You Don't Mess Around with Jim — Jim Croce
Chords and lyrics for You Don't Mess Around with Jim by Jim Croce (key of E).
Verse 1
[E]Uptown got its hustlers
The bowery got its bums
42nd Street got Big Jim Walker
He's a pool-shootin' son of a gun
Yeah, he big and dumb as a man can come [A]
[E]But he stronger than a country hoss
And when the bad folks all get together at night [B]
[A]You know they all call big Jim [E]"Boss", just because
Chorus
[A]You don't tug on Superman's cape [E]
[A]You don't spit into the wind [E]
[A]You don't pull the mask off the old Lone Ranger
[B]And you don't mess around with [E]Jim
Verse 2
[E]Well outta south Alabama came a country boy
He say I'm lookin' for a man named Jim
I am a pool-shootin' boy
My name Willie McCoy
But down home they call me Slim
Yeah I'm lookin' for the king of 42nd Street [A]
[E]He drivin' a drop top Cadillac
After he took all my money [B]
And it may sound funny
[A]But I came to get my money [E]back
Chorus
[A]And you don't tug on Superman's cape [E]
[A]You don't spit into the wind [E]
[A]You don't pull the mask off the old Lone Ranger
[B]And you don't mess around with [E]Jim
Verse 3
[E]Well a hush fell over the pool room
Jimmy come boppin' in off the street
And when the cuttin' were done
The only part that wasn't bloody
Was the soles of the big man's feet
Yeah he were cut in in bout a hundred places [A]
[E]And he were shot in a couple more
And you better believe [B]
They sung a different kind of story
[A]When big Jim hit the [E]floor
Chorus
[A]You don't tug on Superman's cape [E]
[A]You don't spit into the wind [E]
[A]You don't pull the mask off the old Lone Ranger
[B]And you don't mess around with [E]Slim
Interlude
[E]Yeah, big Jim got his hat
Find out where it's at
And it's not hustlin' people strange to you
Even if you do got a two-piece custom-made pool cue
Chorus
[A]Yeah you don't tug on Superman's cape [E]
[A]You don't spit into the wind [E]
[A]You don't pull the mask off the old Lone Ranger
[B]And you don't mess around with [E]Slim