Homeless Persons' Memorial Day Top 100 Songs
Song #43
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Jim Croce
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with songwriter and guitarist Maury Muehleisen, his fortunes turned in the early 1970s. His breakthrough came in 1972; his third album You Don't Mess Around with Jim produced three charting singles, including "Time in a Bottle", which reached No. 1 after his death. The follow-up album, Life and Times contained the song "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown", which was the only No. 1 hit he had during his lifetime.
In 1972, Croce signed a three-record contract with ABC Records, releasing two albums, You Don't Mess Around with Jim and Life and Times. The singles "You Don't Mess Around with Jim", "Operator (That's Not the Way It Feels)" and "Time in a Bottle" all received airplay. Also that year, the Croce family moved to San Diego, California. Croce began appearing on television, including his national debut on American Bandstand on August 12, The Tonight Show on August 14 and The Dick Cavett Show on September 20 and 21.
The day before the lead single to his fifth album, I Got a Name, was released, Croce, along with five others, were killed in a plane crash, at the height of his popularity. Croce's music continued to chart throughout the 1970s following his death. His wife, Ingrid Croce, was his early songwriting partner and she continued to write and record after his death, and his son A. J. Croce himself became a singer-songwriter in the 1990s.
"Box #10" appears on his third album, You Don't Mess Around With Jim. The record spent 93 weeks on the charts, longer than any other Jim Croce album. Due to the strong performance of the posthumous single release "Time in a Bottle" (#1 pop, #1 AC), You Don't Mess Around with Jim was the best selling album in the U.S. for five weeks in early 1974. In 1990, Croce was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
In 1972, Croce signed a three-record contract with ABC Records, releasing two albums, You Don't Mess Around with Jim and Life and Times. The singles "You Don't Mess Around with Jim", "Operator (That's Not the Way It Feels)" and "Time in a Bottle" all received airplay. Also that year, the Croce family moved to San Diego, California. Croce began appearing on television, including his national debut on American Bandstand on August 12, The Tonight Show on August 14 and The Dick Cavett Show on September 20 and 21.
The day before the lead single to his fifth album, I Got a Name, was released, Croce, along with five others, were killed in a plane crash, at the height of his popularity. Croce's music continued to chart throughout the 1970s following his death. His wife, Ingrid Croce, was his early songwriting partner and she continued to write and record after his death, and his son A. J. Croce himself became a singer-songwriter in the 1990s.
"Box #10" appears on his third album, You Don't Mess Around With Jim. The record spent 93 weeks on the charts, longer than any other Jim Croce album. Due to the strong performance of the posthumous single release "Time in a Bottle" (#1 pop, #1 AC), You Don't Mess Around with Jim was the best selling album in the U.S. for five weeks in early 1974. In 1990, Croce was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
"Box #10"
Lyrics
Well, out of Southern Illinois come a down home country boy
He's gonna make it in the city playin' guitar in the studio
Oh well, he hadn't been there an hour, when he met a Broadway flower
You know she took him for his money and she left him in a cheap hotel
Oh well, it's easy for you to see that that country boy is me
Say and how am I ever gonna break the news to the folks back home?
Well, I was gonna be a great success
Things sure ended up a mess
But in the process I got messed up, too
Hello Mama and Dad, I had to call collect
'Cause I ain't got a cent to my name
Well I'm sleepin' in the hotel doorway
And tonight they say it's gonna rain
And if you'd only send me some money
I'll be back on my feet again
Send it in care of the Sunday Mission
Box number ten
Well, back in Southern Illinois they're still worryin' 'bout their boy
But this boy's goin' home soon's he gets the fare
Because as soon as I got my bread
I got a pipe upside my head
You know they left me in an alley
Took my money and my guitar, too
Hello Mama and Dad, I had to call collect
'Cause I ain't got a cent to my name
Well I'm sleepin' in the hotel doorway
And tonight they say it's gonna rain
And if you'd only send me some money
I'll be back on my feet again
Send it in care of the Sunday Mission
Box number ten
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