Music

Jim Croce joined the US National Guard in 1966, hoping it would keep him from getting sent to Vietnam. He married Ingrid that year, and hoped to continue his education and launch his music career. Unfortunately, Jim was sent for training less then two weeks after their wedding. As Ingrid told us, Jim had no interest in being a soldier and had the distinction of having to repeat basic training. Ingrid explains how Jim got the idea for this song: "Leroy Brown is a guy that he actually met. When he was in the service - The National Guard - this guy had gone AWOL. He was a guy that Jim kind of related to, he liked to sing with him. This guy had gone AWOL but he came back to get his paycheck, and he got caught. Jim just thought he was such a funny guy that he thought he'd include his name in the song, and it just worked. There really was a Leroy Brown, and sometimes having a name helps you to build a song around it." Wikimedia Commons When Jim Croce would introduce this song, he said there were two people he encountered in the military who inspired this song: a sergeant at Fort Jackson and a private at Fort Dix. The actual Leroy was the sergeant, but it was the private who went AWOL and returned for his paycheck. (Source) Lyrics for Bad, Bad, Leroy Brown Well the South side of Chicago Is the baddest part of town And if you go down there You better just beware of a man named Leroy Brown Now Leroy, more than trouble You see he stand 'bout six foot four All the downtown ladies call him Treetop Lover All the men just call him Sir And it's bad, bad Leroy Brown The baddest man in the whole damned town Badder than old King Kong And meaner than a junkyard dog Now Leroy, he a gambler And he like his fancy clothes And he like to wave his diamond rings In front of everybody's nose He got a custom Continental He got an Eldorado too Got a .32 gun in his pocket for fun He got a razor in his shoe And it's bad, bad Leroy Brown The baddest man in the whole damned town Badder than old King Kong And meaner than a junkyard dog Well, Friday 'bout a week ago Leroy shootin' dice And at the edge of the bar Sat a girl named Doris and ooh, that girl looked nice Well, he cast his eyes upon her And the trouble soon began 'Cause Leroy Brown learned a lesson 'Bout messin' with the wife of a jealous man And it's bad, bad Leroy Brown The baddest man in the whole damned town Badder than old King Kong And meaner than a junkyard dog Well, the two men took to fighting And when they pulled them from the floor Leroy looked like a jigsaw puzzle With a couple of pieces gone And it's bad, bad Leroy Brown The baddest man in the whole damned town Badder than old King Kong And meaner than a junkyard dog And it's bad, bad Leroy Brown The baddest man in the whole damned town Badder than old King Kong And meaner than a junkyard dog Yeah, badder than old King Kong And meaner than a junkyard dog Wanna hear some other songs of his, here's a longer concert clip... RELATED: Jim Croce’s ‘Time In A Bottle’ May Have Outlived Him, But He Will Stay In Our Hearts For Eternity