Uploaded January 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
Track List:
1. Operator (That's Not The Way It Feels) (0:00)
2. Rapid Roy (The Stock Car Boy) (3:47)
Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4HEzRFNuOZ42_6W6grS-mgJ2pBYilTn0
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
"Operator (That's Not the Way It Feels)" is a 1972 song written by Jim Croce. Croce's record was released on August 23, 1972. It was the second single released from Croce's album You Don't Mess Around with Jim. It reached a peak of number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 in December 1972, spending twelve weeks on the chart.
Cash Box described the lyrics saying that "in James Taylor fashion, Jim Croce tries to track down his long lost lover with the help of the operator."
The song relates one side of a conversation with a telephone operator. The speaker is trying to find the phone number of his former lover, who has moved to Los Angeles with his former best friend. He wants to demonstrate to both of them that he is well and over their betrayal, but admits to the operator that he is not. After the operator has given him the number, he is unable to read it, apparently due to the tears in his eyes. He then changes his mind and tells the operator not to place the call, appreciatively adding "you can keep the dime" (the then-standard toll he had deposited in a payphone).
The story was inspired during Croce's military service, during which time he saw lines of soldiers waiting to use the outdoor phone on base, many of them calling their wives or girlfriends to see if their Dear John letter was true.
Record World called the song a "strong story-telling tune in the Chuck Berry 'Memphis' vein" and said that "the single is a near-perfect matching of this singer to the song."
Lyrics:
[Verse 1]
Operator, well could you help me place this call?
See, the number on the match book is old and faded
She's living in L.A. with my best old ex-friend Ray
A guy she said she knew well and sometimes hated
[Chorus]
But isn't that the way they say it goes?
Well let's forget all that
And give me the number if you can find it
So I can call just to tell 'em I'm fine, and to show
I've overcome the blow
I've learned to take it well
I only wish my words could just convince myself
That it just wasn't real
But that's not the way it feels
[Verse 2]
Operator, well could you help me place this call?
Cause I can't read the number that you just gave me
There's something in my eyes
You know it happens every time
I think about the love that I thought would save me
[Chorus]
But isn't that the way they say it goes?
Well let's forget all that
And give me the number if you can find it
So I can call just to tell 'em I'm fine, and to show
I've overcome the blow
I've learned to take it well
I only wish my words could just convince myself
That it just wasn't real
But that's not the way it feels
[Verse 3]
Operator, well let's forget about this call
There's no one there I really wanted to talk to
Thank you for your time
Ah, you've been so much more than kind
You can keep the dime
[Chorus]
But isn't that the way they say it goes?
Well let's forget all that
And give me the number if you can find it
So I can call just to tell 'em I'm fine, and to show
I've overcome the blow
I've learned to take it well
I only wish my words could just convince myself
That it just wasn't real
But that's not the way it feels
Track List:
1. Operator (That's Not The Way It Feels) (0:00)
2. Rapid Roy (The Stock Car Boy) (3:47)
Playlist: youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4HEzRFNuOZ42_6W6grS-mgJ2pBYilTn0
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:
"Operator (That's Not the Way It Feels)" is a 1972 song written by Jim Croce. Croce's record was released on August 23, 1972. It was the second single released from Croce's album You Don't Mess Around with Jim. It reached a peak of number 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 in December 1972, spending twelve weeks on the chart.
Cash Box described the lyrics saying that "in James Taylor fashion, Jim Croce tries to track down his long lost lover with the help of the operator."
The song relates one side of a conversation with a telephone operator. The speaker is trying to find the phone number of his former lover, who has moved to Los Angeles with his former best friend. He wants to demonstrate to both of them that he is well and over their betrayal, but admits to the operator that he is not. After the operator has given him the number, he is unable to read it, apparently due to the tears in his eyes. He then changes his mind and tells the operator not to place the call, appreciatively adding "you can keep the dime" (the then-standard toll he had deposited in a payphone).
The story was inspired during Croce's military service, during which time he saw lines of soldiers waiting to use the outdoor phone on base, many of them calling their wives or girlfriends to see if their Dear John letter was true.
Record World called the song a "strong story-telling tune in the Chuck Berry 'Memphis' vein" and said that "the single is a near-perfect matching of this singer to the song."
Lyrics:
[Verse 1]
Operator, well could you help me place this call?
See, the number on the match book is old and faded
She's living in L.A. with my best old ex-friend Ray
A guy she said she knew well and sometimes hated
[Chorus]
But isn't that the way they say it goes?
Well let's forget all that
And give me the number if you can find it
So I can call just to tell 'em I'm fine, and to show
I've overcome the blow
I've learned to take it well
I only wish my words could just convince myself
That it just wasn't real
But that's not the way it feels
[Verse 2]
Operator, well could you help me place this call?
Cause I can't read the number that you just gave me
There's something in my eyes
You know it happens every time
I think about the love that I thought would save me
[Chorus]
But isn't that the way they say it goes?
Well let's forget all that
And give me the number if you can find it
So I can call just to tell 'em I'm fine, and to show
I've overcome the blow
I've learned to take it well
I only wish my words could just convince myself
That it just wasn't real
But that's not the way it feels
[Verse 3]
Operator, well let's forget about this call
There's no one there I really wanted to talk to
Thank you for your time
Ah, you've been so much more than kind
You can keep the dime
[Chorus]
But isn't that the way they say it goes?
Well let's forget all that
And give me the number if you can find it
So I can call just to tell 'em I'm fine, and to show
I've overcome the blow
I've learned to take it well
I only wish my words could just convince myself
That it just wasn't real
But that's not the way it feels
