I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song

"I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song"
Single by Jim Croce
from the album I Got a Name
B-side Salon and Saloon
Released March 1974
Format 7" (45 rpm)
Recorded 1973
Genre Country folk
FolkPop
Length 2:33
Label ABC Records
Writer(s) Jim Croce
Producer Terry Cashman, Tommy West
Jim Croce singles chronology
"It Doesn't Have to Be That Way"
(1973)
"I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song'"
(1974)
"Workin' at the Car Wash Blues"
(1974)

"I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song" is the title of a posthumously released single by the American singer-songwriter Jim Croce. The song was written by Croce and was originally found on his album I Got a Name.

Croce was killed in a small-plane crash in September 1973, the same week that his studio album I Got a Name was released. Following the delayed release of a song from Croce's previous album ("Time in a Bottle") in late 1973, "I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song" was chosen as the second single released from the singer's final studio album. It peaked at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in April 1974, becoming Croce's fifth Top 10 hit.[1] In addition, the song went to #1 on the Billboard adult contemporary chart and reached #68 on the Billboard country music chart, Croce's only song to chart on this survey.[2]

Croce wrote the song in early 1973 when he arrived home and got into a disagreement with his wife, Ingrid. Instead of arguing with her, Ingrid has stated that Croce "went downstairs, and he started to play, like he always did when he wrote...the next morning, he came up early in the morning and sang it to me."[2]

This song is noted for the use of male backup singers, as well as a string section, that plays a counterpoint melody during the concluding instrumental.

Contents

Covers

Track listing

7" Single (ABC-11424)[3]

  1. "I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song" - 2:30
  2. "Salon And Saloon" - 2:30

Chart performance

Weekly charts

Chart (1974) Peak
position
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 9
U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary Singles 1[4]
U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles 68
U.S. Cash Box Top 100 7[5]
Canadian RPM Top Singles 4[6]
Netherlands Dutch Top 40 28[7]
Australian Top 100 Singles 100[8]

Year-end charts

Chart (1974) Peak
position
Canadian RPM Top Singles 75[9]
U.S. Billboard Hot 100 85
U.S. Cash Box Top 100 88[10]

Chart procession and succession

Preceded by
"Keep On Singing" by Helen Reddy
US Billboard Adult Contemporary
number-one single

April 27, - May 3, 1974
Succeeded by
"TSOP (The Sound of Philadelphia)" by MFSB featuring The Three Degrees

References