The Hot Air tribute to the passing of a musical genius
posted at 8:08 pm on July 7, 2009 by Ed Morrissey
I’m tired of all the demands from the closed-minded, telling us we should ignore this tremendous talent taken from us far too soon. Stop the resentment, people. Unlock your hearts and give this man his due. Click on the image to watch:
Decades later, that music still grabs me by the heart. When he left us, a simpler time passed with him as well.
Blowback
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Looks like the party’s over.
But for the record, my first car was a Maverick. Total POS. Had an 8-track player, so I put together a couple of mixed 8-tracks on my Emerson stereo. I remember AC/DC’s “Rock-n-Roll Ain’t Noise Pollution” was the final track I put on there. I had not yet “discovered” Jim Croce.
But them’s were good ole’ days.
connertown on July 7, 2009 at 11:29 PM
I listened to that, but also Dr. Demento’s weekly show.
I hear he’s still on a few stations, but nowhere near me.
connertown on July 7, 2009 at 11:31 PM
I was into Wolfman Jack and the Midnight Special.
Dire Straits on July 7, 2009 at 11:36 PM
As annoying as the Michael jackson nonsense is, I must say, Stevie Wonder’s performance today was devastating.
40 plus years and Stevie continues to amaze.
Dude is touched by God.
rickyricardo on July 7, 2009 at 11:44 PM
My oldest sister has a Jim Croce story she still tells to this day, she told it to someone at my wedding when the band played one of his songs.
When Jim Croce died she was very upset, as she was a big fan. She and her girlfriends used to go to hear him play down in the Village back in the early ’70s. They befriended him and his wife, before he was a big deal and she says he was one of the nicest guys you’d ever want to meet. She had a nasty male friend – who really hated Jim Croce and his musical style. This friend was very into the Doors, Joplin, Hendrix etc., thought Croce was too folksy sounding.
She and her friends were sitting around smoking a few doobies when they heard the news – it was like 1973 – and this bitter a**hole suddenly says, “God, you misunderstood my prayers, I didn’t want you to kill Jim Croce, I just wanted you to bring the plane down hard enough to shut him the f*ck up.”
She and her girlfriends were horrified and upset and asked him to get out of her apartment and never come back and she never ever spoke to him again.
AprilOrit on July 7, 2009 at 11:52 PM
Thank you. I’ve always hated it when Hollywood or the media will honor the passing of some wannabe with the words, “tragic” when referring to them blowing their brains out after a coke party or ending up face down in a gutter dead on their own vomit.
Jim Croce’s passing was a tragedy that most people don’t even know occured. You need to listen to all of his material and listen to the depth of the lyrics and the honest simplicity of his music.
Listen to “Hard Way Every Time” or “Which way are you going”. Pure poetry.
Listen to any of his character songs and hear the vivid detail of these stories set to music.
Better yet, get his only live album and hear his story telling and dry wit.
When I make it to heaven, I hope to see two people – my older brother and Mr. Croce. Two musicians who were taken from this world far too soon.
keyboarddude on July 8, 2009 at 12:10 AM
John Martyn died this year, the passing of another musical great. I never saw Mickey J playing a guitar and singing like this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOi_wxypeGc
Sharke on July 8, 2009 at 12:25 AM
Question for Croce fans; What was his song about being a truck driver? I bought a bootleg cassette in Asia in the late 70s. The only line I can remember is; ….cause she’s in Oklahoma, and I’m up in Maine, so diesel sing a song that will bring me home again….
I’ve been trying to find this for 30 years.
TugboatPhil on July 8, 2009 at 12:28 AM
I got one of those USB turntables. I’ve slowly been working my way through all my old vinyl albums, cleaning up the scratches and pops, burning them onto CD’s.
Next up, Emerson, Lake & Palmer. ‘Brain Salad Surgery’.
trigon on July 8, 2009 at 12:31 AM
You know, I keep forgetting about this “internet” thing the kids are always talking about. The song that has been driving me nuts for so long is Wear Out the Turnpike.
Forgive me for displaying my pre-senility in public….again.
TugboatPhil on July 8, 2009 at 12:32 AM
Not compatible with USB unfortunately. Too much data.
Sharke on July 8, 2009 at 12:36 AM
Who was the singer at the memorial that looked to be maybe half black and half Asian? She blew me away with her singing. I’ve looked online everywhere and can’t find her name.
