM/video.html
his songs tend to be short, and highly spiritual in character. every song on the albums, "Tea for the Tillerman", and "Teaser and the Firecat" are worthy of a reaction.
Thank you brother Jamel for your persistence and diligence
He called from a payphone and he asked the operator to help him. His girl ran off to LA with his "best old ex-friend Ray." He just wanted to tell them both he's okay and he survived the betrayal of them. And at the end of the song he tells the operator to forget about the call and they can "keep the dime." Yeah, in 1972 a payphone local call was 10 cents! Yeah, some of us old timers remember that! Geez!
Anyway, fantastic song...so smooth despite his pain. What a loss also to the music world. RIP, Jim...even after close to a half century, some of us still miss you... 😥🙏😇✌
Oh yeah Justine April, I remember those days and used those phones that are by today's standards behemoths is size. They were the kind of phone that even if they weren't bolted to the wall or phone booth, you'd still have to stand still to make the call because there was no way you'd ever carry it around with you.
Justine, you sadi "..even after close to a half century, some of us still miss you... 😥🙏😇✌" Truer words were never spoken. Such an amazing talent, such an interesting life. He had so much living still to do.
This song brings me right back to my childhood! Such a beautiful singer!✌❤
Yep Justine... I was there, too, and will never forget those wonderful days in the 70's. I still remember where I was when I heard (belatedly) that Jim Croce had died. Payphones were everywhere those days, even in my dorm hallway while in collage. This song never sounds old and always takes me back to better times.
I miss payphones
"I Got a Name," "I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song," and "Photographs and Memories" are three absolute MUSTS!
And Workin’ at the Car Wash Blues!
@@edcollins8172 belting out these lyrics when I was six:
Well I had just got out of the county prison doing 90 days for non-support..
You left out time in a bottle.
New yorks not my home is another great song
Put Roller Derby Queen in there too.
The last line "you can keep the dime" always gets me. So much emotion in those few words.
Yes. SO well done....! The end of that song makes you think.....
Same here. Makes my heart hurt.
He died in a plane crash at the age of of 30. Had just written a letter to his wife that he was coming home to stay, with her and their 2 year-old son, for whom he had written “Time in a Bottle.” She received that letter when she got home from his funeral. Greatly missed, Jim! You were the poet of our time.
Yes, Time in a Bottle. I am going to play operator for my grand kids. They won't have a clue!
Time in a Bottle was sang at our Wedding 36 yes ago. Always have been and will continue being a huge fan of Jim Croce.
Oh my gosh a letter from the grave about being together 😢😢😢
His widow was living in San Diego when I met her in the 1980s. She owned a Bar: “Croce’s.” Kindest woman you’ll ever meet.
Just a song about a girl running off with a best friend. He wants to talk to her, then realizes it’s useless. Sad, but there is a time to move on.
I understood it was exactly what you said, his girl ran off on him.
"There's something in my eyes" yes, he's crying over his lady that left him for his " Best old ex-friend Ray." That is a great line.
Full of Heart Break 💔
Absolutely!
@@davidmolina3520 Been there. 💔
Yes. "She's living in L.A. with my best old ex-friend Ray." A whole tragic love story crammed into 10 words. Prolly the most information-packed lyric in all of music.
Betrayed by the person he's in love with and, at the same time, betrayed by the person he would normally talk to about the betrayal of the person he's in love with -- his best friend. He needs to talk to him yet he can't. Now the only person he's left to talk to about all of this is the telephone operator -- a stranger. And then comes his realization that the two most intimate relationships in his life are now gone for good and he can't honestly hide the pain to salvage any of it. A beautiful yet painful song.
Jim Croce was in the military . This song is about the all the guys he witnessed that recieved "Dear John" letters from their wives or girlfriends . Beautifully sad song .....
This song gets me every single time. Always brings a tear to my eye.
