Songs I Love To Play: Roller Derby Queen (Jim Croce)

Jim Croce didn't record much, but what there is of his career is loaded with either soft romantic tunes or fun to play countryish folk rock gems like this one. "Roller Derby Queen" is from his 1973 album Life And Times, which came out just over two months before he died in a plane crash. Croce was a fine storyteller, and this song about falling for a tough roller derby skater is the stuff that outlaw country songs are truly made of. I love to play this at my shows...it's a good upbeat number to throw in the middle of all the depressing stuff I tend to play.

ROLLER DERBY QUEEN
Words & Music by JIM CROCE

Gonna tell you a story that you won't believe
But I fell in love last Friday evenin'
With a girl I saw on a bar room TV screen
Well I was just gettin' ready to get my hat
When she caught my eye and I put it back
And I ordered myself a couple o' more shots and beers

You know) that I fell in love with a Roller Derby Queen
(Round 'n' round, oh round 'n' round)
The meanest hunk o' woman
That anybody ever seen
Down in the arena

She was five foot six and two fifteen
A bleached-blonde mama with a streak of mean
She knew how to knuckle
And she knew how to scuffle and fight
And the roller derby program said
That she were built like a 'fridgerator with a head
The fans called her "Tuffy"
But all her buddies called her "Spike"

You know) that I fell in love with a Roller Derby Queen
(Round 'n' round, oh round 'n' round)
The meanest hunk o' woman
That anybody ever seen
Down in the arena

Round 'n' round, go round 'n' round
Round 'n' round, go round 'n' round
Round 'n' round, go round 'n' round

Well I could not help it but to fall in love
With this heavy-duty woman I been speakin' of
Things looked kind of bad
Until the day she skated into my life
Well she might be nasty she might be fat
But I never met a person who would tell her that
She's my big blonde bomber
My heavy handed Hackensack mama

You know) that I fell in love with a Roller Derby Queen
(Round 'n' round, oh round 'n' round)
The meanest hunk o' woman
That anybody ever seen
Down in the arena

Round 'n' round, go round 'n' round
Round 'n' round, go round 'n' round
Round 'n' round, go round 'n' round

© BMG Rights Management US, LLC by Jim Croce