Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Daylight Savings: Time In A Bottle

Never intended for release as a single, Jim Croce’s “Time in a Bottle” became one of the two songs by singer-songwriter to chart at #1 – and it did so for two weeks. Shortly after Croce’s death on September 1973, “Time in a Bottle” was featured over the credits of a made for TV movie. That initial burst of activity prompted disc jockeys to start playing the album cut because of its lyrical content concerning immortality.


The single was released in November and its popularity also reinvigorated the 1972 album “You Don’t Mess Around with Jim.” The initial release of the album only managed to make it to #30 on the Top 200 Album Chart; however, “Time in a Bottle” propelled the LP back on the charts for a five week run at #1.

Although Croce wrote the song in 1970 when he found out he was going to be a father, the combination of Croce’s recent death and the song’s prophetic message resonated with the public.

When I hear “Time in a Bottle” and “I Got A Name,” which was released the day after Croce’s death, I immediately think about hearing the tragic news on the radio. It was the day after the crash and some friends and I were driving home from college for the first time – we were immediately saddened by the report.

Lyrics


If I could save time in a bottle
The first thing that I'd like to do
Is to save every day
Till Eternity passes away
Just to spend them with you

If I could make days last forever
If words could make wishes come true
I'd save every day like a treasure and then,
Again, I would spend them with you

But there never seems to be enough time
To do the things you want to do
Once you find them
I've looked around enough to know
That you're the one I want to go
Through time with

If I had a box just for wishes
And dreams that had never come true
The box would be empty
Except for the memory
Of how they were answered by you

But there never seems to be enough time
To do the things you want to do
Once you find them
I've looked around enough to know
That you're the one I want to go
Through time with






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