Jim Croce Singles: ILXor, could you help me place this POLL?

great results. kinda surprised at zero votes for either of the tough-guy brawl story songs, but hard to compete against the brilliant songwriting up at the top there.

"Operator" must be inscrutable for some younger listeners.... do modern mobile phones even have operators? Do landlines even have them anymore? Pay phones are largely a thing of the past too, so no dime to keep (inflation had already driven that up to a quarter by the time I was a kid), but i'm guessing they're well known from old films and TV.

"Time In A Bottle" + Lightfoot's "If You Could Read My Mind" are some serious dads driving around in their datsuns genre.

As part of a family with a Datsun in the seventies and early 80s, can confirm. We were all fans, pretty much.

Of Croce, specifcally, nothing against Gordon.

... but that's not the way it feels

finally rolled the dice and picked up a couple of his albums. been spending time with You Don't Mess Around With Jim first. it's really nice... there's definitely filler, but it's charming, warm filler.

also came to the conclusion that paul simon was trying to write a Jim Croce song with "Stranded in a Limousine." the chorus-ending line is VERY similar to those of "Hard Time Losin' Man" and "Rapid Roy." very different arrangement obv, but i can definitely hear Croce opening up a tune with "He was a mean individual / he had a heart like a bone."