NathanG on July 8, 2009 at 12:38 AM
I had a ’73 Dodge Colt Wagon for while. It was actually a pretty good little car. It would go like a bat out of hell when you got it cranked up. It had a cassette player, so I must have been rich. Who knew? No, seriously, the player was courtesy of my job at Taco Bell…
trigon on July 8, 2009 at 12:40 AM
We’ll see, I guess. You might be right.
trigon on July 8, 2009 at 12:41 AM
Oh man, Dan Fogelberg, listened to him in college. He died not so many years ago too, what a songwriter he was! I Loved all these artists!
Wow! What great memories this brings back!
Is Jim Croce on i-tunes?
Susanboo on July 8, 2009 at 12:48 AM
Dusty on July 7, 2009 at 10:40 PM
I need to remind him, it’s not nice to play with old peoples’ minds.
oldleprechaun on July 8, 2009 at 12:48 AM
A voice and a guitar. Now that is talent.
My kids don’t even know who Jim Croce is.
Ed, you are old. ;>
petunia on July 8, 2009 at 1:03 AM
Remember it like it was yesterday. . . .Time in the
bottle flys
Texyank on July 8, 2009 at 1:04 AM
News traveled slower in September of ’73. A celebrity death after 10:00PM on Thursday the 20th wasn’t the “instant news” it would be today, and none of the high school kids I knew were aware of the tragic accident as we headed to our first Friday classes.
Our principal was so alarmed by the news that he ordered a school-wide assembly and yanked all 400 of us out of class and into the auditorium. Eventually he gingerly announced the details of the previous night’s disaster.
Long before student grief counseling became fashionable, the death of Jim Croce and others in a small plane crash was handled as a possible post-traumatic stress-disorder-inducing disaster. Some of the kids were absolutely crushed by the news; so too, it seemed, most of the faculty.
Croce’s death, after all, occurred just as his popularity skyrocketed. The assembly announcement was one of those weird events that burns an image in the brain and is impossible to forget… not unlike the horrible news from Dallas a decade before that cut an elementary school day short.
T J Green on July 8, 2009 at 1:05 AM
I thought he was a Muppet.
Zaire67 on July 8, 2009 at 1:10 AM
So to sum it all up. This is a Michael Jackson thread disguised as a Jim Croce thread disguised as a Michael Jackson thread with lots of old cars driving around.
KentAllard on July 8, 2009 at 1:30 AM
Meanwhile … … back on planet earth.
KentAllard on July 8, 2009 at 1:33 AM
Okay…. my 28 year-old said… I think I found the rest of Micheal’s Jackson’s nose! Ha Ha.
And my husband said, Hey when did Jimmy Hendrix get that mustache?!
I know it’s late no one will read this but it’s only 11 here.
petunia on July 8, 2009 at 2:04 AM
My kids know who Jim Croce is because I play his music. My 16 year daughter has Time in a Bottle on her mp3 player..
Rose on July 8, 2009 at 2:14 AM
Some of us are still hanging. I liked Croce but also liked Arlo Guthrie…. Alice’s Resturant
Also big fan of Harry Chapin..Cats in the Cradle + W.O.L.D.
Dire Straits on July 8, 2009 at 2:27 AM
I had his albums, knew every one of his songs by heart when I was a kid. Loved Croce, James Taylor, Gordon Lightfoot. Was looking at the local newspaper one day and there was a tiny item, maybe an inch square that said he had died in a plane crash. It just seemed impossible that he could be gone … that there wouldn’t be any more than what there already was.
Most of my friends didn’t even know who he was. When I mentioned “Operator” or “You Don’t Mess Around With Jim” they would go … oh, THAT guy. So I guess I felt cheated twice. Once because he was gone so early in his career and second because none of my friends really seemed to “get it”.
Oh, well.
crosspatch on July 8, 2009 at 2:40 AM
REAL TALENT
DDT on July 8, 2009 at 2:48 AM
You know, I keep forgetting about this “internet” thing the kids are always talking about. The song that has been driving me nuts for so long is Wear Out the Turnpike.
Forgive me for displaying my pre-senility in public….again.
Please don’t forget his other trucker song Speedball Tucker. Terror of the highway and all the other truckers will tell ya that the boy is mad to be driving in a rig like that.
seneca73 on July 8, 2009 at 3:36 AM
He seemed like a truly decent person from what I’ve seen and read about him. Hard to believe he died so long ago and so early in his career. He lives on through his timeless music.
RIP
Dr. ZhivBlago on July 8, 2009 at 4:09 AM
Thanks Ed.
Croce embodied the very essence of the singer/songwriter.
