Over the years, fans and friends have written to me about Jim Croce and how he has touched their lives. It is always a wonderful feeling to know that Jim’s music and memories continue to inspire others. The letters, photos and musical tributes that people have shared with us have helped to keep Jim’s spirit and music alive.
If you feel moved to write about how Jim has touched your life we’d love to hear your story. Please email us here.
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Canada
Dear Ingrid,
I'm not usually given to writing fan mail, or any kind of mail, but I've just got to make an exception...I've been a lifelong fan of Jim's music all my whole entire life, and I didn't even know it. It wasn't until the internet came along that I've been able to find out where some of my favourite songs came from. And then I was pleasantly surprised, stunned even, to realise that several of my favourite songs of all time were by one artist - Jim. Since the late 70s I used to listen to the radio all the time as a kid, and there were always those few eloquently beautiful songs that you knew from the first time you could never forget. Songs that didn't need the test of time for you to know that they'd live forever in your heart.The thing that prompted me to send you this message is a comment that someone posted about how Time in a Bottle reminds him of his baby son who died of cancer, and being a father of two small boys myself made me react in a way I'd never have appreciated before becoming a parent.
Then I started reading Jim's biography and yours and his story, and I can hardly grasp how much more depth there is behind everything that occurred in your life and his.Have to Say I Love You with a Song and I've Got a Name, among others, are some of those songs that bring me back in time, and remind me now how much I love my sons. I'm so grateful that I know now who performed those songs and I can finally, finally! buy a CD with the whole songs on them, instead of waiting for the songs to come on halfway through on the radio, and then be left wondering who sang them.Someday I'm going to make it to your restaurant in San Diego and treat my wife and kids, and myself, to a piece of personal history.Thanks for keeping alive some of the most beautiful music ever.
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Connecticut
Hi Ingrid,
I heard the interview you did with Chris Ryan yesterday, I just had to contact you. At the end he was telling you of a friend who sat at Jim's feet. I am that friend Renee. I met Jim and Maury on April 1, 1972 at WPOP, it was an April fools day joke. Being curious I showed up and to my suprise Tony Orlando, Harry, Chapin, the Buoys and the beloved Jim Croce were there. A friend who worked at the station took me into the small studio and sat me right in front of Jim's chair and told me not to move. A few minutes later Jim and Maury came in and sat down right in front of me. Jim told his wonderful stories, told us why he put his cigaretts in his t-shirt sleeve, and sang with perfection. I was so close to him I could touch his knees. Maury and Jim signed my autograph book, I cherish those with all my heart someday they will be passed on to Chris. I have worked in radio and meet many famous people. Ingrid none ever touched me and meant so much to me as Jim. What a gracious fun man he was. I am thank full to have been able to be so close to him and to talk to him. He inspired me, touched my soul and heart. I will always remember and love him for what he did for me, just letting a young sixteen girl sit at his feet and enjoy her favorite entertainer. I still tear up. Ingrid if you are ever in Connecticut please feel free to come to my home and visit, you are always welcome. It would be an honor and pleasure to meet you. I will be back to order your cookbook and the new DVD of Jim's. I have all his albums. Take care you are a lovely lady. You and Jim must have made a wonderful couple. Tell AJ, I say hello. A friend in CT.
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South Dakota
To All,
I just want to thank you for allowing Homespun Tapes and Pete Huttlinger to create a lesson DVD on Jim Croce's music. I have purchased this lesson and I am very pleased with how it turned out. I am having a wonderful time learning the songs presented on the DVD and I will no doubt be playing them for friends and family in the very near future. I've always wondered how someone could create such timeless music? I may never have that answered, but at least I can play some of that music now. I hope that Pete Huttlinger will be able to produce more of Jim's music in the future. He is a great instructor and Homespun Tapes is a great resource.
I have always been interested in how much collaboration there was between Jim and his side man - Maury Muehleisen. I realize that many questions can't be answered, but information on their relationship would be valuable to all of us that love this music.
