''You Don't Mess Around with Jim'' is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter

Jim Croce James Joseph Croce (; January 10, 1943 – September 20, 1973) was an American Folk music, folk and rock singer-songwriter. Between 1966 and 1973, he released five studio albums and numerous singles. During this period, Croce took a series of o ...

; it released in April 1972 by

ABC Records ABC Records was an American record label founded in New York City in 1955. It originated as the main popular music label operated by the Am-Par Record Corporation. Am-Par also created the Impulse! jazz label in 1960. It acquired many labels bef ...

History and release

The album was recorded over a three to four-week period for approximately $18,000, with most funding coming from the PolyGram Group in Baarn, the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

, on the basis of hearing an eight-song demo tape assembled by production team Cashman & West. The deal with PolyGram was made after team attorney Phil Kurnit approached a contact within the record company who then had PolyGram executives listen to the demo tape. After having the finished album rejected by up to 40 record labels, Croce was signed to ABC Records after Cashman & West had a chance meeting with ABC promotion man Marty Kupps. Kupps urged label head Jay Lasker to sign Croce after hearing cuts from a cassette tape of the finished album. 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 "Time in a Bottle" is a song by singer-songwriter Jim Croce. It appeared on Croce's 1972 ABC third album '' You Don't Mess Around with Jim'' and was featured in the 1973 ABC made-for-television movie '' She Lives!'' After Croce was killed in ...

" (#1 pop, No. 1 AC), ''You Don't Mess Around with Jim'' was the best selling album in the U.S. for five weeks in early 1974. It was listed at No. 6 on the 1974 ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' year-end album charts. Two singles were originally released from the album in 1972: the

title track A title track is a song that has the same name as the album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-t ...

(#8 pop) and " Operator (That's Not the Way It Feels)" (#17 pop). The album was issued on CD by the Rhino Flashbacks record label on September 30, 2008.

Tracks

The lyrics of the

concern the fate of a 'pool-shooting son-of-a-gun' by the name of 'Big' Jim Walker when his 'mark', Willie 'Slim' McCoy, from South Alabama, shows up to get a refund from being hustled or get revenge. The song is notable for the line, "You don't tug on

Superman Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...

's cape/You don't spit into the wind/You don't pull the mask off that ol'

Lone Ranger The Lone Ranger is a fictional masked former Texas Ranger who fought outlaws in the American Old West with his Native American friend Tonto. The character has been called an enduring icon of American culture. He first appeared in 1933 in a ...

/And you don't mess around with Jim." However, after the song ends with Jim being thoroughly thrashed by his victim ("he'd been cut 'n 'bout a hundred places/ and he'd been shot in a couple more"), the chorus now goes, "You don't mess around with Slim."

Reception

William Ruhlmann of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

called it "his commercial breakthrough" ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' selected the album for a "Pop Special Merit" review, and called it "an Fashioned Album"

Track listing

Notes *A Tracks 1–12 correspond to the original 1972 album

Personnel

*Jim Croce – guitar, rhythm guitar, lead vocals, backing vocals * Maury Muehleisen – lead acoustic guitar, backing vocals *The Briggs – backing vocals *

Terry Cashman Terry Cashman (born Dennis Minogue; July 5, 1941) is an American record producer and singer-songwriter, best known for his 1981 hit, " Talkin' Baseball". While the song is well recognized today and allowed Cashman the chance to meet the feature ...

– backing vocals on "Operator (That's Not the Way It Feels)" * Tommy West – bass, percussion, piano, rhythm guitar, keyboards,

electric piano An electric piano is a musical instrument that has a piano-style musical keyboard, where sound is produced by means of mechanical hammers striking metal strings or reeds or wire tines, which leads to vibrations which are then converted into ele ...

, backing vocals *Harry Boyle – guitar on "Hey Tomorrow" *Joe Macho – bass *Jim Ryan – bass on "Box #10" * Gary Chester – drums *

Ellie Greenwich Eleanor Louise Greenwich (October 23, 1940 – August 26, 2009) was an American pop music singer, songwriter, and record producer. She wrote or co-wrote "Da Doo Ron Ron", " Be My Baby", " Maybe I Know", " Then He Kissed Me", " Do Wah Diddy Did ...

, Tasha Thomas – backing vocals *Peter Dino – arrangements ;Technical *Bruce Tergesen – recording and mixing engineer *Paul Wilson – photography

Chart history

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control Jim Croce albums 1972 albums Albums produced by Terry Cashman ABC Records albums Vertigo Records albums Albums produced by Tommy West (producer)