About the artist: Jim Croce (1943 - 1973) was an American folk and rock singer-songwriter. Between 1966 and 1973, Croce released five studio albums, but died in a plain crash just as the big successes started to come for him. He left behind a string of the best ballads ever written. Jim Croce currently has four songs in my list of about 200 best pop/rock songs of all time.
About the song: It doesn't have to be that way is one of the lesser-known masterpieces by this brilliant American troubadour, recorded the year he died in a plane crash, and included on the 1972 album Life and times. For me, this is the most beautiful Christmas song ever recorded. The first verse immediately sets the scene for another of those lost love ballads that he should have gotten a patent on: "Snowy nights and Christmas lights, icy windowpanes, make me wish that we could be together again. And the windy winter avenues just don't seem the same, and the Christmas carols sound like blues, but the choir is not to blame." Beautiful. Run time 2:36.