Yes, every single time no matter where I am, I can’t hold back my tears. What a wonderful song. 😭🙏🏼❤️
I saw an interview with his widow who said he was in the military and standing in line to use the phone and all his buddies were waiting in line to answer their dear John letters and that’s what the song is about
Wow, I didn't know that.
Wow, never heard that. So Jamel really got that.
I just posted the same! It is an excellent interview that made me love Mr. Jim even more!! I think it was PBS.
@@noneyabusiness1302 yes it was on PBS.
Didn't know that! Makes sense.
Props to Maury Muehleisen, Jim's accompanist and friend; a fantastic guitarist and musician as well, who died in the same plane crash as Jim. You can see them play together in many videos.
Such a beautiful and sad song. Jim RIP.
Maury put out an album of his own titled Gingerbreadd. His voice isn't quite as powerful as Jim's but the album is very, very good. You can find Gingerbreadd on CZcams.
amen
I love watching videos of them performing together. And if you watch enough, you'll notice they seem to share shirts, bc Maury would be wearing something Jim wore the other day. 😂
When he's crying he sings "something in my eyes, you know it happens every time....so artistic in expressing that. JC was brilliant
"Operator, could you help me place this call, cause I can't read the number you just gave me." Tears are welling up in his eyes. Beautiful song!
Just imagine what amazing songs Jim croce would have wrote :(
Yes, he was just taking off. Struggled his whole life and was just starting to make it big.
It's amazing to think about the incredible music he would've come up with had he survived... Truly tragic.
Breaks my heart thinking of it. So many classics with such few albums
He was a Master Song Craftsman.
He was here for a short time, but his legacy will last forever.
Keeping the dime is because he was calling from a phone booth. Time in a bottle is an excellent song also.
Yes it is, and I think Jamel reacted to it a while ago...
Time in a Bottle - we used it as part of my late father's memorial video for the section with pictures of him with his children. Jim Croce was one of his favorites and the lyrics were applicable for person who died relatively young.
@@StudeSteve62 did not know that, relatively new to his channel, I'll have to find that.
@@coolcpa3321 That's very cool. Big Croce fan myself.
@@coolcpa3321 Time in a Bottle was played at my wedding. Great song.
My main man, this dude is the best and most honest of ALLLLLL the reaction videos. Jim Croce, man this is one talented man who can rip your heart out with his songs, and the next make you move to the groove. Such classic music from a far different time in our world. RIP Jim, you are missed
“Some of the most beautiful Songs come from pain”. Very well said Jamel, and a great observation as you go on this journey.
Check out Photographs and Memories, another sad Croce song. This man dying so young is one of the great tragedies of music history.
Without question. He was with us for far too short a time.
I haven’t heard that song since I could play that LP. That’s a great song
it was a tragedy..RIP, Jim
What bugs me about his plane crash is that they managed to clip the only tree in that area. One single tree, and they hit it.
Him and Chapin.
He was in a phone booth trying to reconnect with his lover who jilted him. I always cry at the line, "You can keep the dime." Kind of like in the Harry Chapin song Taxi when he said She handed me $20 for a 2.50 fare--I stashed the bill in my shirt. Really sells the song.
That line gets me too
Every time, man!
I remember pay phones, phone booths, and even party lines.
My mom was at his last concert and he autographed her shirt (which said Foxy Lady).
There just aren’t any storytellers like this anymore.
Drake
There are you just gotta find um, I'll help you out. Tyler Childers, Colter Wall, Iron and Wine. Have fun!
Tom Misch
Pink is. She got me through some hard times. I have even told my granddaughter if she's having a bad day and feeling down to listen to her song Perfect.
Do some research on a fellow named Angie Aparo. He's no Jim Croce, but he's very, very talented. Phenomenal singer/songwriter. Not famous obviously.
The unsung hero behind Jim Croce is Maury Muehleisen. That's the guitar leads you're hearing. He was like Jim's hive mind partner on stage, sitting right next or behind Jim on stage. Their two guitars almost sound as one. He was a quiet legend. Maury died in the plane crash with Jim.
