Jim Croce was one of the great folk singers and composers of the late 1960s and 1970s. During the early 1960s, Croce was involved with a number of small college bands that performed at coffee houses and universities, and later performed with his wife as a duo from the mid-1960s to the early 1970s.
They started out performing songs by Gordon Lightfoot, Joan Baez, and Woodie Guthrie, but wound up writing their own music — eventually putting together a repertoire of over 3000 songs that ranged from blues, to country, to rock to folk, with tender love songs and bawdy ballads.
In 1970, Croce hooked up with singer-songwriter Maury Muehleisen , and together they put together the hits and the albums we all know today.
In September 1973 both Croce and Muehleisen died in a small commercial plane crash, one day before the release of their third album, “We Got a Name.
The following was recorded one week before their death.
Operator
Operator, oh could you help me place this call
You see the number on the matchbook is old and faded
She’s livin’ in L.A.
With my best old ex-friend Ray
A guy she said she knew well and sometimes hatedIsn’t that the way they say it goes
But let’s forget all that
And give me the number if you can find it
So I can call just to tell them I’m fine and to show
I’ve overcome the blow
I’ve learned to take it well
I only wish my words could just convince myself
***That it just wasn’t real***
But that’s not the way it feelsOperator, oh could you help me place this call
‘Cause I can’t read the number that you just gave me
There’s something in my eye’s
You know it happens every time
I think about the love that I thought would save meIsn’t that the way they say it goes
But let’s forget all that
And give me the number if you can find it
So I can call just to tell them I’m fine and to show
I’ve overcome the blow
I’ve learned to take it well
I only wish my words could just convince myself
That it just wasn’t real
But that’s not the way it feelsNo no no no
Thats not the way it feels
Operator oh let’s forget about this call
There’s no one there I really wanted to talk to
Thank you for your time
Oh you’ve been so much more than kind
And you can keep the dimeIsn’t that the way they say it goes
But let’s forget all that
And give me the number if you can find it
So I can call just to tell them I’m fine and to show
I’ve overcome the blow
I’ve learned to take it well
I only wish my words could just convince myself
That it just wasn’t real
But that’s not the way it feels
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