Bu, but Leroy Brown wasn’t that kind of bad. It wasn’t post-Michael Jackson “bad means good”, more like “badass” (let’s see what the filter thinks of that). Parisi should know that. He’s basically the same age I am.
As for Bill’s headline, messing around with Jim may have been far less of a losing proposition than you would think. Jim wound up in worse shape than Leroy. Slim, on the other hand…
Jim was cut in ’bout a hundred places _and_ shot in a couple more. Slim is a monster.
“Bu, but Leroy Brown wasn’t that kind of bad.”
You are aware of the difference between a comic strip and encyclopedia, aren’t you?
On a side note, is there are word for this type of word play– intentionally interpreting a common phrase in an alternate meaning– or does it fall under the broad category of “pun”.
Jim Croce’s enunciation in the chorus is just unclear enough that my mother was able to convince me when I was a kid that Leroy Brown was the baddest man in the whole DOWN town. Or maybe I was just gullible… she also convinced me that white-furred baby seals were called “shmoos”, which I believed until I read a Lil Abner collection in my late teens.
Anyways, I thought the childhood of Leroy Brown involved solving mysteries and foiling Bugs Meany’s schemes and making sure Sally Kimball was nearby so he didn’t get beat up.
Leroy looked like a jigsaw puzzle with a couple of pieces gone seems pretty close to Jim’s fate. Clever of Croce to write the same song twice!
You didn’t need to embed the video. Just the phrase “You don’t mess around with…” was enough to start the earworm.
Always thought that song would make a good mashup with The Marines’ Hymn.
@billytheskink-
Thanks. I thought I was the only one who still remembers the Encyclopedia Brown books.
Unfortunately, Croce’s early death cemented is place in many minds as only being able to write fluffy songs about tough characters. Songs showcasing broader songwriting skills were just starting to get radio play when he died.
er. LEROY. Not Jim. Sigh. I used to sing this song to my kids to get them to go to sleep.
@billytheskink
So many thumbs up for the Encyclopedia Brown reference!
@Blinky The Wonder Wombat
No, you’re not the only one. ;-)
@Blinky: I don’t know. Both “Operator” and “One Less Set of Footsteps” charted while Croce was still alive. They didn’t do as well as Leroy and Jim, but I think people were aware of his range. Transportation has probably done in more great or near-great musicians than drugs and drink.
@choovermonium: Looks to me you got all your attributions right: Leroy, incomplete jigsaw; Jim, cut and shot (not to mention seriously bloody).
“Anyways, I thought the childhood of Leroy Brown involved solving mysteries…”
I can not believe I had never made the connection before…
I will have to add that to my list that includes The star of the Princess Diaries who married William Shakespeare, the Spencer child who was Barbara Cartland’s god-daughter who grew up to become Wonder Woman, and that guy who writes operas about Nixon in China and Inspector Clauseau, and others.
Wouldn’t work currently. He’s got an Eldorado, too, and the last year model of those was 2002.
Leroy Brown was killed in what became the town’s first ever cold case.
Bad, Bad Leroy Brown made out OK, but his brother Charlie, he’s a clown, he’s gonna get caught, just you wait and see!
@Bob Peters: Jim’s got problems, too. Cadillac hasn’t made a convertible since 1976.
“Cadillac hasn’t made a convertible since 1976.”
Any fool with a hacksaw (and a Cadillac) can make a Cadillac convertible.
ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN fans might also want to have a look at BROWN HARVEST by Jay Russell (2001), in which a thinly-disguised grown-up version of E.B. returns to his hometown and finds himself in a thinly-disguised version of Dashiell Hammett’s RED HARVEST. I found it a hoot.
Jim, like my son, could certainly drive a car older than he is.
@DemetriosX: Cadillac has made several convertibles since 1976, most recently the XLR (2004-2009). Despite Cadillac’s well-publicized discontinuation of the Eldorado convertible in 1976, “the last American convertible”, many custom shops converted Eldorados and other Cadillacs into convertibles afterward and GM itself reintroduced the Eldorado convertible in 1984. They followed up the end of the new convertible Eldorado after 1985 with the Allante (1987-1993) and its Italian-imported bodywork.
