It's a gift to be able to watch these songs here all these years later.

Rip Jim and Maury, thankyou very much!

I’m a guitar player and Maury’s accompaniment is just pure genius.

Kurt Cobain took the heart and soul out of music and ended beautiful songs before he blew his brains out.

Good question

Because it's run by Idiots. Why do people asking that question?

Because it is run by Idiots. That is why.

I'll just keep writing it!

Sad... but what ahhh great guy

tragic ...

I REMEMBER HEARING JIM BADASS. STILL LISTENING 50 YRS LATER AND i'm kearning guitar Thanks jim

He was amazing and I miss him

And the headlines claim there was dope on that plane.

56 and..umm.. Yeah..

I know right what you mean! So many family memories popped into my own head while reading your comment..Thank you!

so many greats lost to planes.

@@anton2417Sad but true.

@@anton2417 and Helicopters 🚁

Don't forget the opening credits of "Invincible" (Jim being born in South Philadelphia and raised in nearby Upper Darby; him and Tina Fey being the two most well-known alumni of Upper Darby High School).

🕯🕯🕯. Yes; and Thomas Picardo Jr. (🎹) (August 17, 1942 - May 2, 2021), known professionally as Tommy West, was an American record producer, and singer-songwriter. Occasionally, producer Tommy West would join them onstage, typically on the TV appearances, playing the piano.

@@WhenImBackInChicago I have seen him playing piano with Jim, didn't know anything about him, thank you. I started playing guitar in the early 1990's, I had several influences one being Jim Croce and the second David Gilmore. Now thirty plus years on I am still playing Jim's songs to my wife and family, he had such a talent for composing music, he knew how to draw listeners into his songs. It was so sad that Jim didn't truly see the success he deserved, oh near his death he began seeing the fruits of his labor, but if he lived he would've been spoken about along with the greats of his time. His wife had a rough go at it after he passed, she had to raise their child alone and the record company kept all of the profits from Jim's music leaving her with no money to live on, I believe she had to wait tables to survive at that time. It took decades for her to finally win and get her husbands music rights back, what an absolute shame what our music industry has become.

Me too! I remember riding in the car with my parents and this song was playing on the radio. 😊

Thank you for sharing the information. 😊

It was partly the 'stache. And you're being generous with 42. I always say he was a 30-year-old man with the moustache of a 50 year old.

Jim never had a baby face but I think he was really tired from touring and fame . I think it shows in his face here . This was likely filmed in early August . By the time mid-September when he died he had told his wife how tired he was and one reason he got on that plane was to expedite the end of the tour so he could go home and rest

​@natashatomlinson4548 I've read it was a gig at a school that had been booked before his music went huge. They wanted to honor the commitment and played the gig. The plane crashed nearly immediately on take-off.

Friday morning Sept 21 , 1973 . I heard in the radio that Jim Croce had died in a plane crash the night before . I had planned that morning to ask a girl in high school I was crazy about to go steady with me . She had been crazy about me too but thought I was not as interested in her as I really was ( we were just 16 so stuff like that happens at that age .) When I asked her to go steady with me she was really surprised and couldn’t say yes to me cuz the day before she had gone steady with another guy the day before . I was heartbroken beyond belief because I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her . This song always reminds me of that time because it was released that same day . This episode aired exactly a week before on Friday night Sept 14. She married that guy and he treated her like shit . I married years later and I’ve been with my wife for 45 years now. I know I could’ve loved this going lady the past 50 years too . It’s amazing how little decisions we make when we are young and naive can affect us all our lives .

Robert DeLeo says it was his tribute to Jim

@@jeffkahl Oh did he . I did not know that . The first time I ever heard that STP song I was thinking to myself man it sounds like that crochet song how cool . Those DeLeo Brothers could really jam . And they had probably one of the greatest frontman singers who ever lived. Rip Scott weiland and Jim Croce . Can you imagine if Jim lived how many more hits you would have had because the guy was like a hit machine and he was just getting started. How tragic. 😮

⁠@@chriskroll4166Which STP “big hit” song was it? I love the YT vid of them playing/singing with Glen Campbell on the “Wichita Lineman” song, my favorite of his. Glen was teary eyed at the end.

@@KittyGrizGriz the song is called interstate love song . 🙋

Same here. In '73 I was 13, still listening to AM not FM radio, so his was the first tragic death of a popular musician to really hit me hard. He had the world at his feet, and with a young family to support ... so cruel.

They would have made several more appearances on TMS, I bet had that incident not occurred.

Just like you.

Actually he was from Upper Darby (right outside of West Philadelphia). He was the initial inductee of the Upper Darby High School Wall of Fame and his widow supported the school's Performing Arts Center. Jim lived in Frazer (east of Downingtown) as an adult and is buried in the Jewish cemetery there.

He is correct, Jim died in a plane crash on Sept. 20th 1973.

