{"id":2072,"date":"2019-04-12T19:29:09","date_gmt":"2019-04-12T19:29:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/?p=2072"},"modified":"2019-04-12T19:29:09","modified_gmt":"2019-04-12T19:29:09","slug":"arachnophonia-jim-croce-you-dont-mess-around-with-jim","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/parsons\/2019\/04\/arachnophonia-jim-croce-you-dont-mess-around-with-jim\/","title":{"rendered":"Arachnophonia: Jim Croce “You Don’t Mess Around With Jim”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor\u2019s note:<\/strong> Arachnophonia<\/a> is a regular feature on our blog where members of the UR community can share their thoughts about resources from the Parsons Music Library<\/a>\u2018s collection.<\/p>\n

All links included in these posts will take you to either the library catalog record for the item in question<\/a> or to additional relevant<\/a> information from<\/a> around the web<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s installment of Arachnophonia<\/a> is by student worker Molly (class of 2021) and features Jim Croce’s 1972 studio album You Don’t Mess Around With Jim<\/a><\/strong>. Thanks, Molly!<\/em><\/p>\n

Jim Croce<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

You Don’t Mess Around With Jim<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Jim<\/p>\n

The first time I listened to a song on this album was my first time visiting New York, again after moving to Connecticut. Fittingly, I was sitting in a deli enjoying New York\u2019s finest bagels and Jim Croce<\/a>\u2019s \u201cNew York\u2019s Not My Home\u201d came on. Soon I was engulfed by Croce\u2019s lyrics and every sense of nostalgia. I guess you could say, my similar feelings towards New York made me first start listening to Jim Croce.<\/p>\n

In 1968, Jim and his wife, Ingrid Croce<\/a>, were encouraged to move to New York City by a record producer. They recorded their first album in the Bronx and drove around playing in small clubs and colleges. After being disappointed by the music business in New York, the couple sold all of their belongings except for one guitar to pay their rent and moved back to the countryside of Pennsylvania. Here, Croce was forced to pick up jobs like truck driving and construction work to pay the bills while he continued to write songs. What I like most about Croce\u2019s songs is that many of them tell the stories of these odd times in his life that I find very relateable.<\/p>\n