I was a young kid in Portsmouth,VA playing Foozball at a dive called Dottie's Place. I put a quarter in the jukebox and played this song. A guy sitting at the counter asked if I heard Jim Croce was killed in a plane crash. I still remember it like it was yesterday. RIP Mr. Croce.
"The Bowery's got its bums." Storyline takes place in NYC. The Bowery is a neighborhood and a street in Lower Manhattan. 42nd St. is a big-time cross town street that connects a lot of important NYC landmarks from the East River to the Hudson River on the West Side, where Hell's Kitchen is.
You almost have to wonder if these so-called "lyric videos" are driven by AI. "Bowery" might not be easily caught by younger people, but having "super man" as two separate words or "an old lone ranger" instead of "that old Lone Ranger", especially when given the cape and mask clues, just seems like someone who was raised by wolves and lives in a cave....
The "Jim" in this song is not Croce. Ingrid Croce, who was married to Jim when he died in a 1973 plane crash at age 30, told Songfacts the story: "Jim [Croce] sold air time for a radio station. When he got out of college, his parents wanted him to get a good 9-to-5 job. We had always intended to do music, but he'd had a college education and the first to graduate from his family with a college education, they wanted him to become a professional, to really do something that would get pension, and good solid work. So Jim went out, because we were married, and he got a job helping me to get through school at the time, and he started selling air time in a really shady area down in south and west Philadelphia. He used to go to some of these pool halls to sell the air time, because it wasn't a very good neighborhood. He would sit there and watch the pool games and see what people were doing, and he ended up with a guy named Jim Walker, who was one of the guys who used to play pool there. And that's really the story behind it: he used to hang out at any of those little shops down on South Street and down in west Philly where it really was quite unacceptable for him to be trying to sell air time down there, but it was one of those things where he was hoping someday he could actually bring his music to the radio, so he thought it might be a good way to get going as a salesman. Then later he met a guy whose name was Melvin Goldfield, and Melvin was an artist, and he grew up in areas like that. Melvin used to take him down to the dumps down in south Philadelphia and tell him about all kinds of stories that went on down there, and introduced him to a lot of the guys. Jim actually did run into this guy, Big Jim Walker, pool-shootin' son of a gun. And so that story really comes out of an experience that he kind of put the story together." Ingrid Croce added to Songfacts: "I think that often in Jim's songs there's a composite situation, but when he sat down to write, usually the song would come out altogether. There might be a verse that he'd add later, but usually he'd sit down and play. I've got hundreds of tapes of Jim performing - playing at home and the two of us singing, or just having friends over and singing, whether it was the Manhattan Transfer, James Taylor, Arlo Guthrie, Bonnie Raitt... people that just come over and we'd hang out and sing. It was very comfortable to just put everything down on tape back then. People weren't as worried about who wrote the song as they were about writing it." "You Don't Mess Around With Jim" was Croce's first single. After several years struggling for success and battling music industry politics, the song got the promotion it deserved when rep at ABC/Dunhill named Matty Singer visited radio stations in the Philadelphia area to promote the song. It got solid airplay and national attention, which was followed by lots of positive press for the album. You Don't Mess Around With Jim wasn't released until nine months after it had been recorded, so Croce and his musical partner Maury Muehleisen had perfected the songs in performance, earning rave reviews. (Songfacts.com)
Spent a lot of time on the road, hustling pool.. I was a good player.. Solid, got the $$$ when I was supposed to, and could outrun a bad game on occasion.. My partner was one the absolute best, a total savant who later turned pro and was the first player ever to win both the US Open 9-Ball and US Open One Pocket titles.. I could tell you stories.. lol..
Glad to see younger people discovering Jim Croce. One on the best storytelling singers ever. 11 year old me was quite upset when he passed away. My favorite Croce song is Speedball Tucker. Give it s listen. Love watching the 2 of you.
