You Don't Mess Around with Jim (song)

{{Infobox song

| name = You Don't Mess Around with Jim

| cover = You Don't Mess Around With Jim Single.jpg

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = Jim Croce

| album = You Don't Mess Around with Jim

| B-side = Photographs and Memories

| released = June 1972

| recorded = October 11, 1971; The Hit Factory
(New York City)

| studio =

| venue =

| genre =

Folk rock
blues{{cite book|title= Precious and Few - Pop Music in the Early '70s|first1=Don|last1=Breithaupt|first2= Jeff|last2= Breithaupt|date= October 15, 1996|chapter= Earth Shoes: Folk Pop|page= 81|publisher=St. Martin's Griffin|isbn=031214704X|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RMPCAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA81}}
boogie-woogie{{cite magazine|date=November 12, 2014|title=50 Rock Albums Every Country Fan Should Own|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/50-rock-albums-every-country-fan-should-own-150698/jim-croce-photographs-memories-his-greatest-hits-1974-76389/|access-date=April 23, 2024|magazine=Rolling Stone}}

| length = 3:02

| label = ABC

| writer = Jim Croce

| producer = Terry Cashman, Tommy West

| prev_title =

| prev_year =

| next_title = Operator (That's Not the Way It Feels)

| next_year = 1972

| misc =

}}

"You Don't Mess Around with Jim" is a 1972 strophic (all verses have the same tune) story song by Jim Croce from his album of the same name.[{{BillboardURLbyName|artist=jim croce|bio=true}} Billboard] artist profile It was Croce's debut single, released on ABC Records as ABC-11328. ABC Records promotion man Marty Kupps took it to KHJ 930 AM in Los Angeles, CA where it first aired. It made the KHJ "30" chart (at #27) that week of June 6, 1972. After spending 11 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, the song peaked at No. 8 the week ending September 9. Croce performed the song on American Bandstand on August 12, 1972. Billboard ranked it as the No. 68 song for 1972.

Content

The lyrics are set around an underground pool hall on 42nd Street in New York City. "Big" Jim Walker, a pool hustler who is not too bright but is respected because of his tough reputation, his considerable strength and size, and his skill at pool, has formed a sort of gang of "bad folks" who regularly gather at night in the pool hall. Their recurring words of advice is as follows:[https://play.google.com/music/preview/Teqehpjj66cv4czcrnsi6q7rske?lyrics=1 Google Play Store: You Don't Mess around with Jim]

You don't tug on Superman's cape

You don't spit into the wind

You don't pull the mask off the old Lone Ranger

And you don't mess around with Jim

A fellow pool player named Willie "Slim" McCoy comes from south Alabama to the pool hall to get his money back from Jim after being hustled out of it the previous week. When Jim comes in, McCoy gets in a fight with him, stabbing him in "about a hundred places" (to the point where "the only part that wasn't bloody was the soles of the big man's feet") and shooting him "in a couple more", ultimately killing him. It is implied that McCoy now has his money back as well as the respect formerly granted to Jim, and the regulars at the pool hall have now changed their advice to strangers: "You don't mess around with Slim".

The song is noted for its spoken recitation, which is heard following the third verse and chorus:

Yeah, Big Jim got his hat

Find out where it's at

And it's not hustlin' people strange to you

Even if you do got a two-piece custom-made pool cue

This is followed by the repeat of the chorus and the repeated coda before the song's fade.

Croce tells a similar story— a much-feared tough guy who gets his comeuppance from someone even tougher— in his later hit single "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown".

Reception

Cash Box described it as being "perfectly polished and honed for super Top 40/ MOR/ FM impact" despite being Croce's first single.{{cite news|title=CashBox Record Reviews|date=June 10, 1972|page=16|access-date=December 11, 2021|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/70s/1972/Cash-Box-1972-06-10.pdf|newspaper=Cash Box}} Record World said that the song "is just fine, and it appears another star is born."{{cite magazine|magazine=Record World|date=June 10, 1972|access-date=March 31, 2023|title=Hits of the Week|page=1|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Record-World/70s/72/Record-World-1972-06-10.pdf}}

Live performances

Live versions of the song have been released on both of Croce's live albums, Have You Heard: Jim Croce Live and Jim Croce Live: The Final Tour.

Track listing

7" single (ABC-11328)[http://www.discogs.com/Jim-Croce-You-Dont-Mess-Around-With-Jim-Photographs-And-Memories/release/1473988 Jim Croce - You Don't Mess Around With Jim / Photographs And Memories]

"You Don't Mess Around with Jim" – 3:00
"Photographs and Memories" – 2:03

Personnel

Jim Croce – lead vocals, rhythm guitar
Maury Muehleisen – lead guitar
Tommy West – piano
Joe Macho – bass guitar
Gary Chester – drums
Ellie Greenwich – backing vocals
Tasha Thomas – backing vocals

Chart performance

=Weekly charts=

class="wikitable sortable"

!Chart (1972)

!Peak
position

{{singlechart|Canadatopsingles|4|chartid=4179|access-date=November 11, 2024}}

U.S. Billboard Hot 100

|align="center"|8

U.S. Billboard Easy Listening[http://www.musicvf.com/song.php?id=21611 You Don't Mess Around with Jim]

|align="center"|9

U.S. Cash Box Top 100[http://cashboxmagazine.com/archives/70s_files/19720909.html Cash Box Top 100 9/09/72]

|align="center"|7

France Pop Singles[http://www.infodisc.fr/Artistes.php InfoDisc archives]

|align="center"|15

=Year-end charts=

class="wikitable"

!Chart (1972)

!Rank

Canada Top Singles (RPM){{cite magazine |title=RPM's Top 100 Singles of '72 |magazine=RPM|date=January 13, 1973|page=20}}

| style="text-align:center;"|51

U.S. Billboard Hot 100{{cite web|url=https://www.musicoutfitters.com/topsongs/1972.htm|title=Top 100 Hits of 1972/Top 100 Songs of 1972|website=Music Outfitters|access-date=23 November 2024}}

|align="center"|68

U.S. Cash Box Top 100[http://www.cashboxmagazine.com/archives/70s_files/1972YESP.html The CASH BOX Year-End Charts: 1972]

|align="center"|56

Poison cover

American glam metal band Poison covered the song (under the name Don't Mess Around With Jim (demo)). It is included as a bonus track on the 2006 remaster of their 1986 debut album Look What the Cat Dragged In. It is the 13th track on the album.