Lyrics to
Bad, Bad Leroy Brown by Jim Croce

This version of Bad, Bad Leroy Brown By Jim Croce was released by Jim Croce in 1973.

Our Decade Lyrics Jim Croce profile has all of the Bad, Bad Leroy Brown By Jim Croce lyrics from 1973 and many more songs from the Jim Croce discography that we have on file.

Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to Jim Croce or about the 1970s in general.

Released in 1973, Bad Bad Leroy Brown is a song set in the rough section of the city of Chicago that tells the story of the “baddest man in the whole damn town.”  Unfortunately, the baddest man in town made a move on the wife of someone else who appeared to be bigger and badder than Leroy Brown, as he ends up beaten soundly.

Before Jim Croce would perform this song at shows, he would explain the story. The story goes that there were 2 people that Jim Croce served in the US National Guard with that inspired the song – an officer at Fort Jackson and a private at Fort Dix. “Leroy Brown” was the name of the sergeant, and the private was a soldier who went AWOL and got caught while returning to try to collect his paycheck.

The song was a merging of inspiration from each of the two individuals above into the caricature of Leroy Brown that is created by the lyrics and song.

Bad, Bad Leroy Brown is a favorite of cover bands and karaoke nights, due to its easy singing style, relatively slow pace and catchy lyrics. The song is a member of our own list of the most popular sing-a-long songs.

Woah!
Bad, Bad Leroy Brown

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 Eldorado 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.

---

Want more lyrics and songs by Jim Croce?

Jim Croce has released many songs over the years besides Bad, Bad Leroy Brown By Jim Croce. Jim Croce released songs from 1972 to 1973 spanning across albums like You Don't Mess Around With Jim, Life And Times, and I Got A Name. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Jim Croce.

If you're a fan of popular 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1973 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Bad, Bad Leroy Brown By Jim Croce by Jim Croce

The lyrics to Bad, Bad Leroy Brown By Jim Croce are just the words, phrases, verses and chorus that Jim Croce used when the song was created in 1973. The lyrics to Bad, Bad Leroy Brown By Jim Croce have both easy-to-spot meanings and hidden metaphors that have been discussed by the music press and fans, but only Jim Croce and any collaborators know all of the inspirations for the song.

If you like etymology or breaking apart phrases and words, it is easy to understand the lyrics to Bad, Bad Leroy Brown By Jim Croce by Jim Croce. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to Bad, Bad Leroy Brown By Jim Croce" means the words set to the music of Bad, Bad Leroy Brown By Jim Croce, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Jim Croce. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to Bad, Bad Leroy Brown By Jim Croce and the lyrics to Bad, Bad Leroy Brown By Jim Croce are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Jim Croce who came here looking just for the lyrics to Bad, Bad Leroy Brown By Jim Croce, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

More Songs & Lyrics by Jim Croce

Visit our Jim Croce profile for more Jim Croce songs, lyrics & info!

)