What Makes Jim Croce’s Operator So Unique

Tears streaming as I listen to your commentary. Knowing that you have recognized our brother Maury’s musical talent is heartwarming. It’s 49 years now and the memories are like an unbelievable yesterday. Thank you for remembering and honoring their lives.

I have been a trucker for 50 years. The day Croce died I was delivering a load of beef in LaSalle St in downtown Chicago. I was a big fan of his music. While tuning to WLS one of Croce's songs had just ended when the DJ announced that he had died. Then Operator came on... I was so sad. I had sung along with his songs, played on my 8 track, for 100,000 miles or more. The world is always a little better when I hear his music. Thank you Rick. Thank you ( and I love you) Mary.

I too was crying through the entire commentary. Before Jim Croce ever recorded, I was a friend of his and his wife, Ingrid's. I was 5 or so years younger, a folk guitar accompanist (I still play at 75) and part of a group who used to meet at Jim's old white farmhouse near Lindell (IIRC), in the western exurbs of Philadelphia around 1970. We'd sit around on the lawn drinking beer, playing guitars, singing traditional songs & some of Jim & Ingrid's earliest works (see his album "Jim & Ingrid Croce" from the late '60s for these) & having the time of our lives. Everybody could see that, if he ever got his break, Jim was going to be something extra special in the folk world. The songs that he had already written were among the best I've ever heard with "Operator (That's Not the Way it Feels)" in the #1 position ("Operator" was officially listed as written in 1972, but Jim recorded it on singles as early as the mid-60s). I have always loved the way Jim & Maury blended their guitar styles to the point where 1 + 1 was so much greater than 2. They combined to blend all of the best of Martin guitars' low & high ranges. I'd love to see you analyze "Time in a Bottle" (which reached #1 on the charts posthumously), another song I simply can't listen to without crying. Play it all the way through before you start to dissect it for its full effect. The thought of all that Jim and Maury missed in life that should have been their time to shine to the world is tragic. It is always crushing to lose a friend, but to see Jim & his brilliance, along with Maury's, which sadly passed almost unnoticed outside of the musician world) resurrected 5 decades later is a remarkable synthesis of Joy and Sadness. Thank you for rediscovering Jim's "Operator," one of the all-time most moving songs I've ever heard. Perhaps the perfect song. BTW, not only did Ingrid perform herself for a number of years before opening her restaurant in California, but Jim's son, A. J. does remarkable covers of his father's songs.

This song has always murdered me. Croce was able to communicate what the rest of us can only feel. Brilliant.

I saw his son in concert last year and he explained where this song came from. His father was in the army stationed at Fort Dix, and when the soldiers had free time, they'd line up at the only pay phone on base to wait their turn to call home to talk to their girls. While he waited for his turn, he heard one side of tragedies playing out before his eyes as soldier's girls moved on while they were away. As a song writer, he realized it was pure gold.

Rick I hate to admit it … but every single time this masterpiece of a tune comes on … someone starts chopping onions 🥲

There was no Jim without Maury. Great song writer, great guitar backing. Outstanding time to grow up.

Jim is just like a shooting star. A short burst of amazing that left us wanting for more.

I'm 33, and have never used a payphone and this song is still more relatable than 99% of what gets written these days.

I played this song for a 19 year old co-worker (I’m 63) and he was just amazed at the lyrics. He said not only was Jim Croce a great storyteller, he transported you into the role of the person in the song, that you were living the experience and feeling the emotions. I knew he truly got it.

I've listened to this song hundreds of times, but still every single time the "you can keep the dime..." line gives me the feels.

"There's something in my eye... you know it happens every time I think about the love that I thought would save me" What a sad yet relatable line. Great analysis, Mary and Rick.

i’m a 17 year old girl and i’ve had a strong emotional connection to Jim Croce’s music ever since last year. he’s gotten me through hard times 🤍 young people can totally connect to older music although the lyrics may describe a world we can’t fully relate to, the emotions held in the music transcends the barriers :)

'Operator' is one of the greatest examples of storytelling in a song.

I’m 68 and you two have helped me appreciate this song even more than I have for the last 50 years. Your analysis took it to another level. Thank you.

Love this. The guy has lost his girlfriend and his best old ex-friend, and he's lonely. The only person available to talk to is the operator. So this song is about heartbreak, but it's also about the loneliness that follows from that. A beautiful song.

I'm 78 years old, and a former telephone and directory assistance operator, mostly all-night shift. Loved it! Every time I hear this song, he is singing to me! I can so relate to this! ♥ Such a classic and clever song!

There is more to this story. Jim's inspiration came from this time in the army in the 1960s. I served in the 80s and it was the same. There were pay phones near the barracks and soldiers would line up for their turn calling home to talk to their parents, wives, and girlfriends. That "old friend" Ray had the universal name of "Jody" among soldiers and he was the guy who would steal your girl while you were away. We even had cadences we sang while running and marching about what we would do to "Jody" when we got back home. Many times, the soldier found out during one of these not so private phone calls and the other soldiers in the line could hear enough to know that Jody has struck again. Any soldier who served before cell phones can identify with this part of military service. I recall an interview Croce gave where he explained all this as his inspiration for Operator.

Croce is one of my all time favorite song writers and he died 5 years before I was born. I grew up listening to him and Lightfoot and all these greats from that era. Just an amazing writer.

Rick, even to this day when I hear the line, "I've overcome the blow, I've learned to take it well...," I get the chills! That line is sooo good!