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South Dakota
Hello Ingrid,
I wrote to you several years ago and you answered. I was so pleased. I still have that email even though my computers have crashed a number of times since. I made it a personal quest to retrieve that wonderful connection between a hero and me that you made complete.
I am writing again to let you know that my son (who is 19) loves Jim's music. He has a very eclectic taste and I like a lot of what he likes these days. He is going to college in Omaha, NE which is a Mecca for independent music. He believes he is in heaven. As I zero in on 50 years old, I realize what Jim has missed and what he has, would have wrote about if he had lived any longer. I know that he had a full life that had love in it, but tragedy has a way of severing the most promising from us.
Even though he is gone, his legacy lives on in me, my son and I imagine his children too. That's impact. That's worthwhile.
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California
Hello:
I was just on your website and I read a letter that somebody wrote and it said that it seems like Jim wrote the songs for everybody. That is true. No matter what kind of mood I am in, I can find a song that goes with it. I am 20 years old and all my friends think I am crazy for listening to music that is so old. But what do they know? I love it! Out of the 450 songs on my iPod, I really only listen to Jim's "Greatest Hits" album! I just moved to San Francisco, California from a small town in Washington State and right now, "New York's Not My Home" is the "theme song" to my life. I just wanted to say thank you!
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California
Hello Ingrid,
Where to begin? I guess you could say I'm a true lifelong fan of Jim's music. My mother was born and raised in Glendale, CA. And had me when she was very young. I'm almost 35 now and I can remember growing up with Jim's music always being there.
Some remember different time periods in their lives by the events that surrounded those times. I remember those times by the music that was important to me in my life, and that would be Jim's music. He was a remarkable, poetic, and truly gifted person who touched not only my life, but countless others. Although I never personally knew him I felt like he was always singing just for me.
As a young boy in Southern California, I can remember singing his songs while riding my bike. Skinned knees from playing too hard, hair blowing, and sun beginning to set, I would ride home from my friend's house. Now, almost 24 years later, I look out the window of my car and see the same sun, feel the same breeze, and find that I'm still singing along with Jim. His music is always close to me but isntead of LP's (my mother has those) I have his music on CD. I know his music will remain with me for as long as I'm around.
I would love to visit your restaurant one day!
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Tennesse
Hello Mrs. Ingrid Croce,
I was delighted to find out that Jim's dreams and music are kept alive through you and all that you have done. I, just at this moment finished reading all of the website about your husband, Jim Croce, and I was moved to write this story to you.
I was born in Lebanon, Tennessee in 1958, September. My dad was a pipeline welder and my mom was a hairdresser at a salon. They divorced in the early 60s. I think I was around 5 or 6 years old. My grandmother took care of me alot. You know sometimes you have to grow up fast to survive, which was the case with me. When I turned 11, I started working at night waxing and striping department store floors, walking home in soggy old shoes. Well, by the time I reached the age of 13, I felt I was old enough to get a place of my own. I had a job at an Italian restaurant called Pasqually's at $1.10 an hour as a cook.
Well, I never forgot the look on the ladies face that owned the boarding house when I told her that I wanted to rent the room she advertised. She said how old are you son? I said old enough to work and pay my own way. She was nice enough to rent me the place for $100 a month. This place looked a lot different at night. I have to say the first night was a bit scary.
All I had was an old cassette player and I went to the drugstore and bought my first tape. It was Jim Croce, with "Time in a Bottle", "Operator", and some other songs. So every night I would play this tape, it would take me to some place that I wanted to be not where I had to be. I am 46 now and I often say to my wife, "if I could put time in a bottle, the first thing that I'd like to do, is to save every day till eternity passes away, and then I'd spend them with you." Well, she always wondered where I got that from and tonight we were cleaning some things out of her mom's closet and in a box with some very old jazz records was a 45 of "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown", flipside, "One Less Set of Footsteps". So I looked at my wife and said "if I could put time in a", and she said why are you singing that tune again, to which I held up the record and said honey this is the man, this is the one who wrote that song. Well, Mrs. Croce, I hope that this has shed a little good light in your life because Jim Croce will always bring good memories and light into mine.