The missing word in the transcriber's lyrics was "Bowery", which is an area of New York with a skidrow reputation - hence the "Bowery's got its bums". The aphorisms, "You don't tug on Superman's cape", "You don't spit into the wind", and "You don't pull the mask off the ol' Lone Ranger" are perfect expressions of the picture Croce is painting of the "Jim" in the story. Jim Croce was a treasure. RIP.
@@leonardshevlin7260 I missed that, lol, but then these younguns don't know about the Bowery, how would they know about a decent pool cue ( I use a 20 weight myself with a 12mm Navigator Alpha tip , but I'm ret air force, what do we know lol )
@@howiedavis2316 My favorite Croce story song might be "Workin' at the Car Wash Blues" because the lyrics are so great, like Chuck Berry's. Workin at this indoor Niagara Falls is an undiscovered Howard Hughes!
@@leonardshevlin7260 THANK YOU SO MUCH ! I didn't think I knew it, so I looked it up, gave it a listen, and to my supprise, it was a bit recognisable . It came out in '73 or '74, so I would have been 8ish. But it did ring a memory bell. Thank you again, for taking me back to those innocent years.
When I was a kid about 7 driving at 4 in the morning to go crabbing with my dad.. This song would come on.. He explained what this song meant.. Miss my dad very much, and this reminds me of him. Thanks for posting
Crate reaction guys. Jim Croce had a lot of great music though. The singers and songwriters of the '70s are probably my favorite genre. So many great ones. Gordon lightfoot, James taylor, Carole king, Jim croce, Seals and Crofts, John Ford coley and England Dan, bread, america, John denver, Carly simon, I could go on for hours.
Hi Mom & Dad! Hope you had a great Thanksgiving and that everything is going great for you! You two are adorable and it always puts a smile on my face watching Lex enjoy & get into songs that she likes. ✌️ ☮️ ❤️🇱🇷
I watched an interview with Jim back in the 1970's which you can find here on RUclips. Jim was drafted into the Army during the Vietnam war. He wrote most of his music when he was in the Army.
My Mom had the album Photographs & Memories: His Greatest Hits, and I listened to it over and over in the 70's. This was always my favorite song, much as I love the others.
Jim Croce and Maury Muehleisen made so many great songs. My favourites are "Photographs And Memories", "Operator", and the all time classics "Time In A Bottle" and "I Got A Name" (you've probably heard the last two in some movies already)
Jim Croce "I'll Have To Say I Love You In A Song",, "Working At The Car Wash Blues",, "I've Got A Name",, "Lover's Cross",, "Photographs & Memories",, "Rapid Roy" & "New York's Not My Home"
Heard this song a thousand times, it was one of my Dad's favorites and yes his name was Jim too. I remember him playing this in the garage on an 8 track.
Songs like this bring out what we like to call "The Human Vibe" meaning 99% of people will tap their feet to this and 50% will be in time JK. You 2 are made for each other, God bless.
It's a derivative of New Orleans jazz, like Jelly Roll Morton and Louis Armstong. Some will call it "Stride" because the piano player would cover a lot of the keyboard.
A great song from the start of Jim's successful period. A story song - as so many of his are. The story is one that movies and music (esp Country music) do over and over again, in which the top dog or "the best" in some social group (often a gang) is replaced by someone else who turns out to be better. Often it's a strongman (as in this song) sometimes in a western movie its a gunslinger, in more modern movies it's perhaps a mafia boss or a drug lord or crime kingpin of some kind. But it's a story that recurs all the time - Jim used the same story theme again in his biggest hit "Bad Bad Leroy Brown" which he wrote and took to be a #1 hit in the US. Jim's rendering of the story (both times) is great though cos, it has humour to it and the music backing works on both songs really well. That missing word in the first line of the hopeless lyric video you used for this track is, I think "The Bowery got its bums".
And every time the original lyrics referred to The Lone Ranger, the person who did the lyric video referred to "an old lone ranger", instead of That ol' Lone Ranger, who helped popularize the tradition of the masked hero, as well as Zorro.
