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“Time in a Bottle” was a hit single by singer-songwriter Jim Croce. Croce wrote the lyrics after his wife Ingrid told him she was pregnant with his son, Adrian, in December 1970.

The story goes that ABC, his record company, originally did not intend to release the song as a single, but when Croce was killed in a plane crash in September of 1973, the song’s 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 the single was eventually issued, it became his second and final No. 1 hit.

Noah brought the song to me to record because it is his dad, Michael’s, favorite song. I had no trouble at all complying with his wishes because I’ve always loved the song as well.

One day, while orchestrating the song in my studio, the idea came to me that Noah must be a kid who is certainly enjoying his childhood. Moving from 12 to 13 is a big step and, though with it comes the excitement of his teenage years, leaving behind a most special childhood must be harder than for most.

So the idea that “Time / Tapping on my window pane / Telling me to hurry up and grow old” struck me as a way to launch the song about the desire to hold on to the moment of childhood just a little bit longer.

Broadway singing is often what I call singing to hit the back wall of the theater. It’s often big voice singing that requires big voice production. Studio singing on a $4000 microphone is a whole other ballgame. The ability to sing loud has absolutely nothing to do with the process. I like to tell my artists that the mic in the studio is like someone sitting right in front of you very close, and the mic is their ear. Sing into that someone’s ear.

So this was a new kind of vocal production for Noah – and I believe he took to it quite well. This song is a perfect example of Noah’s foray into pop singing and studio mic technique.

Like most things Noah goes after, here he again excels.

One day even before we started the mixing process, we invited Dad into the studio to hear a ruff mix of the song. Michael sat and listened intently. Noah never took his eyes off his father. The tears that formed in his father’s eyes brought tears to my own.

It was one of our best moments in the studio.

 

Time In A Bottle

Music and Lyrics by Jim Croce

Additional Music and Lyrics by Peter Link

Time

Tapping on my window pane

Telling me to hurry up and grow old

 

But if I could save time in a bottle

The first thing that I’d like to do

Is to save ev’ry day

Til’ eternity passes away

Just to spend them with you

 

If I could make days last forever

If words could make wishes come true

I’d save ev’ry day

Like a treasure and then again

I would spend them with you

 

But there never seems to be enough time

To do the things you want to do

Once you find them

 

I’ve looked around enough to know

That you’re the one I want to go through time with

 

Time is tapping on my window pane

Telling me to hurry up

Hurry up and grow old

Stealing ev’ry precious moment

Like a thief in the night

 

But if I had a box just for wishes

And dreams that had never come true

The box would be empty

Except for the mem’ry of

How they were answered by you

 

But there never seems to be enough time

To do the things you want to do

Once you find them

 

And oh, don’t you know

That I’ve looked around enough to know

That you’re the one I want to go through time with

 

If I could save time in a bottle

The first thing that I’d like to do

Is to save ev’ry day

Til’ eternity passes away

Just to spend them with you

With you

You

You

 

If I could save time in a bottle

I’d spend all my moments with you

You

You

You