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Hi there,
Wow, I cannot believe this, I am scheduled to come to San Diego on a business trip and found out your restaurant was there!! Awesome.
Here's my story, just a regular guy and girl meet in the spring of 1980. He's from the other side of the planet, she, a small town girl from upstate NY just traveling the country basically, settled a bit in San Antonio, TX. Girl meets boy at roommates friend's party and guess what, love at first sight. Both enjoy Jim Croce music, Boston, Kansas, Doobie Brothers, James Taylor, Little River Band, CCR...etc. Wow, girl can't believe it. How can he know all these songs, feel the soul and spirit she feels in the song, love OMNI magazine, and he cooks too!!! Well, we were married on October 27, 1980 and spent many nights these years singing "Time in a Bottle", (sometimes in bubble baths...LOL), "Ive Got a Name," "You Don't Mess Around with Jim," "Lover's Cross," "These Dreams," : New York's Not My Home," etc. Anyway, I digress. Throughout our life, we always play or sing the music, especially while I clean house, wash dishes. When family gets together, we always sing while my brother-in-law plays guitar. I always have to sing Jim Croce's "Lover's Cross" for sure.
Anyway, we are celebrating our 25th anniversary this year and Jim Croce's music really evokes our soul and spirit that we have together. We love the story you and he shared with us and the world.
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Hello Mrs. Croce,
My name is XXXX XXXX. I am 16 years old and have been playing the guitar for just over 2 years. When I first started playing I was into nothing but Zepplin, AC/DC all the real popular bands of the 70s. I was on the way home from school one day and I turned on the radio and heard "Operator". I said to my dad, who is this? He said, "Oh man, that's Jim Croce!" I asked him who he was and all about him. The next day I went to Best Buy and bought all the music I could find on him. I absolutely fell in love with his guitar playing, and his lyrics. He was a very good guitarist, songwriter, and person. From the DVD's that I have and just his music, you could tell he was a real character. I'm not kidding when I say this, every single song that that man wrote was magnificent. His chord progressions, fingerpicking - man, he was amazing!
Most bands write real good songs, then ones that you don't like so much, but I find myself liking all of Jim's songs! My dad was really into him when he was a kid and he passed it on to me. I have learned all of his songs, note for note and perform them at restaurants and other gigs that I have. I do my own stuff but I always, always do a Croce tune because there was just something about him. I don't know if it was his soothing voice, his jokes, his smile, the clothes he wore. I don't know why I love him so much. Recently I was in the car with my girlfriend and I always have my Jim Croce CD in and I'm singing along, and at first when she heard him she was like, you're weird. This is something that my mom or dad listens to. I was like this is music my dear. Wouldn't you know it? A few months later she knew all the words to "Operator", "Leroy Brown", "Photographs and Memories", she knows them all! I asked her, Oh I thought you didn't like this? She smiled and said shut up. I then asked her why do you like him? She said, "I don't know, there's just something about him, his voice, that I love". I just put on a big grin and kept driving. I think about it all the time, if Jim lived, he would of wrote so many more songs. Sometimes when I am playing some of his tunes I get real sad and wish he was still alive because I've been to some good concerts, Van Halen, Steve Vai, G3 concerts, Aerosmith, Kiss, but I would give all that up to see Jim play "Operator" or "Lover's Cross", "Time in a Bottle," any song by Jim. He was just an amazing man and an amazing musician. I hope you get to read this because you are a lucky girl to have married such a great man like Jim Croce.
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Kansas
It was 1972 and I was 15 and staying the summer with my estranged mother who was newly remarried to a stepfather I couldn't stand. Living out on the coon-dog ranch in central Kansas, there wasn't a whole lot to do but sweat in the heat while the "parents" worked. One Friday night, they talked me into going uptown to the pool hall with them. I played a couple of games, and then "Leroy Brown" started playing on the jukebox just as I set eyes on the most beautiful girl. Her name was Jody and when it came to love at first sight, I was now a believer! We talked, played pool and drank a few sodas, and then I walked her home. My first real kiss still lingers on my lips as I think back to that summer, and everytime I hear "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown," it takes me back to my first love.
