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Songfacts:  You can leave comments about the song at the bottom of the page.

This was the theme song for the 1973 movie The Last American Hero starring Jeff Bridges as a stock car driver. The movie is based on the true story of stock car driver Junior Johnson. (thanks, Julian - Oakland, AR)

This is a rare song that Croce recorded but did not write. Ingrid Croce, who was married to Jim from 1966 until his death in 1973, explains: "It was written by Norman Gimbel and Charles Fox. And they were wonderful guys, really nice people. Jim had been selected to sing this song for this particular movie. He really enjoyed this opportunity, because he went into the recording studio and it was a little awkward for him not to hold his guitar - his guitar is kind of like a bar for the bartender, having that prop between him and the audience was just a real security, it made him feel very comfortable. So putting down the guitar to sing, just to sing the song in the studio, was a very unusual thing for Jim, and he thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a brand new start for him in some ways, to use his vocals in a different way. I think it's one of the most powerful songs he does on that album for sure. I loved it."

Ingrid: "More people think he wrote that song. His voice was so unique... the timbre in his tone and his warmth and his generosity, everything came through that voice. So when he took a song, he'd make it his own, and I think he did a great job with 'I've Got A Name.' So many people like to think of Jim with that song that I hate to tell them it isn't his." (Read more in Ingrid Croce's Songfacts interview, and at Croces.com.)

The album was produced by Terry Cashman and Tommy West, who had a hit as Cashman & West with "American City Suite." Says Cashman: "We recorded it because Jim was going to get a lot of money to record the song, and if it was released as a single, it would be the main title of a movie called The Last American Hero. So it wasn't a song that Jim wrote on the guitar with Maury [Muehleisen]. Tommy and Jimmy and Maury and myself came up with the arrangement together. It was a different kind of animal. We did that song with just the tracks for us, and then recorded Jim's voice over it, which is the way most people did records in those days. But most people think that Jim wrote that song because it sounds like the other songs, and then the production of course is a little bit more elaborate. It was different in that way, but Maury has a big guitar part and it certainly sounded like one of his records. And it became one of his most popular records. You know, a lot of people have covered that song, and it's been used in a number of other movies."

Comments:

This was a song that reminds me of my father. When he died 6 years ago after his funeral, I went home and played this song in his honor and balled my eyes out. I remember when I was 9 he took me to the race movie THE LAST AMERICAN HERO and this was the ending song. My father build high performance race cars for a living and I use to love to go to the races with him, that was our thing. It is hard for me to see races live or on TV without him. I will always love this song..Peace, Jim
- Jim, Long Beach, CA

i absolutely love this song. im only 16 but jim croce is one of my favorite artists. his death proved that only the good die young. RIP Jim! say hi to papou for me in heaven!
- cynthia, scranton, PA

I always imagined driving in my car with a girl I really liked and singing this song together as it played deafening loud on the stereo. Sort of like a pre-curser to marriage. And, having her follow me and my father's name into the future generations. I think that is what this song is all about, simply passing on the family name. The whole heritage of it all. And, it all begins for you with you father. And, it is something that you pass on to your sons. Like a torch, knowing that someone else carries it forward, you can rest.
- Jeff, Casa Grande, AZ

The version of the song in the movie THE LAST AMERICAN HERO is not the one that is found on the record. An earler (and rather tentative) alternate version of I GOT A NAME was recorded for the motion picture soundtrack.
- Barry, New York, NC

Who cannot really listen to the lyrics of this song and not feel like standing up to shout, "I got a name!" When you feel down, go for this and leave the Stephen Crane.
- Zachariah, Detroit, MI

This song really touches me.Jim Croce was a great talent!
- Chris, Chicago, IL

This is played at the beginning of the 2006 movie Invincible.
- Richard, Houston, TX

Jim Croce's music has always meant a lot to me. I've made friends through his music and some of his songs have gotten me through some very depressed times in my life. I'm too young to remember that much about him personally but he must have been a really great guy.
- Michael, Ephrata, WA

This song was climbing the charts at the time of his death. I'll never forget it. I was at a friend's house, playing pool, when the report came on the radio of the plane crash. It hit me the way I imagine that newspaper headline in February 1959 must have hit Don McLean.
- Frank, Westminster, SC

This is one of the only songs in Jim Croce's catalog that he didn't write
- Luke, Mesa, AZ