Album: You Don't Mess Around With Jim (1972)

Charted: 1

License This Song 

• If I could save time in a bottle
  The first thing that I'd like to do
  Is to save every day
  'Til eternity passes away
  Just to spend them with you
  
  If I could make days last forever
  If words could make wishes come true
  I'd save every day like a treasure and then
  Again, I would spend them with you
  
  But there never seems to be enough time
  To do the things you want to do
  Once you find them
  I've looked around enough to know
  That you're the one I want to go
  Through time with
  
  If I had a box just for wishes
  And dreams that had never come true
  The box would be empty
  Except for the memory
  Of how they were answered by you
  
  But there never seems to be enough time
  To do the things you want to do
  Once you find them
  I've looked around enough to know
  That you're the one I want to go
  Through time with Writer/s: Jim Croce
  Publisher: BMG Rights Management
  Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

Comments: 18

• Cam from OhioThe song never gets old.
• Grampa Brian from OnJim Croce wrote and sang time in a Bottle, not your mother or anyone else! Provide absolute proof before you attempt to take credit for someone elses work!
• Lisa from 49017My Mother wrote the lyrics to Time in a bottle and she sold the poem when she was a young woman. my mother is 79 years old now and has always said that was the song she wrote, with some of the lyrics changed to make it theirs. i have always believe her, my mother is a beautiful poet and song writer.
• Pamela L Thompson from 44902J I m Croce has all ways been my favorite
• Seventhmist from 7th HeavenAnyone who loved his songs should play "Child of Midnight," which he performed with his wife and was unreleased until 1992 (50th anniversary of his birth). Incredibly beautiful song.
• Susan from Atlanta, GeorgiaJerry in Brooklyn and Lalah in Wasilla, Ak, I vividly remember that episode of the Muppets when the tearful scientist muppet was trying to save time in a bottle. I still tear up when I think of it - bawled like a baby the first time I saw it.
• Barry from Sauquoit, NyOn November 11th 1973, "Time In A Bottle" by Jim Croce entered Billboard's Hot Top 100 chart at position #79; and six weeks later of December 23rd, 1973* it peaked at #1 {for 2 weeks} and spent 15 weeks on the Top 100...
  And on the day it peaked at #1 on the Top 100 it also reached #1 {for 1 week} on Billboard's Adult Contemporary Tracks chart...
  Between July 1972 and January 1976 he had ten Top 100 records; four made the Top 10 with two reaching #1, his other #1 record was "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" for 2 weeks in 1973...
  James Joseph Croce passed away on September 20th, 1973 at the young age of 30...
  May he R.I.P.
  * the week ending December 29th, 1973.
• Carolyn from Knoville, TnBeautiful, beautiful song. I miss Croce!
• Ed from Asheville, NcI miss the songs he never wrote. I believe his best works were never hits. "Alabama Rain" Walkin Back to Georgia" and especially "Photographs and Memories." "Operator" and "Time in a bottle" are easily his most haunting that bit the charts, but the album cuts are the very best.
• Luis Medina from Livermore, MexicoRicardo Arjona Is A Guatemalan Singer That Became Famous By Singing This Song In Spanish As A Tribute To His All Time Idol Jim Croce The Song In Spanish Is "Tiempo En Una Botella" And It's Shown On The Album "Animal Nocturno"
• Robert from Chicago, IlJim Croce is one of the best and yet, the most under reated songwriters of all time. Not enough people know about him, or have even heard his songs. He had a way of singing in a way that you knew that he had experienced everything he was singing. Jim Croce's word spoke in a melacholy way and yet somehow uplifted you. More people should know about Jim Croce and find out about him. In my book there are very few songwriters who are in his league or greater. I only just sit and imagine what he would of done if he did not die in the begining of his prime.
• Karl from Akron, , OhI had seen on an interview show that Jim had written Time in a Bottle in honor of his then very small son A.J.
• Lalah from Wasilla, AkThe Muppet Show was for families. I remember the old muppet scientist singing this song. It was poignant.
• Camille from Toronto, OhJim Croce could encapsulate what millions of people felt, and put those feelings into a song with a beautiful, and in this case, almost haunting, melody. What a gift! For him, and then for all of us to listen to. Here it is, the year 2007 & I still feel badly that he was killed at such a young age. It made an impression on me as I was only a teenager at the time, but my mom & older sister loved Jim Croce & I did, too. Still do. Lots of his music on my ipod.
• Ron from Milwaukee, WiJim Croce died on September 20, 1973 and not on September 30, 1973, contrary to what is stated above.
• Luke from Mesa, AzThis song, Operator, Walkin Back to Georgia and A Long time ago were written in one week at his kitchen table in Penn. Jim Croce's wife Ingrid told Jim that she was pregnant. After a failed album, and years of touring, he knew that he only had one more chance before he would have to work odd jobs for the rest of his life. He sat down that night, and wrote Time in a Bottle for his unborn son Adrian.
• Jerry from Brooklyn, NyThis was once done on the old Muppet Show. It was brilliant and profound in its unique way. I can't remember which episode it was, but if you can get the chance to check it out, I think you will be deeply moved. While you're at it, check out the Muppets' take on Kenny Rogers and "The Gambler." The Muppet Show was for kids, but they were never afraid to do something for the adult audience as well.
• Mark from Watertown, SdOne of the most beautifully songs written EVER

More Songfacts:

PanamaVan Halen

"Panama" by Van Halen is not about the country or the canal, but about a stripper David Lee Roth met in Arizona.

She Blinded Me With ScienceThomas Dolby

Thomas Dolby wrote "She Blinded Me With Science" so he could direct the video, which was inspired by silent films and set in a "home for deranged scientists."

We Are The ChampionsQueen

Freddie Mercury considered "We Are The Champions" his version of "My Way." "We have made it, and it certainly wasn't easy," he said.

No Woman No CryBob Marley & the Wailers

Bob Marley gave the songwriting credit for "No Woman No Cry" to his friend Vincent Ford, who ran a soup kitchen in Trenchtown, the area of Kingston where Marley grew up.

Free BirdLynyrd Skynyrd

The "Free Bird" lyric, "If I leave here tomorrow, would you still remember me?" was something Lynyrd Skynyrd's guitarist's girlfriend said to him during a fight.

Mamma MiaABBA

The phrase "Mamma Mia" was big in 1976. It was the name of a popular Abba song, and also showed up in the lyrics to "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen.

Editor's Picks

David Bowie Lyrics QuizMusic Quiz

How well do you know your David Bowie lyrics? Take this quiz to find out.

80s Music Quiz 1Music Quiz

MTV, a popular TV theme song and Madonna all show up in this '80s music quiz.

00s Music Quiz 1Music Quiz

Do you know the girl singer on Eminem's "Stan"? If so, this quiz is for you.

David Clayton-Thomas of Blood, Sweat & TearsSongwriter Interviews

The longtime BS&T frontman tells the "Spinning Wheel" story, including the line he got from Joni Mitchell.

Don Brewer of Grand FunkSongwriter Interviews

The drummer and one of the primary songwriters in Grand Funk talks rock stardom and Todd Rundgren.

Elton JohnFact or Fiction

Does he have beef with Gaga? Is he Sean Lennon's godfather? See if you can tell fact from fiction in the Elton John edition.