@Breedorable: On the night of Thursday, September 20, 1973, during Croce's Life, and Times tour, which had been scheduled for 45 dates, and the day before his ABC single "I Got a Name" was released, Croce, and five others were killed when their chartered Beechcraft E18S crashed into a tree, during takeoff, from the Natchitoches Regional Airport in Natchitoches, Louisiana. Croce was 30 years old. Others killed in the crash were pilot Robert N. Elliott, Croce's bandmate Maury Muehleisen, comedian George Stevens, manager and, booking agent Kenneth D. Cortese, and road manager Dennis Rast. An hour before the crash, Croce had completed a concert, at Northwestern State University's Prather Coliseum, in Natchitoches. He was flying to Sherman, Texas for a concert, at Austin College. An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) named the probable cause as the pilot's failure to see the obstruction resulting from physical impairment, and fog, that had reduced his vision. The 57-year-old Elliott suffered from severe coronary artery disease, and had run three miles to the airport from a motel. He had an ATP certificate, 14,290 hours total flight time, and 2,190 hours in the Beech 18-type airplane. A later investigation placed the sole blame on pilot error resulting from disorientation following his downwind takeoff into a "black hole," one of the known sensory illusions in aviation. Croce was buried at Haym Salomon Memorial Park in Frazer, Pennsylvania. 🕯

How sad.

The official report of the accident states the charter pilot had severe coronary-artery disease, and had run a portion of the three miles to the airport, from a motel. The pilot may have suffered a heart attack, causing him to crash the twin-engined Beechcraft E18S into a pecan tree.

@@WhenImBackInChicago A later investigation concluded it was more likely pilot error. He tried taking off a heavily loaded plane in the downwind direction, which would require more runway than usual. They simply didn’t clear the tree off the end of the runway. And they might not have even seen the tree due to darkness and fog. It’s possible the pilot’s health could have played a role, but he should have taken off into the wind to get the extra lift it offered… even if it meant a few extra minutes to taxi to the other end of the runway.

@@mjanovec Your reply was interesting, and comprehensive. 👍 Thank you, for the minute details, and other aviation factors involved. 💞 I'd, also, read an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) that named the probable cause as the pilot's failure to see the obstruction, resulting from physical impairment, and fog (as you typed) that had reduced his vision. The 57-year-old pilot, Robert N. Elliott, had an ATP certificate, 14,290 hours total-flight time, and 2,190 hours in the Beech 18-type airplane. A later investigation placed the sole blame on pilot error resulting from disorientation following his downwind takeoff into a "black hole," one of the known sensory illusions in aviation. 🕯.

@@WhenImBackInChicago WOW! What an unfortunate series of events.

I'm pretty sure that's Tommy West on piano.

@@tiffanys2606 It's a joke, lady? He bears a resemblance to Robert Reed...whom portrayed Mike Brady. I am delighted to be of assistance.

🕯. Thomas Picardo, Jr. August 17, 1942 - May 2, 2021 known professionally as Tommy West, was an American record producer, and singer-songwriter. Occasionally, producer Tommy West would join them onstage, typically on the TV appearances, playing the piano.

@@WhenImBackInChicago thank you, he's a fine musician

​@@recordguy4321 You're welcome, record guy. ⚘️ I ❤ your 1954 📸 of Marlon Brando❣️ Getty Images has a series of his beloved white feline happily stretched across his shoulders, sleeping🥰, while Marlon types, at his home in Los Angeles. 😊 He once said of his relationship with his feline pet, “I live in my cat’s house.” 🌹.

Wow, given that Maury Muehleisen - your “John Lennon” - died just days after recording this performance, your comment is incredibly disrespectful.

@lisajanebrooklyn He died in the plane crash as well? I wasn't aware - sorry to hear that 😔 But how is pointing out that he looks similar to John Lennon disrespectful? If anything it's a compliment - John was an incredible singer/songwriter and a pretty good-looking guy as well.

@@hinjurock70 Ironic - another of Jim Croce’s hits was “I Got a Name,” but you believe that reducing Maury to a John Lennon lookalike is a joke. SIX PEOPLE died in the plane crash and many people have fought to have all the lives of the deceased remembered. The other five have been forgotten or never acknowledged - as your comment has proven - which shows disrespect to them. It can be helpful to do some research before writing comments which can seem insensitive to those who remember the other victims.

@lisajanebrooklyn You need to do some research into getting a sense of humor - God definitely has one. Also you act like your mother was on that plane. You must be really fun at parties - if you've ever gone to one, that is.

@lisajanebrooklyn I've always been a fan of dark humor and irrelevant humor like on Curb Your Enthusiasm. But saying that someone resembles John Lennon doesn't even fit into either of those categories. And yes, I'm aware that multiple people died in that plane crash - I wasn't aware that any of the others besides Jim were musicians or were in his band. There are comments all over KZfaq joking about how certain musicians resemble other musicians, actors, politicians, etc - that's just good-natured humor, so as I said, lighten tf up.