The word replaced in the first stanza with a question mark is supposed to be 'Bowery's.' As in, "the Bowery's got its bums." It use to be considered the rough part of the lower east side in New York.
I might’ve been the only person in existence to first hear this song in “Stranger Things” I just started watching stranger things this spring and when i first watched season 3 this was my song for a few weeks 😂
When he begins singing the line goes uptown got its hustlers and the Bowery has its bums referring to the area in New York called Bowery where there used to be a bunch of low life, some prostitutes and stuff like that. I don't see how the guy writing this video. Didn't know that. Good reaction. Love, Jim Croce
The musical term you are searching for to describe that finger-snappin' rhythm is a "strut"....a shuffle with accents on all 4 beats instead of just on beats 2 and 4. Another example is "Stray Cat Strut" by The Stray Cats.
My dad was 6'7" 250-300 pounds. If an average-sized guy tried to take dad down a peg, either physically or through put downs, dad would give back what he was served. People called him Big Jeff with respect.
This song gets everybody bopping! Jim was one of the best singer/songwriters this country's ever known. R.I.P. Jim.
You can't go wrong with any of Jim's music. It is all wonderful. He was taken way to early.
I was a young kid in Portsmouth,VA playing Foozball at a dive called Dottie's Place. I put a quarter in the jukebox and played this song. A guy sitting at the counter asked if I heard Jim Croce was killed in a plane crash. I still remember it like it was yesterday. RIP Mr. Croce.
My brother going to NSU attended the concert that faithful night and the plane crashed into a tree in our neighbors pecan orchard "Cane River Pecans"
I'm in Norfolk.
@@Jamie-lw5sy Hi neighbor
I spent many many hours on a Rene Pierre back in the day. Mostly in bars and parlors in Virginia Beach and Norfolk.
@@757optim Norfolk was Putt Putt Golf n Games. Va Beach was Flipper McCoys on Atlantic Ave. Those were the days
"The Bowery's got its bums."
Storyline takes place in NYC. The Bowery is a neighborhood and a street in Lower Manhattan. 42nd St. is a big-time cross town street that connects a lot of important NYC landmarks from the East River to the Hudson River on the West Side, where Hell's Kitchen is.
Great song facts - thanks!
You almost have to wonder if these so-called "lyric videos" are driven by AI. "Bowery" might not be easily caught by younger people, but having "super man" as two separate words or "an old lone ranger" instead of "that old Lone Ranger", especially when given the cape and mask clues, just seems like someone who was raised by wolves and lives in a cave....
@@HeavyTopspin If it was AI, the spelling would be correct.
Jim Croce was one helluva storyteller!
The "Jim" in this song is not Croce. Ingrid Croce, who was married to Jim when he died in a 1973 plane crash at age 30, told Songfacts the story: "Jim [Croce] sold air time for a radio station. When he got out of college, his parents wanted him to get a good 9-to-5 job. We had always intended to do music, but he'd had a college education and the first to graduate from his family with a college education, they wanted him to become a professional, to really do something that would get pension, and good solid work.
So Jim went out, because we were married, and he got a job helping me to get through school at the time, and he started selling air time in a really shady area down in south and west Philadelphia. He used to go to some of these pool halls to sell the air time, because it wasn't a very good neighborhood. He would sit there and watch the pool games and see what people were doing, and he ended up with a guy named Jim Walker, who was one of the guys who used to play pool there. And that's really the story behind it: he used to hang out at any of those little shops down on South Street and down in west Philly where it really was quite unacceptable for him to be trying to sell air time down there, but it was one of those things where he was hoping someday he could actually bring his music to the radio, so he thought it might be a good way to get going as a salesman.
Then later he met a guy whose name was Melvin Goldfield, and Melvin was an artist, and he grew up in areas like that. Melvin used to take him down to the dumps down in south Philadelphia and tell him about all kinds of stories that went on down there, and introduced him to a lot of the guys. Jim actually did run into this guy, Big Jim Walker, pool-shootin' son of a gun. And so that story really comes out of an experience that he kind of put the story together."
