Photographs and Memories

In his tragically short career, Jim Croce released five albums and eleven singles.

Three of those albums went gold, and two of those singles made it to number one.  Five of his singles made it into the top ten.

This song wasn’t one of those singles.  In fact, this one wasn’t released as a single at all.

“Photographs and Memories” was on his third album, “You Don’t Mess Around With Jim”, which spent 93 weeks on the charts, longer than any of Jim’s other albums.

It’s nostalgic, and somewhat sad, but I find it a little hopeful, as well.  It’s about a relationship that has ended, and it could be that the couple broke up or it could be that the other one passed away. 

Either way, Jim laments that the photos are all that he has left, as he bittersweetly recalls the days when they were together.

I find it hopeful because I think it’s good to remember important parts of our past, the pleasant and, on occasion, the painful.  Both have made us who we are today. 

But it’s also important to keep in mind that, while the past is a nice place to visit, you shouldn’t live there.  And you shouldn’t use it as some kind of yardstick to measure where you are now.

At the risk of putting that Disney song in your head, let it go.  Allow yourself to remember those things, the good and the bad, just don't let them have power over you.

Taking the title of Jim's song literally, I also wanted to share some photographs with you.

The first pictures come from a recent Ghost Tour my wife and I went on at Balboa Park here in San Diego.  I wasn’t really expecting anything.  I just thought the way the lighting and sky looked, made this tower pretty spectacular. 

So I whipped out my phone and snapped a picture.  Then I enlarged that photo because I thought I saw something.  Or someone.  Does it look to you like there’s a figure on the balcony?

These next photos are from psychic and author Toni DeMaio (who co-hosts Psychic Tapestry’s Love Show with me on Fridays). She was just taking a couple pictures of a pretty sunset.  The two pics below were taken just moments apart, and she didn’t see the streaking light that appears in the second one.  A friend of hers said he thought it was Angelic Photobombing.  What do you think?

Love to hear what you think about either of those pairs of photos.  And to get back to the song, here’s a video someone uploaded to YouTube with a very rare concert performance by Jim Croce, and it begins with “Photographs and Memories”!