So true. Maury Muhleisen was a phenomenal guitarist.
@Gerald H not many people know that, yes that is true.
@Gerald H I think it was called Gingerbredd
DUH
Agreed
I'm sad to report that I'm old enough to not only remember pay phones, but I also remember when they only cost 10 cents! I also remember when they had individual slots for each type of coin, and also when they were surrounded by an actual privacy booth.
But thankfully I'm old enough to remember great music like this when it was brand new!
I absolutely loved those old, fully enclosed phone booths -- like shelter from the storm. Refuge from the din around you.
The sad truth...in today's music business, no record label would sign Jim Croce on account of him not looking like a fashion model.
That is very true.
they wouldnt sign him because its not rap or hip hop
@@bjaded1 Yes, only rap and hip hop artists are allowed to make music now. Listen to yourself
@@mistabook there's nothing mainstream that isnt computerized or rap/hip hop. when did i say you cant make music if you dont rap? I said you wont get signed because money is all record labels care about and real music doesnt equal big sales anymore.
That’s a big tune boss. Him, Harry Chapin & Cat Stevens ran the singer songwriters in the 70’s
And John Denver
Gordon Lightfoot
Jim, Cat Stevens and James Talyor, some of the greats in this genre. Rip Jim.
... just so happens, it happens to be James Taylor‘s 73rd (?)I believe birthday today ...:)
@@suzannereilman4516 oh cool!
Trying to call his ex girlfriend and the ex best friend that she left him for and then deciding to not go through with it. That's tough.
This song is so unbelievably and heart-breakingly beautiful. The first set of verses say it all. "She's living in LA, with my best old ex-friend Ray....A guy she said she knew well and sometimes hated."
There isn't a dude alive that hears that line and just shakes their head and says......of course she did....
Jim Croce was a great songwriter/story teller. "You can keep the dime" -- a reference to the coin operated public phones we used to have everywhere before the days of cell phones. Beautifully sad song. RIP, Jim.
A long time ago operators literally operated a switch board and connected long distance calls between networks. No cell towers, no satellite, no internet. A person with plugs
and if nobody answered, no voice mail, no answering machine, no miss call notification...
Funny thing is...it really wasn't that long ago.
Literally just listened to this last night (in a 70's mellow mode). "I Got a Name" is a good one of his too. Gone too soon.
Jim Croce is underrated. His music is simple, but he manages to tell a story even though he doesn't have a huge wall of sound like Beach Boys' legend Brian Wilson liked to use.
Stop with the underrated, those who listened understood
This was written while Jim Croce was in the military. According to an interview Croce actually said that this was written because he had seen a lot of friends get Dear John letters. So he decided to write this song as a reaction. He was still married to his wife at that time and stayed married until his untimely death in a plane crash. Such a beautifully written song and showed his amazing ability to tell a story! Great video brother as always!!
You would probably like his song “Don’t mess around with Jim” if you haven’t heard it yet.
Pretty sure he did it already
That was the first Croce song he did,
He’s done that already...always put Jamel’s name in search with the song name to see if he’s done it
He has reacted to Bad Bad Leeroy Brown, But he has not reacted to You don Mess around with Jim
Or New York’s not my home
Jim and Maury were so underrated. Listening to their music was like a painting come to life, and for a short while they were the greatest painters across the American music landscape. Photographs and Memories, Christmas Cards you sent to me....
You are so right. All guitar.
Thanks for mentioning Maury. His technique was insane and what he added to Jim’s songs cannot be overstated.
RIP Jim.. we'll never overcome the blow of your untimely death
yeah, his wife didn't even *SEE A DIME* . How bout that.
Such a beautiful, sad song .... RIP, Jim. Your fans still remember you.
I love Jim Croce. He always had a good story to tell. So sad that he passed away in a plane crash, right when he was on a roll. Rest in peace.
There's no telling how HUGE of a star he would have been if he hadn't died.
