You Don't Mess Around With Jim
You Don't Mess Around With Jim is a 1972 popular song by Jim Croce, from the album of the same name.
The song talks about "Big" Jim Walker, a New York City pool hustler (not bright but feared for his toughness) who leads a gang. The gang gives a warning to anyone who would mess with Jim: "You don't tug on Superman's cape/You don't spit into the wind/You don't pull the mask off the ol' Lone Ranger/And you don't mess around with Jim."
One day, Willie "Slim" McCoy, a pool hustler from south Alabama who lost an earlier game to Jim, comes around looking for him. Despite being given the requisite warning, when Jim walks into the pool hall Slim proceeds to stab him over 100 times (and shoots him twice more), regaining his lost earnings and now gaining the respect of the gang who change their warning to And you don't mess around with Slim.
