Bad Bad Leroy Brown (1973) 7/5/20

When Jim Croce was in the army at Fort Dix, New Jersey, one of his fellow soldiers was a man who talked a big game and didn't take crap from anyone—including the military. In fact, he was “badder than old King Kong, and meaner than a junkyard dog!”

Well, after about a week, the guy went AWOL. BIG mistake. But then he made a BIGGER one: he came back at the end of the month to get his paycheck. He was promptly arrested and thrown in the stockade.

The whole episode stuck in Jim's memory, and a few years later, it became the inspiration for today's “Great Song of the '70s!”

In early 1973, “Bad Bad Leroy Brown” Topped the “Top 40” in both the US and Canada, and was nominated for two Grammys: “Best Male Pop Vocalist” and “Record of the Year.”

Sadly, it was Jim's only #1 before he died in a plane crash in September of '73. Others came posthumously.

Over the years, the song has been covered by a long list of artists, including Jerry Reed, Kim Carnes, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buck Owens, Dolly Parton, and even Frank Sinatra, but nobody sang it better than the man who wrote it!

“Bad Bad Leroy Brown” by Jim Croce: A “Great Song of the '70s!