Here’s an audio snapshot of the end of last week’s rehearsal. We’d just had a wonderful evening singing with a Flood sweetheart, Charlie Bowen’s lovely cousin Kathy Castner, who had made one of her rare visits in from Cincinnati.
At the beginning of this track you hear folks packing up their instruments and saying their goodbyes. But at the same time, over in the corner, Danny Cox and his guitar have one more tune to do with Kathy.
Listen as the guys realize what’s happening and join in for this sweet final moment of the night. And what a wonderfully wistful song it is for a perfect closing.
About the Song
The late Jim Croce’s “Time in a Bottle” was never intended as a single release, and the songwriter didn’t even live to see its success.
Initially, the song was seen as merely filler material on Croce’s smash 1972 debut album, which featured chart-toppers like the disc’s title tune (“Don’t Mess Around with Jim”) as well as the memorable “Operator (That’s Not the Way It Feels).”
The Inspiration
Jim wrote the song in December 1970, the night his wife, Ingrid, shared the news that she was expecting. The couple had been married for five years, and the inspiration for the song came from the anticipation of a new addition to the family.
At the time, Croce had been working three jobs and felt he could not devote enough time to his music. Ingrid recounted in The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits that she entered a recipe in a Pillsbury baking competition the night she informed her husband of her pregnancy. Croce sat down that same night and wrote “Time in a Bottle.”
Noted Jay McDowell in American Songwriter magazine, “The song’s meaning lies in the message that the most important thing we have is time.”
Its Second Act
In 1973, “Time in a Bottle” was exposed to a new audience when it appeared in the film She Lives, a story of a young couple who fall in love and then face a cancer diagnosis.
In a key scene, the song plays entirely as the couple remains silent on the phone, bringing the lyrics to the center of the story.
The movie aired on CBS just eight days before Jim’s own life was cut short. On Sept. 20, 1973, Croce’s plane crashed into a tree as it was taking off from Natchitoches, Louisiana, with no survivors.
Television stations received many calls from viewers asking where they could purchase the song. Radio stations started playing “Time in a Bottle” in response to the movie’s success, and, with Croce’s death, ABC Records decided to re-release it as a single.
Fourteen weeks after the crash, the song became Croce’s second No.1 hit.
Meanwhile, 22 Years Ago…
“Time in a Bottle” also was on the set list 22 years ago this month when Kathy made a memorable guest appearance on Joe Dobbs’ “Music from the Mountains” radio show on West Virginia Public Radio, as you’ll hear if you click the button below:
On Friday, Aug. 13, 2004, Charlie and Kathy drove from Huntington to the radio station’s studios in Charleston to record the show. Kathy was comfortable singing. She and her cousin had sung together for a long time, starting years earlier swapping tunes with Kathy’s late mom, Charlie’s Aunt Katherine.
But always shy, Kathy did feel a bit nervous about the speaking and interview segments of the show. Fortunately, Joe and his engineer George Walker quickly put her at ease.
Her recorded performance and interview aired on the public radio network a few weeks later near the 31st anniversary of Croce’s death.
More from 2004
If you’d like more 2004 Flood tunes — including those featuring tunes on which Kathy sat in — visit the free Radio Floodango music streaming service and, under the “Hear by Year” heading, select the 2004 button.
Remember, we’ve now got ways to mobilize Floodango. Click here to find out how to put the Flood radio on your computer desktop and on an iPhone to make your Flood fix always just a click away.
Also if you’d like to know more of what was happening in the Floodiverse in those days, click here to see the 2004 pages in the band’s online scrapbook.