I miss Jim still - he was gone way too son.
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Indiana
Ingrid,
As I was flipping through the channels tonight, I came across "The Legacy of Jim Croce" on PBS (from 2004), and it inspired me to write you. I pointed out to my daughers the face behind the songs I've played for them through the years. (In the car, we've always played "name the singer" on the radio since they were little- they can recognize all the greats by their voice: Nat King Cole, Dean Martin, etc., and of course Jim Croce's unique voice was among them.) It was wonderful to finally see a "live" performance and to "meet" you and A.J. My wife and I were married in 1978 to "Time in a Bottle" (as I'm sure thousands if not millions of others!) We have Jim's albums, cassettes, and more recently, CD's, and I still hear him on the radio at least once a month. I did an Internet search to see if I could find an address to write you, and I came across the website. I see that I'm not alone in my admiration of your husband, but I still wanted to let you know what his songs have meant to us over the years.
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Hello,
What an awesome opportunity to be able to share my thoughts on Jim!!! For what it's worth, my name is XXX. I'm a musician, former butcher, and current stock car racer. I was attending U of P (Wharton Business School), when I heard of the plane crash. I cried for quite a while, as so much of his music reflected life in these here United States!!! I was also brought up on the southside of Chicago and worked in the Chicago Stockyards at a large hog killing plant. Also, one of my first stock cars that I raced outside of Chicago was a '64 Mercury Monteray, which happens to rhyme with the '57 Chevrolet mentioned in "Rapid Roy." At the time of my grieving for the loss of Jim, I wrote a poem, which I haven't been able to find for quite some time, but I'll resume searching for it, now that I know of the existence of this site.
Thanks again for the time of recalling fond memories of Jim Croce!!!
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Cleveland, Ohio
Several of us at Cleveland State University Cleveland - Marshall College of Law would like to circulate a petition as a show of interest in jim Croce being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. We know that an anonymous committee actually makes the nominations, but we want them to know how many of us feel this is an honor long overdue. I know that there was such a drive before 2000. Does anyone with Croce's have any thoughts to share about this effort? Thank you very much.
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I don't know that you can get a note to Ingrid, but I just wanted to say that after returning home from my third tour in Iraq, I lost my left leg and have just returned home from Walter Reed Hospital, learning to walk again, and Jim's music was a great inspiration for the many "low" points in my recovery. They were a great way to escape from what I was going through at the time. I also "discovered" A.J.'s music which I have become a great fan of. In short order, deepest thanks to you and your family, and Jim will remain in my prayers as I feel it's the least I can do for all that he did for me without every knowing me.
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I was in the Navy, driving to Seattle one Saturday in 1973 when I heard the awful news. Well, its been over 30 years, and after I wore out my Jim Croce tapes, I bought them on CD. I often pop in a Croce CD as I spend a lot of time on the road. Jim and Maury were pure musical synergy. They inspired me to move beyond strumming the guitar and begin fingerpicking, and man, am I glad for that inspiration. I really honed my fingerpicking skills on Croce songs, they're so beautiful and intricate. Someday I'd love to buy a Martin - Jim Croce Commemorative guitar, if I ever get a Martin, this will be the one. Blessings to Ingrid and A.J.
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I am not sure I have the most inspirational story, but I thought that maybe it would be comforting to hear that Jim's music lives on past the generations that he directly touched. This week I have really been thinking a lot about the impact that he has had on me personally. Althought I am just a sophomore in college, his music has meant a lot to me, and my family. Last summer I went on a road trip with my entire family, (a great accomplishment). We don't agree on much, especially music, but all it took was for my brother to put in "Box #10" for us to realize that it would be a completely Jim Croce focused road trip. Music that literally brings people together is more than inspirational, it's legendary. He will always be special to my family, and no doubt one day my children will be listening to his music as well.
