Chart Position: 17
- Written by Jim Croce
- Guitar: Jim Croce and Maury Muehliesen
- Keyboards: Tommy West
- Produced by Terry Cashman and Tommy West
- Backing vocals: Maury Muehliesen
- Recorded in New York City NY
- The song is autobiographical as it recalls Jim Croce’s experiences serving in the National Guard as well as the ‘Dear John’ experiences of fellow soldiers whose lovers left them
- The Martin Guitar Co. produced a line of 73 guitars to honor Jim Croce, with a dime embedded in the third fret in honor of this song and the line “you can keep the dime”
- Later recorded by Kings Road (1972), Ventures (1974), Gene Cotton (1981), Paul McDermand (1997), Toby Lightman (2004), Dennis Durant (2005), Mark Burchfield (2006),Jesse Malin (2008), Maggie’s Guitar (2008), Tom Swift (2011), Barbara Belloni (2012), Garth Brooks (2014), Diana Krall (2015), Pat Surface (2015), Radish Friends (2018) and Wesley Schultz (2021)
The Year in Music 1963 - 1988 