=========================================================
I hate airplanes.
soundingboard on July 8, 2009 at 4:52 AM
Martin D21
soundingboard on July 8, 2009 at 4:56 AM
Please let the mans soul go and let the rest of us get back to our miserable lives. There’s so much to do and his troubles are over. Enough already.
johnnyU on July 8, 2009 at 5:01 AM
CNN treated it like a night at the Oscars.
johnnyU on July 8, 2009 at 5:01 AM
Damn…that’ll teach me to trust wikipedia.
Now here’s one for you…who was instrumental (pun intended) in popularising of the Ovation series?
soundingboard on July 8, 2009 at 5:04 AM
Click the link!
soundingboard on July 8, 2009 at 5:05 AM
Thank you!
Rapid Roy was always my fav.
Really liked his serious stuff, but loved his sense of humor.
soundingboard on July 8, 2009 at 5:17 AM
Bottle of red…
Bottle of white…
It all depends on your appetite…
But “The Stranger” is hauntingly beautiful.
That’s my fav. Joel song.
(whistling the intro)
Saw him in concert once. As he was intro-ing one of his songs he said: “This is usually the point in the show when most performers ask the audience to clap along, but I’ve found that most audiences keep crappy time, so I brought in a group of professional finger snappers from Brooklyn”.
Cracked the place up.
soundingboard on July 8, 2009 at 5:30 AM
Ahhh yes. 8 tracks.
The biggest con job ever foisted on the music consumer.
That’s why I used to refer to Napster (when it was free..ahem) as 8 track revenge.
soundingboard on July 8, 2009 at 5:34 AM
At least AM had KAAY.
Beaker street!
Great (foggy) memories.
soundingboard on July 8, 2009 at 5:38 AM
Thanks for that wonderful mental picture./s
soundingboard on July 8, 2009 at 5:40 AM
Weed.
Don’t judge! It was the ’70s.
soundingboard on July 8, 2009 at 5:42 AM
Heh…that or a cig butt.
soundingboard on July 8, 2009 at 6:11 AM
Play his music and they will.
maverick muse on July 8, 2009 at 6:39 AM
The Guitar Man
maverick muse on July 8, 2009 at 6:43 AM
like that?try this…lol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILZgcvHKYmE&feature=related
Jeff from WI on July 8, 2009 at 6:48 AM
Before I go to work I just have to mention Stevie Ray Vaughn. Incredible talent that overcame an almost lethal addiction to drugs only to die in a helicopter crash. His instrumental version of Hendrixs’ “Little Wing” makes me swoon.
Cindy Munford on July 8, 2009 at 7:00 AM
Ed, you’re killing me. Talk about hitting several nostalgia chords at once.
I grew up in an area that was classic Jim Croce-territory; on the outskirts of Pittsburgh, where folk and country competed energetically with mainstream pop for attention. Many of my classmates were heavily into the various folk-rock performers, and Croce was one of the very few who spoke to those of us (like myself) who didn’t tend to like the genre. His music was so direct, so precise, so free of posturing.
Add to this the fact that my best friend in elementary school used to listen constantly to him, and used lyrics from one of his songs for a school project.
Add to this the fact that this friend’s older brother looked one hell of a lot like Jim Croce.
Add to this the fact that my friend’s mother passed away a couple of weeks ago, precipitating my sudden return to our old stomping grounds, spending time with both my childhood friend and his older brother.
Michael Jackson’s passing is a reminder of my long-gone childhood, but bringing up Jim Croce — well, that’s just going too far. I’ll never be able to work now.
Chuckles3 on July 8, 2009 at 7:13 AM
to the passing of genius as beauty
maverick muse on July 8, 2009 at 7:16 AM
I have a Martin D-21, great guitar and good eye spotting that.
nelsonknows on July 8, 2009 at 7:22 AM
Jimi Hendrix, Little Wing in studio
creative genius
Stevie Ray Vaughn, Hendrix’s Little Wing in concert
igniting the spirit of genius
maverick muse on July 8, 2009 at 7:28 AM
Jim Croce’s one of my favorites too. Goes good with Harry Chapin.
petefrt on July 8, 2009 at 7:38 AM
What is the difference between a shopping bag and Michael Jackson?
One is white, plastic and dangerous for children to play with. And one is for carrying groceries.
Mr. Joe on July 8, 2009 at 7:49 AM
What is the difference between Neil Armstrong and Michael Jackson.
Neil Armstrong walked on the moon and Michael Jackson molested young boys.