It took him something like 15 years of hard work to become an overnight success and then it was gone before he could really enjoy it
@@daveingrey2615 The irony is that he *wasn't* really enjoying it; according to a letter he wrote home to his wife (which she received a couple of days after the crash), he'd pretty much decided he didn't want to continue with a career in music anymore because he was homesick from being on the road and away from his family all the time, and was uncomfortable with all of the public attention. So even if he had lived, there's no telling how things could have gone; he might have changed his mind and gone on to greater things -- or, he might well have just retired from public view entirely and faded away. :-(
Jim Croce can make you cry in one song, make you laugh in the next one and then make you feel good about your life. The best damn folk singer, that ever lived.
i love the part where he just got the number from the operator but he has to ask for it again because "there's something in my eye", his tears. his tears smudged the numbers on the paper!! 😭😭
The song reflects a man simply wanting to talk with someone, ANYONE during a time when he feels totally alone and betrayed.
If there is anything remotely human within your emotional makeup, I think you can relate to this song.
I think I remember an interview with his lovely wife saying this was about our soldiers coming home from Vietnam and their girls had moved on. 😔 It happened all over when those men came home. 🇺🇸
He was a master storyteller. You feel what the characters are feeling in his songs.
Read the lyrics again - when he says "I cant read the number you just gave me, somethings in my eyes, you know it happens every time" the ink is running because of his tears.
This guy could really write a song from the heart..."Cause I can't read the number that you just gave me. There's something in my eyes..." Thems tears brother. Something we all know from time to time
My second favorite Croce. I've Got a Name is number one.
Time in a Bottle is tops with me tho
@@stantheman9072 that's my number three and Lover's Cross is four.
"Had To Say I Love You In A Song" is another Great song....!
I wrote the Lyrics to that song down and mailed it to my High School Crush. She was flattered but that’s as far it got. 😢 That was back in 1974. She married someone else. We chat on Facebook…
Jim Croce left this world to soon. I love the line " I only wish my words could convince myself that it just wasn't real". Thanks for having a positive channel that keeps good music alive.
Glad you like the song Jamel....it's always been one of my favorites!
Jim wrote this in 1972 and died the following year.
Its a shame he never got to see the impact it would go on to have.
RIP Jim Croce...one of the greatest singer/songwriters ever!
"Workin at the car wash blues." Classic Croce
Relatively speaking, Al
@@anthonygaby6617 forgot about that one
“I’ll have to say I love you ina song” is another beautiful tune.
There was something about the '70s that produced so many incredible singer-songwriters.
Jim Croce said he came up with the idea for this song while waiting to use the phone while he was in the military. Guys would be on the phone talking to their girls who had broken up with them and they were distraught. Brilliant piece of writing like much of his work. A big shout out to Maury (his guitarist and musical genius) who helped him put so many of these songs together. They were best friends and they were selfless and modest people. It was a sad day in the world when those two died in that plane crash.
Shut up....I'm not crying *Sniff* you're crying!
To me this song is about missing a love, or an old friend you've lost touch with, and missing them so much, and not being able to tell them . . . and then trying to convince yourself your heart doesn't have a hole ripped in it, but knowing that it does, and also not wanting to change that fact of that hole in your heart, because the love/friendship was so true and real. So you know you must go on. And yeah . . . this song makes me CRY! In the best way
...been crying for 17 years now...she left me for LA, too...
@@meyerweinstock9567 Damn, man, I'm sorry. I do know how that goes. I hope love finds you again
One of the saddest songs ever written because we've all been there before
James Taylor is another Amazing rabbit hole....!
Definitely. He didn't write "Fire and Rain" or "You've got a Friend" but his take on those songs is beautiful. "Carolina in My Mind," "Country Road (single version)m" and "Shower the People" are excellent James Taylor originals.
This song and “I Got a Name” are two of my favorite Croce songs. Listening to Jim Croce always makes my eyes tear and I get a lump in my throat. The man was one of the most talented songwriters ever. Thanks for the reaction, Brother. 🔥
Jim Croce has a way of ripping your heart out with his songs. What a great talent. RIP, indeed.
