JIM CROCE - LOVER'S CROSS

LOVER’S CROSS

JIM CROCE

SONGWRITERS: JIM CROCE

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ALBUM: I GOT A NAME

LABEL: PLATINUM

GENRE: ROCK

YEAR: 1985

 

        Jim Croce was an American singer-songwriter with five studio albums and 12 singles to his credit. His posthumously-released fifth studio album was completed just prior to his 1973 death, and seven singles were also posthumously issued, one of which was "Time in a Bottle" from a previous album You Don't Mess Around with Jim. His popularity continued long after his death with the release of numerous compilation albums and "new" material (from the vaults) being portioned out sporadically over the years. Three live albums, as well as a live DVD, have also been published.

       Croce's first two studio albums Facets and Croce (aka Jim & Ingrid Croce) did not chart, but his third, You Don't Mess Around with Jim, peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 following his death. This album featured three singles, "You Don't Mess Around with Jim", "Operator (That's Not the Way It Feels)", and "Time in a Bottle". His fourth álbum Life and Times peaked at No. 2 in the United States, but reached No. 1 in Canada in late December 1973. It featured the singles "One Less Set of Footsteps", "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown", and "It Doesn't Have to Be That Way".

          "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" achieved great success, reaching the No. 1 position on the Billboard Hot 100. "Time in a Bottle" went from a relatively unknown album cut to a posthumous No. 1 after the boost it received from being featured in the ABC TV-movie She Lives. His fifth album, I Got a Name, was released in December 1973 and reached the No. 2 position in both the United States and Canada. This album would feature the title song "I Got a Name", "I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song", and "Workin' at the Car Wash Blues". The song, "I Got a Name" had been released as a single during Croce's lifetime, but "I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song" became a posthumous number one release when it reached the top position on Billboard Adult Contemporary Singles in 1974.

          Several compilation albums such as Down the Highway and The Faces I've Been were released in the mid 1970s, the latter containing unissued and demo recordings from an unreleased album. Two songs from "The Faces I've Been" were released as singles, "Chain Gang Medley" and "Mississippi Lady". They would be his final singles released. Another compilation album, Photographs & Memories became a successful release by reaching No. 1 on the Canadian charts and No. 2 on the Billboard 200 in the United States. It also achieved a platinum certification in the United States, and a Gold certification in Hong Kong.

          Even after his death, his popularity continued and a demand for unreleased material caused a live album to be released, Jim Croce Live: The Final Tour. It was recorded during the summer of 1973. More demo recordings were released in 2003 on the álbum Home Recordings: Americana. A DVD featuring live concert footage was also released in 2003, Have You Heard: Jim Croce Live which later spawned a CD featuring the audio from the concert footage.

Guess that it was bound to happen

Was just a matter of time

But now I've come to my decision

And it's a-one of the painful kind

'Cause now it seems that you wanted a martyr

Just a regular guy wouldn't do

But baby I can't hang upon no lover's cross for you

 

Yes, I really got to hand it to you

'Cause girl you really tried

But for every time that we spent laughin'

There were two times that I cried

And you were tryin' to make me your martyr

And that's the one thing I just couldn't do

'Cause baby, I can't hang upon no lover's cross for you

 

'Cause tables are meant for turnin'

And people are bound to change

And bridges are meant for burnin'

When the people and mem'ries they join aren't the same

So I'll hope that you can find

Another who can take what I could not

He'll have to be a super guy

Or maybe a super god

'Cause I never was much of a martyr before

And I ain't 'bout to start nothin' new

And baby, I can't hang upon no lover's cross for you

 

'Cause tables are meant for turnin'

And people are bound to change

And bridges are meant for burnin'

When the people and mem'ries they join aren't the same

 

So I'll hope that you can find

Another who can take what I could not

He'll have to be a super guy

Or maybe a super god

'Cause I never was much of a martyr before

And I ain't 'bout to start nothin' new

And baby, I can't hang upon no lover's cross for you.