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Malverne, NY
Jim Croce’s timeless presence and spirit is undying and with us everyday. His legendary songs from back in the early 70’s have helped to form and define my young childhood. Having come from a divorced home, I was five years old and feeling the vulnerability and insecurity of not having my father at home anymore. It served as a very confusing and scary time for a little boy of five. My father never let me feel abandoned or alone and had eased me into the adjustment of divorce as a great weekend dad. Weekends were ‘our time’ to bond and grow our love together. Various times and weekends from very late 1971, 1972, 1973, etc., my dad would pick me and my younger sister up at the house on the north shore of Nassau county and sport us around in his brown ’69 Buick Skylark Coupe to his place on the south shore of Nassau county. During all of those weekends bonding with dad, Jim Croce’s tunes were flooding the airwaves and topping the charts with timeless greats such as:
“Time in a Bottle” (71), “Photographs and Memories” (71), “It Doesn’t Have to be That Way” (72), “I Got a Name” (72/73), “You Don’t Mess Around With Jim” (72), “Bad Leroy Brown” (73), “I’ll Have to Say I Love You in a Song” (72), “Operator” (72) – just to name a few. I love Jim for the magical music and fond memories from my early years and his spirit will live on strongly with us eternally. That tragic plane crash in 1973 had taken a gem from us, but Jim is smiling down on all of those who love him and his miraculous music.
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Manchester, UK
Just a short note to let you know how I became a fan of Jim Croce. I was about ten years old living in England in the mid 70’s when my dad played Jim’s records constantly. I kept telling him to “change the music,” which he did – Demis Rousos? Over the years, Jim’s enchanting music gripped me and I was hooked for life. My favorite song “Lovers Cross” is a gem and I listen to it most days. Thank God for Jim and love to all his family.
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Canada
I know you must get hundreds of e-mails praising Jim’s music and songwriting, but I just had to write. I was only one when Jim had his accident, but I grew up listening to Jim and I never have let his musuc go. I am thirty-three now, and I love him more than ever. His music is timeless. There are so many artists out there that come and go, but Jim and his music will live forever. His music reminds me of my wonderfully happy childhood, and my dad playing Jim’s records in our living room. His music actually warms my heart. Thank you Adrian for having such a cool dad, and Ingrid, you must have been so important to Jim and his music. Thanks. I hope you are all well.
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South Carolina
I really don’t have a “stop you in your tracks” memory of how Jim’s music became part of my life. Born in 1962, youngest of six, with all the hand-me-downs from five older brothers and sisters there was not much that I ever got to have all to myself. But his music was one of those things and was so much a part of my teen years. Traveling around was much of my life due to my dad being in the Navy. We moved every year or two, and having to be the new kid every time I attended a new school was truly hard for a shy girl. So many times I would put his music on and be comforted. It was like he made your inner most feelings come to life without any effort, he really understood that hard or painful thing you’d be going through. I sought to collect all of the albums Jim ever made. After thinking I had them all, I wrote LIFESONG a letter asking if they could tell me the names of all his albums. To my surprise, I not only got a letter back, but they sent me a record, “The faces I’ve Been”, for they said that it would be hard to get any other way. These albums are still part of my treasures and even my children know because when VH1 did the feature on Jim, my kids were the ones that made sure I knew about it. And I met A.J. a few years ago. He came through Greenville, South Carolina around the 4th of July on his tour. It was nice to meet that adorable kid on the album sleeve. Thank you for letting the fans be and stay a part of your special lives and knowing how much Jim’s music was and it still a part of our lives.
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Hello!
Today I bought the 50th anniversary collection and was delighted to read about Croce’s in San Diego. What a wonderful way to honor the memory, talent, and music of Jim.
