Editing You Don't Mess Around with Jim

{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2023}}
{{Infobox album
| name       = You Don't Mess Around with Jim
| type       = Album
| artist     = [[Jim Croce]]
| cover      = Jim Croce - You Don't Mess Around with Jim.jpg
| alt        =
| released   = April 1972<ref>Strong, Martin Charles & John Peel [https://books.google.com/books?id=_WoRAPJQ58sC&dq=Bad%2C+Bad+Leroy+Brown%3A+Jim+Croce%27s+Greatest+Character+Songs&pg=PA357 The Great Rock Discography]{{dead link|date=March 2015}}</ref>
| recorded   = 1971–1972
| venue      =
| studio     = [[Hit Factory]], New York City
| genre      = [[Folk rock]]
| length     = 33:22
| label      = [[ABC Records|ABC]] <small>(USA)</small><br>[[Vertigo Records|Vertigo]] <small>(UK)</small>
| producer   = [[Terry Cashman]], [[Tommy West (producer)|Tommy West]]
| prev_title = [[Jim & Ingrid Croce]]
| prev_year  = 1969
| next_title = [[Life and Times (Jim Croce album)|Life and Times]]
| next_year  = 1973
| misc       = {{Singles
 | name        = You Don't Mess Around with Jim
 | type        = studio
 | single1     = [[You Don't Mess Around with Jim (song)|You Don't Mess Around with Jim]]
 | single1date = July 1972
 | single2     = [[Operator (That's Not the Way It Feels)]]
 | single2date = October 1972
 | single3     = [[Time in a Bottle]]
 | single3date = November 1973
}}
}}
{{Music ratings
| rev1 = [[Allmusic]]
| rev1score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}<ref name="AllMusic" />
| rev2 = ''[[Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies|Christgau's Record Guide]]''
| rev2Score = B−<ref>{{cite book|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|year=1981|title=[[Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies]]|publisher=[[Ticknor & Fields]]|isbn=089919026X|chapter=Consumer Guide '70s: C|chapter-url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_chap.php?k=C&bk=70|access-date=February 23, 2019|via=robertchristgau.com}}</ref>
| rev3 = ''[[The Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]''
| rev3score = {{rating|4|5}}<ref>{{cite book |last1=Larkin |first1=Colin |title=The Encyclopedia of Popular Music |date=2007 |publisher=Omnibus Press |page=374 |isbn=9781846098567 |url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofpo0000unse_v3u2/page/374/mode/2up |accessdate=20 September 2024}}</ref>
}}<!-- Automatically generated by DASHBot-->

'''''You Don't Mess Around with Jim''''' is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter [[Jim Croce]]; it released in April 1972 by [[ABC Records]].

==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]], 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]]" (#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.<ref>Whitburn, Joel. ''The Billboard Book of Top Pop Albums 1955–1985'', Record Research Inc., 1985, p. 88, 505.</ref> It was listed at No. 6 on the 1974 ''[[Cash Box]]'' year-end album charts.<ref>{{cite web|title=The ''Cash Box'' 1974 year-end album charts|url=http://cashboxmagazine.com/archives/70s_files/1974YEAP.html|access-date=August 30, 2022}}</ref> Two singles were originally released from the album in 1972: the [[You Don't Mess Around with Jim (song)|title track]] (#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==
{{Main article|You Don't Mess Around with Jim (song)}}
The lyrics of the [[You Don't Mess Around with Jim (song)|title track]] 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]]'s cape/You don't spit into the wind/You don't pull the mask off that ol' [[Lone Ranger]]/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]] called it "his commercial breakthrough"<ref name="AllMusic">{{Cite web |last=Ruhlmann |first=William |title=Jim Corce - You Don't Mess Around With Jim: Ratings & Reviews |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/you-dont-mess-around-with-jim-mw0000414335 |access-date=2024-09-20 |website=[[AllMusic]]}}</ref>

''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' selected the album for a "Pop Special Merit" review, and called it "an Fashioned Album"<ref name=":0">{{cite magazine |date=June 10, 1972 |title=Special Merit Pop Picks: You Don't Mess Around With Jim |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qkUEAAAAMBAJ&dq=june+10%2C+1972+billboard&pg=RA2-PA43 |magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]] |page=43 |volume=84 |issue=24 |editor=}}</ref>

==Track listing==
{{Track listing
| headline = 
| all_writing = [[Jim Croce]] 
| title1 = [[You Don't Mess Around with Jim (song)|You Don't Mess Around with Jim]]
| length1 = 3:00
| title2 = Tomorrow's Gonna Be a Brighter Day
| length2 = 2:49
| title3 = New York's Not My Home
| length3 = 3:05
| title4 = Hard Time Losin' Man
| length4 = 2:23
| title5 = Photographs and Memories
| length5 = 2:03
| title6 = Walkin' Back to Georgia
| length6 = 2:47
| title7 = [[Operator (That's Not the Way It Feels)]]
| length7 = 3:45
| title8 = [[Time in a Bottle]]
| length8 = 2:24
| title9 = Rapid Roy (The Stock Car Boy)
| length9 = 2:40
| title10 = Box No. 10
| length10 = 2:22
| title11 = A Long Time Ago
| length11 = 2:18
| title12 = Hey Tomorrow
| length12 = 2:40
}}

