Jim Croce’s birthday was the other day — or, it would have been, had he not died in a plane crash just six days before my second birthday. I discovered Croce about fifteen years ago, and I’ve loved him ever since. This is my favorite of Croce’s many wonderful songs. Here’s “Operator”.
“You can keep the dime….”
Your 2nd birthday…you're makin' me feel OLD.
I had three or four Croce LPs. How many pop/rock stars died in plane accidents? John Denver, Otis Redding, 3 Feb 1959…
Roger, don't forget Lynyrd Skynyrd — about half of that band went down in a plane in 1977. And Rick Nelson and Stevie Ray Vaughn. And I think Patsy Cline also died in a plane wreck, although she was a country star, of course.
As for Croce, a great artist with so many wonderful songs. He had a knack for melancholy, especially — I love "Operator," "Time in a Bottle," and "I'll Have to Say I Love You."
Have you heard his son, A. J. Croce? He's wonderful!
I loved Jim Croce, too. The songs mentioned so far were great, but I also enjoyed some of his more up-tempo, but light-hearted work. "You don't tug on Superman's cape," and "I fell in love with a roller derby queen, the meanest hunk of woman that anybody's ever seen."