About The Song
“Bad, Bad Leroy Brown” is an uptempo, strophic story song written by American folk rock singer Jim Croce. Released as part of his 1973 album Life and Times, the song was a No. 1 hit for him, spending two weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 in July 1973. Billboard ranked it as the No. 2 song for 1973.
Set in the hardscrabble section of Chicago, this song tells the story of Leroy Brown, the “baddest man in the whole damn town.” He’s big and dangerous, loved by the ladies and feared by the men. But one day he picks a battle he can’t win, making a move on the wife of a guy who leaves him looking like a jigsaw puzzle with a some missing pieces.
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 explained, Jim had no interest in being a soldier and had the distinction of having to repeat basic training. But he did meet a guy who inspired one of his most famous songs. “Leroy Brown is a guy that he actually met,” said Ingrid. “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.”
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.
Video
Lyrics
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 name of Leroy Brown
Now Leroy more than trouble
You see he stand ’bout six foot four
All those downtown ladies call him “Treetop Lover”
All the men just call him “Sir”
And he’s bad, bad Leroy Brown
The baddest man in the whole damn 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
Under everybody’s nose
He got a custom Continental
He got an El Dorado too
He got a 32 gun in his pocket full a fun
He got a razor in his shoe
And he’s bad, bad Leroy Brown
The baddest man in the whole damn 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 oh that girl looked nice
Well, he cast his eyes upon her
And the trouble soon began
And Leroy Brown had learned a lesson
‘Bout a-messin’ with the wife of a jealous man
And he’s bad, bad Leroy Brown
The baddest man in the whole damn town
Badder than a-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 damn town
Badder than old King Kong
And meaner than a junkyard dog
And he’s bad, bad Leroy Brown
The baddest man in the whole damn town
Badder than old King Kong
And meaner than a junkyard dog
Yeah, he was badder than old King Kong
And meaner than a junkyard dog
