You Don't Mess Around with Jim

You Don't Mess Around with Jim is an album by American singer-songwriter Jim Croce, released in 1972 (See 1972 in music). The album's three singles, title track (Pop #8), "Operator (That's Not the Way It Feels) and "Time in a Bottle" (Pop #1) are among his most identifiable songs. The lyrics of the title track concerns the fate of a 'pool-shooting son-of-a-gun' by the name of 'Big' Jim Walker when his 'mark,' Slim, from a south Alabama Honkytonk ... more

You Don't Mess Around with Jim is an album by American singer-songwriter Jim Croce, released in 1972 (See 1972 in music). The album's three singles, title track (Pop #8), "Operator (That's Not the Way It Feels) and "Time in a Bottle" (Pop #1) are among his most identifiable songs. The lyrics of the title track concerns the fate of a 'pool-shooting son-of-a-gun' by the name of 'Big' Jim Walker when his 'mark,' Slim, from a south Alabama Honkytonk shows up to get a refund from being hustled or get revenge. The song is notable for the line "You don't tug on Superman's cape/You don't spit into the wind/You don't pull the mask off the ol' Lone Ranger/And you don't mess around with Jim." However, after the song ends with Jim being thoroughly thrashed by his victim, the chorus now sings about how "You don't mess around with Slim." The song "You Don't Mess Around with Jim" has been covered by Poison on Look What the Cat Dragged In, Ty Herndon on What Mattered Most, Josh Turner on Long Black... less