"Time in a Bottle" is a hit single by singer-songwriter Jim Croce. Croce wrote the lyrics after his wife Ingrid told him she was pregnant, in December 1970.[1] It appeared on his 1972 ABC debut album You Don't Mess Around with Jim and was featured in the 1973 ABC made-for-television movie "She Lives!". ABC originally did not intend to release the song as a single; but when Croce was killed in a plane crash in September 1973, its lyrics, dealing with mortality and the wish to have more time, had additional resonance. The song subsequently received a large amount of airplay as an album track and demand for a single release built. When it was eventually issued as a 7", it became his second and final No. 1 hit.[2] It was also 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.[3] After the single had finished its two-week run at the top in early January 1974, the album You Don't Mess Around with Jim became No. 1 for five weeks.[4] In 1977, "Time in a Bottle" was used as the title for a compilation album of Croce's love songs.
The arrangement features a harpsichord that producer Tommy West discovered had been left in the mixing studio:
The night before we were going to mix, I was watching a horror movie on TV, and something must have lodged in my brain because when I walked into the studio the next day, I saw this harpsichord sitting in a corner and got an idea. A jingle company had used it on a session and in walked a couple of guys from SIR [Studio Instruments Rental] to haul it away. I asked them to take a lunch break and told Bruce to put a couple of mics on it. He was whining that it was out of tune, but I asked him to let me try something. I added two tracks of harpsichord, told the movers they could remove it, walked into Jerry's office and asked if I could borrow the electric bass that was sitting on his couch, played that on just the second verse and the outro, and that was that! Radio compression worked in our favor on that record. It made the harpsichord blend with the two guitars in an unusual way. But we thought this record would only be an album cut.[5]
The song started receiving widespread airplay in September 1973, after it was featured over the end credits of the ABCTV movie, She Lives!, starring Desi Arnaz Jr. and Season Hubley.[citation needed]
The song appeared in the MacGyver episode "Flame's End."
The song's melody was mimicked in a Chinese remake used in the movie Fleet of Time featuring Faye Wong[citation needed]
The song has been played on episodes of the British TV series Heartbeat when a sad event (such as a death of one of the main characters) occurs.[citation needed]
"Time in a Bottle" was used in The Last Man on Earth episode "Dead Man Walking", during the funeral of a minor character named Gordon (portrayed by Will Ferrell).
The song was used for the funeral scene for Robert De Niro's deceased wife in Dirty Grandpa (2016).
In 2016, Apple released an iPhone 6s commercial called "Timer" featuring "Time in a Bottle". The commercial also features Sesame Street's Cookie Monster interacting with Siri.[23]
A cover of the song was made by the singer Yungblud for the 2019 film Hobbs and Shaw and was used in the trailer for the film Cherry.
Croce's group from college, the Villanova Spires, sings the song every year as homage to him.
In 2021 a faux renaissance arrangement of Time In A Bottle was used as a wedding dance followed by a more popular sung arrangement in the subsequent scenes in Episode 6 of Series 2 of “A Discovery of Witches”.
In 2021, the song appeared in the Nicolas Cage film Prisoners of the Ghostland, used during a samurai swordfight.
References[]
^Hyatt, Wesley. The Billboard Book of Number One Adult Contemporary Hits, Billboard Books, 1999, p. 132.
^Whitburn, Joel. The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 7th edition, Billboard Books, 2000, p. 159.
^"Marketing & Media Decisions". Decisions Publications. April 30, 1983. Retrieved April 30, 2018 – via Google Books. Mateus highlights "Time in a Bottle" campaign on spot tv. Thirty- second spots created by Shaller Rubin & Winer link Mateus with romance and intimacy to the tune of Jim Croce's love ballad, "Time ...
^"Art Direction". Advertising Trade Publications. April 30, 1984. Retrieved April 30, 2018 – via Google Books. Last year's Mateus ad centered around Jim Croce's "Time in a Bottle," and the current spot continues on a similar note with its "Spend the good times with Mateus" ...
^"Beverage World". Keller Publishing Corporation. April 30, 1985. Retrieved April 30, 2018 – via Google Books. The major advertislng support for Mateus during the past growth year was the 'Time in a Bottle" television spot, with its message. "Spend the Good Times with Mateus."
