"I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song" is the title of a posthumously released single by the American singer-songwriter Jim Croce. The song was written by Croce and was originally found on his album I Got a Name.
Croce was killed in a small-plane crash in September 1973, the same week that his studio album I Got a Name was released. Following the delayed release of a song from Croce's previous album ("Time in a Bottle") in late 1973, "I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song" was chosen as the second single released from the singer's final studio album. It peaked at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in April 1974, becoming Croce's fifth Top 10 hit. In addition, the song went to #1 on the Billboard adult contemporary chart and reached #68 on the Billboard country music chart, Croce's only song to chart on this survey.
Croce wrote the song in early 1973 when he arrived home and got into a disagreement with his wife, Ingrid. Instead of arguing with her, Ingrid has stated that Croce "went downstairs, and he started to play, like he always did when he wrote...the next morning, he came up early in the morning and sang it to me."
This song is noted for the use of male backup singers, as well as a string section, that plays a counterpoint melody during the concluding instrumental.
Read more about I'll Have To Say I Love You In A Song: Songwriting, Covers, Track Listing, Chart Performance
Famous quotes containing the words love and/or song:
“The twelfth day of Christmas,
My true love sent to me
Twelve lords a-leaping.”
—Unknown. The Twelve Days of Christmas (l. 89–91)
“Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm: for love is strong as death; jealousy is cruel as the grave: the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.”
—Bible: Hebrew Song of Solomon, 8:6.