I love this song, but it makes me cry about every time I hear it. He was so gifted...
“Don’t mess around with Jim”
One of my all time favorite songs. And bad bad Leroy Brown. ❤️
At least he has 2 songs I can listen to and not cry
1 of my most favorite songs of all time! Jim Croce was a wizard at enunciating emotions that are hard to talk about. An amazing &, somewhat, unsung talent.
This song came out when I was 7. It made me sad and I didn't even know what a break up was.
Oh this makes me so sad. My favorite Jim Croce song. He was killed in a plane crash. I was in high school at the time. My mother heard it on the radio. She was outside in the garden when I came home from school and she told me. I sat right down on the driveway and bawled my eyes out, it just broke my heart. So many just loved this man and his music! Thank you for reviewing this song!
Most gut punching line of the song to me: "There's something in my eyes, you know it happens every time, I think about the love that I thought would save me..." TEARS
Music from the 50's, 60's & 70's made you FEEL, I ALWAYS tear up to Jim Croce & soooo many bands/groups from back in my days!!
"You can keep the dime", that line gets me every time.
I love every song by Jim Croce. Listen to Lovers Cross or Age. There’s a story in every song.
you're right...every tune from photographs and memories was perfection
Jim Croce was another one of those singers who was great at telling a story in a 3-minute song.
Haunting vocals, lyrics and instrumentals, as in so many Simon and Garfunkel songs. There's something in my eyes, you know it happens every time.
I love his album, Photographs and Memories. Beautiful music and personal growth happen after pain. It takes something big and disruptful to make us look for answers inside.
Croce, another one of the many Minstrels from my youth... Buffet, Chapin, Dillan, Stevens, Taylor.... now I'm soaring 50 years back in time again. Glad it's Friday afternoon.
Old enough here to remember when you could actually go to a "pay phone" for a dime. That was the time before everyone was connected to a cell phone.
Yes, Do you also remember rotary phones? When I was very young, we had what was called "party lines" where neighbors would share one telephone line and we all had to take turns placing a call. LOL. Boy, have we come a long way.
@@dunhill1 Though I never lived in a house that had a party line, I had a couple of aunts and uncles that were in very rural areas that had them.
😂
Congratulations, Jamel! You have completed the telephone heartbreak trifecta. First "Telephone Line", then "Sylvia's Mother", and now finishing off with "Operator". Talking on the phone, calling people up, used to be such a big part in our lives...a lost era..
This song made me determined to learn how to play guitar and to have a love that hurt this much.
Did both. No regrets.
I remember watching “The Midnight Special” and “Don Kurchner’s” and Jim telling stories about his various vocations. Those experiences came through in his writing.
I have always loved Jim Croce. Such a wonderful storyteller.
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operator_(That%27s_Not_the_Way_It_Feels)
Jim wrote so many songs so fast that he could say just about anything he wanted, so great...
Classic Croce and one of my favorite songs. Letting go of a relationship is hard enough, but even harder when you're not there physically, but are still there mentally and emotionally.
Man, you made me analyze these lyrics. I never have before, but I think you’re correct.
"New York is not my home"- is another great Jim Croce song.
Jamal, it's an evocative song even without knowing entirely what he is saying: loss, mourning, heartbreak all come through so clearly. Thanks for sharing your response! I love how expressive you are in your videos and you are usually right on with the sentiments that I feel as well. I find this a nice place to connect that way.
I grew up listening to this album on 8-track on my dad’s giant old stereo system. I loved Jim Croce and my little heart broke when he died in that plane crash. He was an amazing talent.
Just a beautiful song. I'm also partial to one of his more 'fun' songs - Roller Derby Queen
Which was based on a true story as well...
So many wonderful characters in his catalog!! I love him!!
So love Jim Croce, I was so sad when he died
So glad the music of the 70's is what raised me. It still raises me today!