{{Track listing
| headline = 2006 edition – Disc 1{{Ref label|note_a1|A| }}
| title13 = Which Way Are You Going{{'-}} 
| length13 = 2:20
| title14 = Mississippi Lady 
| length14 = 3:59
| title15 = Country Girl 
| length15 = 1:49
| title16 = King's Song 
| length16 = 3:21
| title17 = Chain Gang Medley 
| length17 = 4:29
| title18 = Ol' Man River 
| length18 = 2:26
}}
{{Track listing
| headline = 2006 edition – Disc 2
| title1 = Maybe Tomorrow 
| length1 = 2:30
| title2 = Stone Walls 
| length2 = 2:58
| title3 = Railroads and Riverboats 
| length3 = 3:12
| title4 = (And) I Remember Her 
| length4 = 2:49
| title5 = More Than That Tomorrow 
| length5 = 2:44
| title6 = The Way We Used to Be 
| length6 = 2:30
| title7 = Cotton Mouth River 
| length7 = 2:00
| title8 = Circle of Style 
| note8=featuring Ingrid Croce
| length8 = 2:09
| title9 = Carnival of Pride 
| note9=featuring Ingrid Croce
| length9 = 1:53
| title10 = Wear Out the Turnpike 
| note10=featuring Ingrid Croce
| length10 = 2:14
| title11 = Can't Wait 
| note11=featuring Ingrid Croce 
| length11 = 1:53
| title12 = (The) Migrant Worker 
| note12=featuring Ingrid Croce
| length12 = 1:54
| title13 = Railroad Song 
| note13=featuring Ingrid Croce
| length13 = 2:55
| title14 = Child of Midnight 
| length14 = 2:48
}}
'''Notes'''
{{refbegin}}
*'''A''' {{Note|note_a1}} Tracks 1–12 correspond to the original 1972 album
{{refend}}

==Personnel==
*Jim Croce – guitar, rhythm guitar, lead vocals, backing vocals
*[[Maury Muehleisen]] – lead acoustic guitar, backing vocals
*The Briggs – backing vocals
*[[Terry Cashman]] – backing vocals on "Operator (That's Not the Way It Feels)"
*[[Tommy West (producer)|Tommy West]] – bass, percussion, piano, rhythm guitar, keyboards, [[electric piano]], backing vocals
*Harry Boyle – guitar on "Hey Tomorrow"
*Joe Macho – bass
*Jim Ryan – bass on "Box #10"
*[[Gary Chester]] – drums
*[[Ellie Greenwich]], Tasha Thomas – backing vocals
*Peter Dino – arrangements
;Technical
*Bruce Tergesen – recording and mixing engineer
*Paul Wilson – photography

==Chart history==
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}

=== Weekly charts ===
{| class="wikitable"
!Year
!Chart
!Position
|-
|1974
{{album chart|Canada|1|chartid=4940}}
|-
|1974
{{album chart|Billboard200|1|artist=Jim Croce}}
|}

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Singles
!Year
!Single
!Chart
!Position
|-
|1972
|"You Don't Mess Around with Jim"
|''Billboard'' Hot 100
| style="text-align:center;"|8
|-
|1972
|"You Don't Mess Around with Jim"
|Easy Listening
| style="text-align:center;"|9
|-
|1972
|"Operator (That's Not the Way It Feels)"
|''Billboard'' Hot 100
| style="text-align:center;"|17
|-
|1973
|"Time in a Bottle"
|''Billboard'' Hot 100
| style="text-align:center;"|1
|-
|1973
|"Time in a Bottle"
|Easy Listening
| style="text-align:center;"|1
|}
{{col-2}}

=== Year-end charts ===
{| class="wikitable
|-
!Chart (1974)
!Position
|-
{{album chart|Canada|6|chartid=3891|access-date=December 11, 2024|refname=CA_YE}}
|-
|US ''Billboard'' 200<ref>{{cite web|url=https://bestsellingalbums.org/year-end/Billboard_Top_Albums_1974|title=Top US Billboard 200 Albums - Year-end 1974|website=BestSellingAlbums.org|access-date=December 11, 2024}}</ref>
| style="text-align:center;"|5
|}
{{col-end}}

=== Certifications ===
{| class="wikitable"
|-
!Country
![[List of music recording certifications|Certifications]]
|-
|[[Recording Industry Association of America|United States]]
|Gold
|}

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Jim Croce}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Jim Croce albums]]
[[Category:1972 albums]]
[[Category:Albums produced by Terry Cashman]]
[[Category:ABC Records albums]]
[[Category:Vertigo Records albums]]
[[Category:Albums produced by Tommy West (producer)]]