Comics I Don't Understand 
Bu, but Leroy Brown wasn’t that kind of bad. It wasn’t post-Michael Jackson “bad means good”, more like “badass” (let’s see what the filter thinks of that). Parisi should know that. He’s basically the same age I am.
As for Bill’s headline, messing around with Jim may have been far less of a losing proposition than you would think. Jim wound up in worse shape than Leroy. Slim, on the other hand…
Jim was cut in ’bout a hundred places _and_ shot in a couple more. Slim is a monster.
“Bu, but Leroy Brown wasn’t that kind of bad.”
You are aware of the difference between a comic strip and encyclopedia, aren’t you?
On a side note, is there are word for this type of word play– intentionally interpreting a common phrase in an alternate meaning– or does it fall under the broad category of “pun”.
Jim Croce’s enunciation in the chorus is just unclear enough that my mother was able to convince me when I was a kid that Leroy Brown was the baddest man in the whole DOWN town. Or maybe I was just gullible… she also convinced me that white-furred baby seals were called “shmoos”, which I believed until I read a Lil Abner collection in my late teens.
Anyways, I thought the childhood of Leroy Brown involved solving mysteries and foiling Bugs Meany’s schemes and making sure Sally Kimball was nearby so he didn’t get beat up.
Leroy looked like a jigsaw puzzle with a couple of pieces gone seems pretty close to Jim’s fate. Clever of Croce to write the same song twice!
You didn’t need to embed the video. Just the phrase “You don’t mess around with…” was enough to start the earworm.
Always thought that song would make a good mashup with The Marines’ Hymn.
@billytheskink-
Thanks. I thought I was the only one who still remembers the Encyclopedia Brown books.
Unfortunately, Croce’s early death cemented is place in many minds as only being able to write fluffy songs about tough characters. Songs showcasing broader songwriting skills were just starting to get radio play when he died.
er. LEROY. Not Jim. Sigh. I used to sing this song to my kids to get them to go to sleep.
@billytheskink
So many thumbs up for the Encyclopedia Brown reference!
@Blinky The Wonder Wombat
No, you’re not the only one. ;-)
@Blinky: I don’t know. Both “Operator” and “One Less Set of Footsteps” charted while Croce was still alive. They didn’t do as well as Leroy and Jim, but I think people were aware of his range. Transportation has probably done in more great or near-great musicians than drugs and drink.
@choovermonium: Looks to me you got all your attributions right: Leroy, incomplete jigsaw; Jim, cut and shot (not to mention seriously bloody).
“Anyways, I thought the childhood of Leroy Brown involved solving mysteries…”
I can not believe I had never made the connection before…
I will have to add that to my list that includes The star of the Princess Diaries who married William Shakespeare, the Spencer child who was Barbara Cartland’s god-daughter who grew up to become Wonder Woman, and that guy who writes operas about Nixon in China and Inspector Clauseau, and others.
Wouldn’t work currently. He’s got an Eldorado, too, and the last year model of those was 2002.
Leroy Brown was killed in what became the town’s first ever cold case.
https://www.theonion.com/idaville-detective-encyclopedia-brown-found-dead-in-lib-1819567098
RIP.
Bad, Bad Leroy Brown made out OK, but his brother Charlie, he’s a clown, he’s gonna get caught, just you wait and see!
@Bob Peters: Jim’s got problems, too. Cadillac hasn’t made a convertible since 1976.
“Cadillac hasn’t made a convertible since 1976.”
Any fool with a hacksaw (and a Cadillac) can make a Cadillac convertible.
ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN fans might also want to have a look at BROWN HARVEST by Jay Russell (2001), in which a thinly-disguised grown-up version of E.B. returns to his hometown and finds himself in a thinly-disguised version of Dashiell Hammett’s RED HARVEST. I found it a hoot.
Jim, like my son, could certainly drive a car older than he is.
@DemetriosX: Cadillac has made several convertibles since 1976, most recently the XLR (2004-2009). Despite Cadillac’s well-publicized discontinuation of the Eldorado convertible in 1976, “the last American convertible”, many custom shops converted Eldorados and other Cadillacs into convertibles afterward and GM itself reintroduced the Eldorado convertible in 1984. They followed up the end of the new convertible Eldorado after 1985 with the Allante (1987-1993) and its Italian-imported bodywork.