I CAN "C" FOR MILES AND MILES ! ! !

     There have been a number of music artists who left us way too soon. JIM CROCE is among them. Sadly, Jim Croce died just as his star was rising. His music is a softer, more folksy kind of rock and roll. 

Jim Croce signed a three record deal in 1972 with ABC Records. His first studio album was " You Don't Mess Around With Jim." Some of his better known songs include the title track in which a good old southern boy names Slim tracks down Jim, a pool shooting hustler, to get his money back. After they meet, the song shifts to "You don't mess around with Slim!" 

One of my favorite Croce songs is "Operator-That's not the way it feels." This song tells the story of a man trying to get the number of his girlfriend who ran off with his best ex-friend. Jim's romantic side is seen in "Time in a Bottle" a plaintive cry to save every day "...just to spend them with you!" It is a beautiful love song. Then there's "Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown" the baddest man in the whole damned town, particularly the south side of Chicago.

Sadly, Jim died in a plane crash after performing a show in Louisiana in September of 1973. He was just hitting his stride and becoming well known. His passing was truly untimely and tragic.

My absolute favorite "C" group has got to be, without a doubt, CREEDENCE CLEARWATER REVIVAL (CCR). One of the things that attracted me to CCR was the simplicity of their music. They did not use a lot of electronic gadgetry like synthesizers and the like. Their music was just good Rock and Roll. I learned how to play guitar playing their music.

CCR was composed of John Fogerty, his older brother Tom Fogerty, drummer Doug Clifford and bassist Stu Cook. John composed and arranged most of CCR's music. He essentially controlled everything to do with the band's sound. This became a source of trouble in the ensuing years.

CCR was a group that on the outside were rocking, hitting on all cylinders. However, on the inside there was dissention, animosities, lawsuits and counter lawsuits. In fact, they were a very dysfunctional family which led to the band's inevitable disbanding. Much of the animosity between the band members remain to this day. 

Tom Fogerty died in 1970 from complications due to contaminated blood he received during back surgery. He and his brother John never reconciled before his death.   

Despite their internal problems CCR gave the world a catalog of iconic Rock and Roll music. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.