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ABC Records never intended to release this "Great Song of the '70s" as a single.
It's not that they didn't think it was good, they did. They figured it was a solid album cut and really nothing more.
But then tragedy struck: Jim Croce died in a plane crash in 1973.
Jim wrote the song in 1970 when his wife Ingrid announced she was pregnant, and it was included on Jim's debut album, "You Don't Mess Around With Jim."
It was a very personal song about mortality that resonated with people even before the crash...but after the fact, radio stations received so many requests for the album cut, ABC decided to green light a single release.
In early 1974, "Time in a Bottle" went to #1 in both the U.S. and Canada.
True, post-crash emotion played a part in its popularity, but the song is truly poignant, and I believe it deserves to be called a "Great Song of the '70s," just for the lyrics alone.
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