While I usually lie about my age, now I will tell you the truth. I am thirty-eight years old and some of my first music memories are of “Time in a Bottle” and “LeRoy Brown”. My dad used to sing “LeRoy Brown” as he shaved in the morning. Many of your (Ingrid+Jim) songs are woven into my existence. NYC is my adopted home…I remember hearing that song “NYC is Not My Home” while I was in Rio de Janeiro two years ago, broke and confused, and it touched my soul the way your (Ingrid+Jim) songs do. I felt like someone understood and that made it better.
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South Australia
Hi! I think I was about eighteen years old when on my way home I was moved to an emotion I never really believed I had in me as a resuly of Jim’s music. You see here, in Australia in the 1970’s, we never got to hear much American music until it was at least a year old. Thank goodness for Cassy’s top 40 radio program every Saturday night. I remember driving home along the road when the song “I Got a Name” graced my ears. That’s that time I fell madly in love with Jim’s storytelling music. At the end of this song I was told by the D.J. that the late Jim Croce dies this week in a plane crash! Nothing could pull me up from this hole my heart fell in. In the early 80’s I was able to buy a CD of his greatest hits . This replaced my vinyl record. Needless to say, this is number one in my collection. Just this week I was able to buy the DVD, once again living down under it was released in 2003. It has taken three long years to see my greatest friend on television. Have I been born again with Jim, Ingrid, and A.J.? Yes I have, for this love of his family and music. Thanks Jim mate! I think rock and roll heaven is happy you’re on board. Thanks for the lifelong DVD!
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Hello Ingrid,
I would be truly honored if you would read my simple words.
As I am typing this letter, I am listening to your husband’s music. I have been playing his songs almost nonstop lately. They somehow seem to touch my soul.
I recently bought the DVD of yourself and Jim and I was simply blown away! I was so amazing watching your husband sing his songs, and I did not know that you are a terrific singer also. I was very impressed.
Anyway, I just wanted to say hello. Maybe sometime soon I will make it to your restaurant. I am sure you must receive letters like this all the time, but, if somehow you could acknowledge my message, that would be very kind of you.
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Chicago, Il
The memory I have of Mr. Croce. When I was a young boy I would love to take evening rides in the car with my mother. We would drive up and down Chicago Avenue with its old time streetlights and quiet neighborhoods. It was our escape from an alcoholic and abusive father. We would talk about having a quiet home in this neighborhood. Looking at the large Oak and Maple trees, people sitting on their front porches would wave as we drove by. The thing that brings me to this is every time I hear “Time in a Bottle.” As soon as I hear it, I automatically get bought back to that memory of my mother and I driving and sharing our dreams with each other. I love that song and it never fails to bring a smile to my face.
Thank you Jim... even though you are not with us, you continue to make a middle aged man happy and make him feel like an innocent boy again.
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Kansas
I don't even know where to begin. When I was a young boy, my father and I had a special relationship with music. We would sit and listen to old records and he would teach me a few chords on the guitar. One of the albums we would listen to was Time In A Bottle. Over and over and over again, I would sit and listen to those songs - night after night. Jim quickly became one of my heros. We would muddle our way through Rapid Roy and sing the verses out of order and the chorus more times than he did.
I am now the proud father of a 4 year-old who has been singing "Wapid Woy dat stock caa boy" since he was 2. He has his own guitar now and it won't hold a tune but he bangs on those guitar strings and sings. It always plants a big old lump in my throat so when I stop singing he doesn't even notice, he's so caught up in the moment of dancing and singing.
You know when someone asks you "if you could meet anybody in the world who would it be and what would you say to them?" I know the first half of that question but I'm not sure what I would say. I'm certain that it might come out very jibberish like though. So I will say this - words cannot express feelings that run deep in the hearts of so many people around the world. The people who have had Time In A Bottle sang at their wedding, or heard Photographs and Memories that you share with us.