Ingrid Croce added to Songfacts: "I think that often in Jim's songs there's a composite situation, but when he sat down to write, usually the song would come out altogether. There might be a verse that he'd add later, but usually he'd sit down and play. I've got hundreds of tapes of Jim performing - playing at home and the two of us singing, or just having friends over and singing, whether it was the Manhattan Transfer, James Taylor, Arlo Guthrie, Bonnie Raitt... people that just come over and we'd hang out and sing. It was very comfortable to just put everything down on tape back then. People weren't as worried about who wrote the song as they were about writing it."
"You Don't Mess Around With Jim" was Croce's first single. After several years struggling for success and battling music industry politics, the song got the promotion it deserved when rep at ABC/Dunhill named Matty Singer visited radio stations in the Philadelphia area to promote the song. It got solid airplay and national attention, which was followed by lots of positive press for the album. You Don't Mess Around With Jim wasn't released until nine months after it had been recorded, so Croce and his musical partner Maury Muehleisen had perfected the songs in performance, earning rave reviews.
(Songfacts.com)
Thanks for sharing the backstory.
Of course the song isn't autobiographical. The third line in states the character's name as "Jim Walker"
Spent a lot of time on the road, hustling pool.. I was a good player.. Solid, got the $$$ when I was supposed to, and could outrun a bad game on occasion.. My partner was one the absolute best, a total savant who later turned pro and was the first player ever to win both the US Open 9-Ball and US Open One Pocket titles..
I could tell you stories.. lol..
It was over for Jim when he met Slim.
Lex said it all "Jim Croce's so Good".
I just have to say this. You guys are AWESOME!! I just love ya'll!!!!
Lex's enthusiasm is contagious... it's why I watch.
Glad to see younger people discovering Jim Croce. One on the best storytelling singers ever. 11 year old me was quite upset when he passed away. My favorite Croce song is Speedball Tucker. Give it s listen. Love watching the 2 of you.
The missing word in the transcriber's lyrics was "Bowery", which is an area of New York with a skidrow reputation - hence the "Bowery's got its bums". The aphorisms, "You don't tug on Superman's cape", "You don't spit into the wind", and "You don't pull the mask off the ol' Lone Ranger" are perfect expressions of the picture Croce is painting of the "Jim" in the story. Jim Croce was a treasure. RIP.
thanks, beat me to it lol 👍
The guy didn't even try to transcribe the lyrics about the custom-made two-piece pool cue.
@@leonardshevlin7260 I missed that, lol, but then these younguns don't know about the Bowery, how would they know about a decent pool cue ( I use a 20 weight myself with a 12mm Navigator Alpha tip , but I'm ret air force, what do we know lol )
@@howiedavis2316 My favorite Croce story song might be "Workin' at the Car Wash Blues" because the lyrics are so great, like Chuck Berry's.
Workin at this indoor Niagara Falls is an undiscovered Howard Hughes!
@@leonardshevlin7260 THANK YOU SO MUCH ! I didn't think I knew it, so I looked it up, gave it a listen, and to my supprise, it was a bit recognisable . It came out in '73 or '74, so I would have been 8ish. But it did ring a memory bell. Thank you again, for taking me back to those innocent years.
I totally dig this tune. Rock on Brad & Lex
Love him
Even with all the shifting tides in music had Jim Croce lived I still believe he'd be churning out hits.
So cool to watch Lex grooving that song, Jim was a genius and we lost him much too soon. But what he left us was a treasure chest of great songs.
When I was a kid about 7 driving at 4 in the morning to go crabbing with my dad.. This song would come on.. He explained what this song meant.. Miss my dad very much, and this reminds me of him. Thanks for posting
Lex's smile says it all.
The genre is Jim Croce.
