Bad, Bad Leroy Brown
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"Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" was a #1 hit in America in 1973 for Jim Croce from his album Life & Times.
His inspiration for the song was a friend he met in his brief time in the Army:
"I met him at Fort Dix, New Jersey. We were in lineman (telephone) school together. He stayed there about a week, and one evening he turned around and said he was really fed up and tired. He went AWOL, and then came back at the end of the month to get his pay check. They put handcuffs on him and took him away. Just to listen to him talk and see how 'bad' he was, I knew someday I was gonna write a song about him."
Croce explained the chorus reference to Leroy Brown being "meaner than a junkyard dog":
"Yeah, I spent about a year and a half driving those $29 cars, so I drove around a lot looking for a universal joint for a '57 Chevy panel truck or a transmission for a '51 Dodge. I got to know many junkyards well, and they all have those dogs in them. They all have either an axle tied around their necks or an old lawnmower to keep 'em at least slowed down a bit, so you have a decent chance of getting away from them."
[edit] Chart history
"Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" was released in April 1973 and peaked at number one three months later. It was still on the charts on September 20 when Croce died in a plane crash in Natchitoches, Louisiana.
| Preceded by "Will It Go Round in Circles" by Billy Preston |
Billboard Hot 100 number one single July 21 — July 28, 1973 |
Succeeded by "The Morning After" by Maureen McGovern |