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Georgia
Hi! My name is XXX XXX, and I'm writing to let you know that Jim's music continues over generations. Though I was not born until 1971, I have always listened to the music of the seventies. I grew up poor, and we didn't have a record player, and our radio only picked up country music. I would walk the couple of blocks to the library where they had a collection of records that you could listen to. So, while all my friends were listening to Culture Club and Michael Jackson, I was spending countless hours at the library listening to Jim Croce and Carole King. Jim's music got me through a difficult childhood, and would take me away from my problems and into the stories of his music. The other day, my nephew that is 15, came for a visit, and asked me who I was listening to. I replied it was Jim Croce. Of course he had no idea who that was, but told me that he really liked it. Later that day we were at the mall, and my nephew bought a Jim Croce CD. He said that he had to get his friends to hear it. I just thought you might like to hear this story, and to know that Jim is continuing on through generations. His music will never die.
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Just a few thoughts as I spend much time these days going back in time. I lost my husband last October. He was 59. Listening to the words and music of Jim has brought me a great deal of comfort. I graduated high school in 1968 and Jim Croce was my favorite and always will be. Time In A Bottle has really become meaningful to me. I was lucky as I appreciated all the time I had with my husband, even during the daily grind of just living. But Time In A Bottle always brings to light the need to appreciate our loved ones! Somehow Jim had the ability to say the words most people feel and then make the music to bring the words to life!
On the lighthearted side, my favorite is Working in the Car Wash Blues. The story he tells captures the dreams of anyone in a low level job that knows they can do better! And he says it with style!
My 12 year-old grandson has an interest in the guitar and is now taking lessons. I have told him he MUST come over and just listen to my Jim Croce CD. Of course, he doesn't understand at this point just what a talent this is, but I'm working on that!
I just wanted the family to know what a special place in my heart there has always been for Jim Croce. I was devestated when the news came of his death. Even though I was young, I recognized what the world had lost.
Thank you for having a place for me to say these words.
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North Carolina
I was about 14 when the first album came out and I became crazy about Jim's music; I was known all over my school as "The Fan of Jim Croce." I even convinced my skeptical parents, who had not long ago endured the likes of Alice Cooper blasting from my downstairs room, to listen to him and they still quote him sometimes and loved the music. I saw Jim in an auditorium concert in 1973 in Winston-Salem, NC, on what turned out to be exactly 6 months to the day before his death. I still have that ticket stub.
After the concert, my friends and I gravitated to the stage where he was shaking hands and chatting with the audience members. When he got to me, my mouth froze up and all I could do was shake his hand. I wanted to say so much about what his music meant to me.
Six months later, on that awful day, after waking up to the headline proclaiming Jim's and Maury's deaths, I made it to school, but not to my classes. I stood at a hall window or sat outside at a picnic table all day - reflecting. School staff left me alone, knowing why, and other students sometimes gave condolences like he was a family member. Jim Croce's music filled my life for several years and left a giant voide in it with his death that I still sometimes feel, along with the lump in my throat, that I got even upon finding this site. Thanks for letting me share.
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New Hampshire
I live up here in New Hampshire. I was born in 1959 and I couldn't have been more than a teenager when I first saw Jim on the "Midnight Special" and/or Don Kirshner's Rock Concert. Always on late Friday nights, I turned on one of the shows after "hoofing" it home from a high school dance wishing I could have wished that I was getting the girly attention like the guitar player in the band. Then there was Jim Croce on TV. I said to myself, wow this guy is good!
I don't remember any of the girls of that time making a fuss over Jim per se. For me personally, I was moved at a young tender age by Jim's music. "Operator" of course, has to be the signature, the quintessential Croce song. All these years later at the age of 47, I still feel the same emotions that I felt 30 plus years ago.
Like everybody else, I've suffered heartbreak, felt despair. Jim's music taught me to embrace all that, and find the splendor in the human condition. In the last 5 years or so, I am teaching myself to twang the guitar, and I am proud to say, and happy to inform you that the first song I can play from beginning to end without error is, "New York's Not My Home." I haven't quite mastered that little twangy fill part. Appropriate for a twanger, I suppose... It's by far my favorite Jim Croce song.
Well, I still miss him. He was and is a great guitarist, a great lyricist. I'm sure he's up there with all the greats we've lost. Thanks for letting me share my thoughts.
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