Jim Croce: You Don't Mess Around with Jim Meaning

Song Released: 1972

You Don't Mess Around with Jim Lyrics

Uptown got it's hustlers
The bowery got it's bums
42nd Street got Big Jim Walker
He's a pool-shootin' son of a gun
Yeah, he big and dumb as a man can come
But he stronger than a country hoss
And when the bad folks all get together at...

1. anonymous

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   Dec 5th 2021 report

   I think the meaning behind the song is that on one in this world is a boss .. everyone has someone that can take them down ... well that's just me
2. anonymous

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   Aug 12th 2021 report

   I think he was referring to The Boilermaker, James J. Jeffries, the old World Heavyweight Champion Boxer, when he sang: "you don't mess around with Jim."
3. upperdarbybill

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   Jan 9th 2014 report

   Jim Croce was never a confrontational person. However, many years before Jim wrote his 1st 'Top 40' hit song from his 1st ABC Records LP release of the same title "You Don't Mess Around With Jim". Jim would visit a local poolhall which happened to be on the 2nd floor in his hometown of Upper Darby Pennsylvania and got into it one day with the poolhall's bouncer and Jim was not the victor. It was then Jim Croce came up with what turned out to be the 'hook', as they call it, which became the chorus for this great character song. Often I think about who were the TV heros of Jim Croce's youth and they were 'The Lone Ranger' & 'Superman'. Jim Croce gave us "You don't tug on Superman's cape. You don't spit into the wind. You don't pull the mask off the ole 'Lone Ranger' and you don't mess around with Jim". Great stuff.

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