3:08
You Don't Mess Around With Jim, 1972
Written by Jim Croce
There are legions of songs proclaiming loyalty to or love for a geographical place. Possibly the majority of those songs are about how great New York City is. This song is the opposite: it's about disillusionment with the Big Apple, about its lack of warmth and conviviality. "Though all the streets are crowded / There's something strange about it / I lived there 'bout a year and I never once felt at home." A soft, folksy ballad, Croce delivers it with a gentle but firm finality. Croce was from South Philadelphia, so he apparently isn't decrying urban landscapes in general, but New York specifically. As a New Yorker, one might take that personally.
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