Lex you are too cute. Your enthusiasm is so adorable
Love watching Lex get into a song :)
Crate reaction guys. Jim Croce had a lot of great music though. The singers and songwriters of the '70s are probably my favorite genre. So many great ones. Gordon lightfoot, James taylor, Carole king, Jim croce, Seals and Crofts, John Ford coley and England Dan, bread, america, John denver, Carly simon, I could go on for hours.
such a fun song! ♥
If you haven’t already you have to listen to more Jim Croce he’s a great storyteller operator is one of my favorites
I think I would call the genre Jim Croche 😆 🤣
Croce was a gem! ♥
It seems to me you lived your life like a candle in the wind, Jim. RIP
🤣🤣🤣
Yes, Jim Croce is so good.
Love Croce .
Hi Mom & Dad! Hope you had a great Thanksgiving and that everything is going great for you! You two are adorable and it always puts a smile on my face watching Lex enjoy & get into songs that she likes. ✌️ ☮️ ❤️🇱🇷
Folk music I think. Love Jim's music. Dad got me hooked as a kid. So many incredible stories!
First song I ever remember hearing my Dad play and sing on guitar
I watched an interview with Jim back in the 1970's which you can find here on RUclips. Jim was drafted into the Army during the Vietnam war. He wrote most of his music when he was in the Army.
Jim Croce was just a boss.
Brilliant choice Brad makes you feel happy and with Lex bopping along to the music, Fantastic.
Love Jim Croce!
Just took me back to a 70's pool hall ya'all!
Old jukebox favorite and a pride of Philly! Best listen is on 8 track in a beat up truck.
Lost wayyy to soon RIP Jim, need to get into his catalog so many good classics
I knew this would be a hit with you two
My Mom had the album Photographs & Memories: His Greatest Hits, and I listened to it over and over in the 70's. This was always my favorite song, much as I love the others.
RIP Jim!
Jim Croce and Maury Muehleisen made so many great songs. My favourites are "Photographs And Memories", "Operator", and the all time classics "Time In A Bottle" and "I Got A Name" (you've probably heard the last two in some movies already)
Jim Croce reactions?? F*ck yeah!
Lex's reactions are so much more real....
I love you guys checked that one out. Great song. Love re-listening to these songs; it's like the first time.
The word for this song is FUNKY!
Jim Croce "I'll Have To Say I Love You In A Song",, "Working At The Car Wash Blues",, "I've Got A Name",, "Lover's Cross",, "Photographs & Memories",, "Rapid Roy" & "New York's Not My Home"
Heard this song a thousand times, it was one of my Dad's favorites and yes his name was Jim too. I remember him playing this in the garage on an 8 track.
🙏🏽Thanks Jim🙏🏽
It is impossible to stay still listening to this song. It just makes ya wanna move.
You guys make my day better.
another song for the playlist. thanks
Great song and so much fun to listen to
Songs like this bring out what we like to call "The Human Vibe" meaning 99% of people will tap their feet to this and 50% will be in time JK. You 2 are made for each other, God bless.
Lex has a different move for each song you listen to, It makes one of the most entertaining reactions to music.
"Uptown got its hustlers, Bowery got its bums". Bowery is somewhere in NY, I think. I remember the phrase "Bowery Bums" as a kid.
Lex is so fun to watch, I mean Brad's cool too :P
Such a classic
Love when my fav reactors react to one of my fav songs. Caught me off guard. Never clicked so fast!
Great listening on the radio. You just had to listen, couldn't avoid it.
"Rapid Roy" - A Long Time Ago" - Roller Derby Queen" - "Working At The Car Wash Blues"
Like someone said below, ? in lyric video = The Bowery. Apparently, creator of lyric video never heard of The Lone Ranger either.
It's a derivative of New Orleans jazz, like Jelly Roll Morton and Louis Armstong. Some will call it "Stride" because the piano player would cover a lot of the keyboard.
Hello, how are you guys? I just wanted to say thank you I’ve already listened.
Your next Jim Croce song should Roller Derby Queen
Nice song and reaction, the bully finally got his.