Mr. Joe on July 8, 2009 at 7:50 AM
Okay, Ed, you get 10 points for the Jim Croce clip. Always and forever one of my favorite artists.
BigD on July 8, 2009 at 7:57 AM
When I was in college back in the 1960s I remember listening to radio late at night coming out of Del Rio, Texas, when the DJ was selling “slivers of the true cross encased in plastic, suitable for a paperweight”. I never forgot that. Advertising at its best. DJ used to play a lot of Bobby “Blue” Bland blues too, along with BB King.
bradley11 on July 8, 2009 at 8:01 AM
He is still a known pedophile whose death makes the children of America safer.
bill30097 on July 8, 2009 at 8:07 AM
Michael would of traveled to the moon to do that but there was never enough room for the “Jesus Juice” for the trip.
Jeff from WI on July 8, 2009 at 8:12 AM
I heard that one before but it’s a good one
Jeff from WI on July 8, 2009 at 8:13 AM
Jim Croce has always been one of my favorites. “One Less Set of Footsteps” is a great song. I don’t think he ever wrote anything bad. Where are the great songwriters/performers now? In country music, I guess.
kingsjester on July 8, 2009 at 8:20 AM
Here’s to a time when artists attacked the, at the time current popular music, sold by big corporate record labels, telling us they’re no sell out and would only perform
“the stuff” their fans liked because it spoke to those fans, while they signed contract for millions with those same evil corporate entities.
Jeff from WI on July 8, 2009 at 8:22 AM
Quote of the Day. Becuase it is all her fault!
Mr. Joe on July 8, 2009 at 8:26 AM
No, Joe.
maverick muse on July 8, 2009 at 8:39 AM
At least Schoenberg died long before his compositional techniques met their inevitable death pronounced by Boulez.
maverick muse on July 8, 2009 at 8:40 AM
I see we’re still getting some people who think this is a MJ thread.
backwoods conservative on July 8, 2009 at 8:41 AM
Something must be wrong with the audio. I understood every word he sang.
SKYFOX on July 8, 2009 at 8:43 AM
word
the record labels are such snakes, though.
blatantblue on July 8, 2009 at 8:45 AM
The corner is full, just go to your room!
Laura in Maryland on July 8, 2009 at 8:47 AM
and you
go to mine!
blatantblue on July 8, 2009 at 8:53 AM
I wasn’t sure you deserved the Dire straits moniker when you mentioned Casey Kassem, but you have redeemed yourself.
George Gimarc and the Rock & Roll alternative during KZEW’s heyday…Texxas Jam…Dire Straits before they got big…Peache’s Records…cars that didn’t have computers…big speakers that played music instead of bass…dang, I could do this all day. Where did the time go.
cozmo on July 8, 2009 at 8:54 AM
It was too early in the day for that site. Don’t do that anymore.
BigD on July 8, 2009 at 8:54 AM
While I was just a mere few days old when he died, 18 to be exact, I listened to his music with my parents and have very fond memories of this time. I learned to play his music on flute and to this day get teary eyed with some of his music.
Conservican on July 8, 2009 at 8:55 AM
You are so bad!
Laura in Maryland on July 8, 2009 at 9:09 AM
When did Lawrence Welk die, and why wasn’t it sooner?
Jeff from WI on July 8, 2009 at 9:18 AM
going or not?!?!?!
blatantblue on July 8, 2009 at 9:21 AM
AKA Trucks and Ups. If you really, really want it…
Pablo on July 8, 2009 at 9:26 AM
I really like Jim Croce. I have to be in the mood to listen to a whole album but someone gave me an album of his years ago and it stuck with me. One of my favorite lyrics:
Gives me goosebumps.
Geronimo on July 8, 2009 at 9:26 AM
Mine also…the hint of a stash gave it away.
jerrytbg on July 8, 2009 at 9:30 AM
E
jerrytbg on July 8, 2009 at 9:31 AM
I figured out why all of the Michael Jackson coverage/hysteria has been going on. Especially since he was MIA on the media for the years since his molestation trial.
Here it is. Now that it’s becoming clear that Obama is faltering and less popular, and is DEFINITELY NOT the great new savior, the MSM and blacks need to #1 have a diversion #2 pin their support on their “real” and longterm hero. Mentally, it takes them off the hook – at least for a few weeks.
marklmail on July 8, 2009 at 9:43 AM
Was a great service for MJ.
(yes, I’m aware that is not who this post is about)
RIP MJ
bridgetown on July 8, 2009 at 9:50 AM
Bothers me they didn’t bury his brain. Kind of like a Frankenstein movie.
