Jim Croce: Time in a Bottle

"Time in a Bottle" is a song by singer-songwriter Jim Croce. He wrote the lyrics after his wife Ingrid told him she was pregnant in December 1970.[2] It appeared on Croce&1972 ABC debut album You Don&Mess Around with Jim and was featured in the 1973 ABC made-for-television movie She Lives! After he was killed in a plane crash in September 1973, the song was aired frequently on radio, and demand for a single release built. The single of "Time in a Bottle" became Croce&second and final track to reach number 1 in the United States. The arrangement features a harpsichord that producer Tommy West discovered had been left in the mixing studio. Cash Box magazine called the song "a sweet, tender ballad filled with Croce’s magical vocal touch".[5] Record World called it "an instant classic and an extremely moving record."[6] "Time in a Bottle" was the third posthumous Billboard number-one hit after "Sittin&on the Dock of the Bay" by Otis Redding and "Me and Bobby McGee" by Janis Joplin.[7] After the single finished its two-week run at the top of the charts in early January 1974, the album You Don&Mess Around with Jim became No. 1 for five weeks.[8] In 1977, Time in a Bottle was chosen as the title of a compilation album of Croce&love songs.