Jim Croce was a friend in my head .Growing up in the inner city his music helped me escape so much pain
You made me smile cause I always called him Brother Jim .I miss him so much
I saw this notifcation and stopped everythign to see you react to this heartbreakingly beautiful song.
Please React to You don't mess around with Jim next, a little humor to balance out this beautiful song.
Oh, how we loved Jim Croce and his music. His untimely death was a huge blow.... The song itself doesn't specify him being in the military, just that his best friend and girlfriend betrayed him, and that he's on a pay phone calling from a distance It's interesting that because of your own experience being far away in the military, that's how you heard it. That's one of the things about great music: we relate to it from where we're at, and it moves us. So interesting that younger generations may not understand the line, "You can keep the dime," because they've never used a pay phone and probably can't imagine that it could only cost a 10 cents to make a call. Or that back in the day, we could talk to an operator.
I have heard that he got the idea of this song from when he was in the Army and seeing guys getting news like that on the pay phone at the base
You can’t beat these old songs and Croce left us way too soon-love all his songs❤️
Such a loss. He was only 30 when his plane clipped a tree upon takeoff and Jim along with everyone else died. Jim could absolutely break your heart, or deliver some swampy bluesy rock. Photographs and Memories, Time in a Bottle, Rapid Roy, Lovers Cross, Bad Bad Leroy Brown, I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song.
His best friend took his woman. Tells himself he’s ok, but he’s not. Crying that he cannot read what he wrote.
That reminds me of a Shel Silverstein song, "The Winner.": czcams.com/video/JRWlnv0_svU/video.html Who does a better version, Bobby Bare or Kris Kristofferson?
He probably rubbed the number off because he wanted to call for so long.
This was the first song I ever heard of Jim Croce. And has been a life long fan ever since. He just keep getting better, then died in that plane crash, what a lose! He died a month after having his first number 1 in August 73 with" Bad bad Leroy Brown." And died in Sept 73. His second number 1 was " Time in a bottle", which was the last week of 73 and first week of 74.
One of my favorite songs of all time! I’m learning it on guitar right now! I love how it tells a story: “I think I’ll call my old flame, show her I’m doing all right...Uh-oh, I’m crying again...Aw screw it, I don’t want to talk to her!”
One of my all time favorite sad songs. I remember being a teen and just being torn apart by how sad this was. Love these songs.
Jim Croce was one of the great storytellers.
He was indeed. That's one beautiful soul.
"She's living in L. A. with my best old ex-friend Ray"... JIm's character didn't go away, his girl ran off with his best friend.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operator_(That%27s_Not_the_Way_It_Feels)
“A long time ago”, Jim Croce’s MOST underrated song.
I've always loved this song. It's so sad but in a beautiful way. He's trying to show strength thru the pain of it and act like he's fine when he's not. What an amazing song!
His best old ex-friend Ray took off with his woman.
Best friend for LIFE...
Took his cheating. Unfaithful girl AWAY.... I'd buy him a beer. 🍻 and DINNER😀👍👩👋👋✌
“I Got A Name” is another great Croce song.
I Got A Name is one of the best road trip songs in history. Can sing it over and over again. Never gets old.
A guitar, a voice, love, pain and longing. It's what makes great, long lasting music... :) I always took this song as being the singer (Jim), lonely, dropping a dime at a phone booth to call the woman he loved but lost to his 'best, old, ex-friend Ray'. All he has is a matchbook with her number on it, faded, so asks the Operator to find it (the new number for him. She does, but he can't read the number she just gave him. It happens every time, something in his eyes (tears, we can assume), so he changes his mind... because there's no one there he really wanted to talk to... Damn! :) Not sure where you got the military connection... unless it was the line about 'overcome the blow'. I always took that to mean the blow of her leaving him for his best friend. I've been hoping you'd do this reaction for a long time... Thank You! And so glad you enjoyed it! :)---(: 'Photographs and Memories', the Album and the title song is amazing too. I often lament what more Jim Croce (Krow'-shay) could have given us all!