Maestro Fresh Wes - Let Your Backbone Slide
I played this over and over, on my 45 record, at 9 years old
BAM
Awesome use of this song in Stranger Things for Chief Jim Hopper.
Folk rock
A great song from the start of Jim's successful period. A story song - as so many of his are. The story is one that movies and music (esp Country music) do over and over again, in which the top dog or "the best" in some social group (often a gang) is replaced by someone else who turns out to be better. Often it's a strongman (as in this song) sometimes in a western movie its a gunslinger, in more modern movies it's perhaps a mafia boss or a drug lord or crime kingpin of some kind. But it's a story that recurs all the time - Jim used the same story theme again in his biggest hit "Bad Bad Leroy Brown" which he wrote and took to be a #1 hit in the US. Jim's rendering of the story (both times) is great though cos, it has humour to it and the music backing works on both songs really well. That missing word in the first line of the hopeless lyric video you used for this track is, I think "The Bowery got its bums".
And every time the original lyrics referred to The Lone Ranger, the person who did the lyric video referred to "an old lone ranger", instead of That ol' Lone Ranger, who helped popularize the tradition of the masked hero, as well as Zorro.
Yeah, whoever made that video really sucked with the lyrics.
The word replaced in the first stanza with a question mark is supposed to be 'Bowery's.' As in, "the Bowery's got its bums." It use to be considered the rough part of the lower east side in New York.
This is just one of many. Jim was taken from us way to soon.
You know the first draft of this song, the line was "You don't piss into the wind."
"You've gotta change that, Jim, we can't say 'piss' on the radio!"
Jamey Johnson version is good too. He has a deep voice. It fits him too cause he's from South Alabama, Montgomery to be exact
Brad & Lex, you’ll love Jim’s “I’ll Have To Say I Love You In A Song”!!!
❤️❤️❤️
Folk rock/blues fusion I would say
This just an American classic.
Gone too soon. Jim is missed.
The question mark in the first panel of the lyrics should be “the Bowery.”
I might’ve been the only person in existence to first hear this song in “Stranger Things” I just started watching stranger things this spring and when i first watched season 3 this was my song for a few weeks 😂
❤️
Sensacional WOOSTOCK DEPOISVDELE GENIOS DE YOFOS GENEROSVDE MUSICAS EPOCA DE OURO DA MUSICA MUNDIAL
Please do Jim Croce's song: (Photographs and Memories!!) Tank you both 😜
When he begins singing the line goes uptown got its hustlers and the Bowery has its bums referring to the area in New York called Bowery where there used to be a bunch of low life, some prostitutes and stuff like that. I don't see how the guy writing this video. Didn't know that. Good reaction. Love, Jim Croce
The word in the lyrics missing is "bowery" which is a city district known for cheap bars and derelicts. Great tune.
Lex is beautiful. Yall are great.
The transcriber put a question mark in the second line. This is New York. The word he missed was the Bowery
The words
The words
They
At 6 ,, they enlivened my brain
Lyrics are like sunshine, like a good meal ,, a good book ,,, a thunderstorm
Mmmmm
0:24 "The Bowery" is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan.
The musical term you are searching for to describe that finger-snappin' rhythm is a "strut"....a shuffle with accents on all 4 beats instead of just on beats 2 and 4. Another example is "Stray Cat Strut" by The Stray Cats.
That's a feel - good song.
Can't go wrong with Croce.
Lex is so full of life!
Sadly, Jim died in a plane crash in Natchitoches,La. We loss a great talent that day.
They totally missed that tough guy city, Jim met his match and was beat(en) by country boy Slim!
My dad was 6'7" 250-300 pounds. If an average-sized guy tried to take dad down a peg, either physically or through put downs, dad would give back what he was served. People called him Big Jeff with respect.
Moral of the song is there is always someone bigger and badder than your Dad.
I'd say pop swing but I don't think that's actually a classification but Jim can definitely bring that swing vibe
Lesson.... Even the baddest guy can be beaten. You don't mess around with Jim turned into you don't mess around with slim.
Roller derby queen, next