My father was really into music, a wide variety, classical, jazz, blues, soul, R&B, rock, novelty, so I heard lots of music growing up. I remember him bringing me with him to purchase a stereo system from this strange albino German guy who was extremely sensitive to light. We went to this big apartment building in Boston where the guy lived in a blacked out apartment with these dim glowing orange lights so when we stepped into it you could not see a damn thing until your eyes adjusted. I remember he has something set up so he could open the door with a remote control so he was nowhere near it. So, as a little boy I am standing there, the door opens on its own into a pitch black hallway, and you hear this voice with a heavy German accent say "Please come in, forgive me but my eyes are very sensitive to light. Take a moment when you enter and let your eyes adjust to the dark." and the door closes automatically behind us.  

I was thinking, "My dad is insane! This guy has got to be some kind of vampire!"

We stood in the black hallway until you could see a dim orange glow in front of us. He said "Please come forward." 

When suddenly what looked like a disembodied head, long white hair and sharp featured face, seemed to float out of the darkness in front of us. I believe the guy was dressed all in black and so all you could see was his head. Pretty terrifying but my father acted as if this was all as normal as having a cup of coffee.

He played music every day on that unusual stereo system that had these big speakers that pointed upward toward the ceiling with round circles of wood suspended above them that I imagine the music was meant to bounce off of so it when out into the space around them in all directions. 

Anyway, to bring this back to Jim Croce, I, of course, wanted to play an instrument as a kid, first piano and then guitar. My father when I told him I wanted to play a guitar and write songs gave me two records to listen to and said "These guys know how to write a song. If you are going to write songs with that guitar, listen to them and learn something." 

The two records were Jim Croce's Photographs and Memories and Harry Chapin's Heads and Tails. 

I had heard both of them before but played them a lot after he told me to listen closely to them. 

I remember my father being upset when both of them passed, earlier than either should have.