Jim Krueger on stage, late 1970s
Bruiser
Jim Krueger grew up in Manitowoc, 25 miles up the shoreline of Lake Michigan from where I did. Friends affectionately/ironically called the soft-spoken guitarist “Bruiser,” and he became a musical force in the area before taking his talents to the West Coast. There, he joined up with established British singer/guitarist Dave Mason, eventually writing Mason’s signature song, the late-‘70s classic “We Just Disagree” (later also a top 10 country hit for Billy Dean). Jim rode that wave of success for several years, mingling with rock’s elite, playing mammoth stages and working in the studio with Bob Dylan and Michael Jackson.
But Mason’s crowds thinned out in the ‘80s and Jim moved back to Manitowoc and started a band called the Happy Schnapps Combo. His goofy polka-rap Combo concoctions like “The Bears Still Suck Polka” have embedded themselves deeply in Wisconsin culture. Sadly, Jim’s life ended where it began in 1993 at age 43. I sure wish he was still around. I wanted you to know about him.
You went out west with a Strat on your back
A song in your head, and a voice you could stack
Into the sweetest harmonies
Played your way into rock n’ roll heights
Backstage blur in the Hollywood lights
It was a quicksand life
Did you ever reach your hand up high?
You were hardly around
Long enough to be the toast of the town
You couldn’t see the future
They’ll sing your songs
Probably long after we’re all gone
They won’t forget you, Bruiser
You came back here, to where you began
And you started a weird little polka band
The people came from all around
Raise it up, drink it all down
Wipe your mouth to the roar of the crowd
And stumble off the stage
They buy you shots, slap your back
They don’t understand, so nobody asks
What it was like up there
A hundred-thousand miles up in the air
You were hardly around
Long enough to be the toast of the town
You couldn’t see the future
They’ll sing your songs
Probably long after we’re all gone
They won’t forget you, Bruiser
Just a 3-inch-long
Article that told the world you were gone
I won’t forget you, Bruiser
© 2020 Chris Richards / White Mare Music (BMI)