Jeff from WI on July 8, 2009 at 9:53 AM
Jeff from WI on July 8, 2009 at 9:53 AM
Silly to be bothered by that. Many people die and are organ donors. Does it bother you that they are left without their eyes, liver, kidneys, etc?
He’s dead. Brain is not working. Why be bothered?
bridgetown on July 8, 2009 at 9:56 AM
Both of you, stand in the corner.
You, go to your room;)
Laura in Maryland on July 8, 2009 at 9:56 AM
I just get this creepy feeling that somewhere in Neverland a mad scientist doctor is reanimating his brain to be put into someone newly dead, like Ed Mc Mahon.
Jeff from WI on July 8, 2009 at 10:00 AM
45s!!! I found an insert to allow you to play them in the junk drawer a few years back.
I spent about 20 minutes explaining to my 23 year old niece the concept of turntables and variable speeds for vinyl.
Jim708 on July 8, 2009 at 10:03 AM
8-teacks??!! …LOL>..The oldest 45 I ever bought was for a girl I had a crush on in sixth grade
I takes so long to explain, it sometimes doesn’t seem worth it.
Jeff from WI on July 8, 2009 at 10:05 AM
Really? You really see it this way?
Heck, let’s give Mussolini his due — after all, he made the trains run on time. And a moment of silence, please, for Goebbels — a master of the persuasive arts! Hitler himself had an extraordinary gift for oratory — hurray!
I don’t admire people for their talent. I admire them for what they do with what they’re given. That’s why I admire the Special Olympic swimmer more than Michael “bong hit” Phelps. Jacko used his success to drug himself, abuse his kids (at the very least holding his baby over a balcony and raising them in such a bizarre environment they’ll never be able to function in society), and most likely diddled a succession of little boys. Somehow moonwalking and singing soprano just doesn’t override those considerations.
I’ll “unlock my heart” for his victims, and be glad he’s gone.
RegularJoe on July 8, 2009 at 10:09 AM
RegularJoe on July 8, 2009 at 10:09 AM
LOL. ….try clicking the link, brainiac
bridgetown on July 8, 2009 at 10:10 AM
Oops – busted. I should have followed the link before posting, or maybe read another comment. (blushing, returns to room under the stairs).
RegularJoe on July 8, 2009 at 10:11 AM
Amen, Ed. Jim Croce, in his short time here, was an American musical treasure trove. Talented yet understated. Good call.
GoodSamaritan on July 8, 2009 at 10:12 AM
Especially embarrassing irony: I was a huge Croce fan.
RegularJoe on July 8, 2009 at 10:14 AM
Like Maya Angelou, a na…snickering..a national…laughing…a national treasure!
Jeff from WI on July 8, 2009 at 10:18 AM
Get back in the corner! No one said you could come out yet.
Laura in Maryland on July 8, 2009 at 10:24 AM
LOL
(Sticking tongue out at Laura when she’s not looking)
Jeff from WI on July 8, 2009 at 10:26 AM
I spent about 20 minutes explaining to my 23 year old niece the concept of turntables and variable speeds for vinyl.
Jim708 on July 8, 2009 at 10:03 AM
I had to go online to find a drive belt for my old Sansui SR212 turntable. The source I found was only 30 miles south of me. Still listen to my 45′s and LP’s, including Jim Croce. I even have an old album of MJ when he was just a kid and still black.
SKYFOX on July 8, 2009 at 10:27 AM
I’ve been eying one of those for a while now.
Blake on July 8, 2009 at 10:30 AM
Loved Jim Croce, and his untimely death I still remember to this day. But, and I say this not trying to minimise Croce’s death, I was more “busted up” when Stevie Ray Vaughn died than Croce.
Stevie was “teh shizzil”.
44Magnum on July 8, 2009 at 10:34 AM
I have a Jesse Couter Young album I’d like to transfer. It’s just him and a guitar. Can’t understand why it has never been re-released.
Blake on July 8, 2009 at 10:34 AM
I get confused about life back then sometimes. Didn’t Croce die on a ship, the Edmund Fitzgerald?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5l3x_VoF3wo
Jeff from WI on July 8, 2009 at 10:38 AM
Maybe my problem is that I’m looking under the wrong name? It’s Jesse Colin Young. Duh. Soul of a City Boy issued in 1964. Highly recommended. Unfortunately, he is a total leftard.
Blake on July 8, 2009 at 10:41 AM
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