The cover of Jim Croce\u2019s last album, I Got A Name, shows Croce in a tanktop undershirt, smoking a cigar. In a lot of ways, that picture is the epitome of Croce\u2019s blue-collar persona; he had struggled for a long time to get noticed, and was just starting to enjoy consistent success when he was killed in a plane crash in September of 1973. I Got A Name was released a month and a half later, on December 1, and left his fans both elated and deeply sorrowful.<\/p>\n
This was the beginning of a branching-out for Croce; one song, \u201cSalon and Saloon\u201d, was backed with a single piano (Croce was known better for his guitar playing), and another song, one of the album\u2019s biggest hits and the title track, wasn\u2019t written by Croce. But even now, almost fifty years later, this album holds up, and holds up well.<\/p>\n
The chart hits on I Got A Name \u2013 the title track, \u201cI\u2019ll Have To Say I Love You In A Song\u201d, and \u201cWorkin\u2019 At The Car Wash Blues\u201d \u2013 are all solid, and in the case of \u201cI\u2019ll Have To Say\u201d exemplary. There is one disappointment as well: \u201cTop Hat Bar & Grille\u201d sounds like a weaker imitation of \u201cBad Bad Leroy Brown\u201d. (I suppose, if one is going to steal a song, stealing one\u2019s own is at least the most ethical way to go about it.)<\/p>\n
The real gems, however, are in the other tracks. \u201cThursday\u201d and \u201cAge\u201d are slice-of-life songs about heartbreak, loss, and redemption. \u201cFive Short Minutes\u201d is a wickedly funny tune about why one shouldn\u2019t indulge in groupies. (Think of it as the reality behind Grand Funk Railroad\u2019s \u201cAmerican Band\u201d).<\/p>\n
And then \u2013 \u201cThe Hard Way Every Time\u201d and \u201cLover\u2019s Cross\u201d.<\/p>\n
Fair disclaimer: both of these songs are deeply personal to me. \u201cThe Hard Way Every Time\u201d is my life; the story of a man who did it \u201cthe hard way every time\u201d and still managed to succeed on some level. And \u201cLover\u2019s Cross\u201d \u2013 well, just read: \t <\/p>\n
\u201cYou really gotta hand it to ya
‘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\u201d\u2026 <\/p>\n
\tThere it is \u2013 the song for every man who ever tried to come to someone\u2019s rescue and found there to be too much to carry.<\/p>\n
I Got A Name<\/i> is, simply, a work of maturity, grace, and insight. We lost something very special on a rainy night in September of 1973; all we can do now is treasure what little we have. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":34515,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"artist":[9498],"rating":[5613],"class_list":["post-46360","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-jim-croce","rating-rating-a-minus"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/46360\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34515"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=46360"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=46360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}