I listen to a radio station in MA called WROR. It is basically an old fart station. It really is. They play the hits from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s so I get to hear music that I enjoy and that I am familiar with. It is safe radio. The morning guys are older men Loren and Wally. They can be funny but in your be polite to your grandpa’s jokes sort of funny. Sorry grandpa.

So, because it is corporate radio I tend to hear the same songs over and over. When you do that you can actually understand the lyrics to songs and see what is really being said. So for example I noticed that the Jim Croce songs Bad, Bad Leroy Brown goes like this…

“And it’s bad, bad leroy brown,
The baddest man in the whole damn town
Badder than old king kong
And meaner than a junkyard dog

Now Leroy he a gambler
And he like his fancy clothes
And he like to wave his diamond rings
In front of everybody’s nose”

Leroy is a tough guy. He’s someone you shouldn’t mess with and it seems that from the description everyone is afraid of Leroy Brown. So I leave him alone for a moment. Let’s take a look at Big Jim. You Don’t Mess around with Big Jim Walker. According to Croce:

42nd street got big jim walker
He’s a pool-shootin’ son of a gun
Yeah, he big and dumb as a man can come
But he stronger than a country hoss
And when the bad folks all get together at night
You know they all call big jim “boss”, just because
And they say

You don’t tug on superman’s cape
You don’t spit into the wind
You don’t pull the mask off that old lone ranger
And you don’t mess around with jim

So both Leroy Brown and Big Jim Walker are people that seem to be unbeatable, everyone is afraid of them. Leroy is flashy and he’s got a high roller lifestyle going on and Big Jim is just big and mean and dumb. These are guys at the tops of their games and they seem untouchable.

Until…

They both make mistakes, Leroy hits on the wrong woman, one with a jealous husband and Leroy gets his face rearranged… literally.

Well the two men took to fightin
And when they pulled them from the floor
Leroy looked like a jigsaw puzzle
With a couple of pieces gone

Things done work out any better for Big Jim. In fact they end up much, much worse.

Well a hush fell over the pool room
Jimmy come boppin’ in off the street
And when the cuttin’ were done
The only part that wasn’t bloody
Was the soles of the big man’s feet
Yeah he were cut in in bout a hundred places
And he were shot in a couple more
And you better believe
They sung a different kind of story
When big jim hit the floor now they say

You don’t tug on superman’s cape
You don’t spit into the wind
You don’t pull the mask off that old lone ranger
And you don’t mess around with slim

So, what can a couple of Jim Croce songs about Bar Fights tell us about being better bloggers?

First of all I don’t advocate violence but I do think you can dominate the competition. There are always going to be big time people in any space. They are going to seem completely untouchable. Massive powerhouses that you cannot even compete with. That sort of thinking is crap.

No One is Untouchable

Everyone started from nothing and built that into something. Brand recognition, Trust and Influence comes from time, hard work and careful planning. Do you want to own the wine market like Gary Vaynerchuk? Then you have to put in the time learning all you can about wines, eat dirt and hustle your ass off. You also have to be engaging, informative and entertaining.

Can you do it?

That is a question only you can answer. Do you have the drive to be the next big web personality? One thing that the big guys do is that they don’t heed those warnings from the lyrics above. You don’t tug on Superman’s Cape? Are you kidding me! These guys yank on the cape, put Superman in a headlock, and find out just what makes Superman tick. You don’t pull the mask off the old lone ranger? Certainly you do! You’ve got to get in there find out what is behind the mask and learn as much as possible. One guy that gets out there and digs deep on everything to do with web related advertising is Ted Murphy. He is constantly tugging on Superman’s Cape and King Kong? King Kong ‘s got nothing on Murphy. Follow his twitter stream for a while and you will see so many people trying to tear him down and just as many who are in his corner. One thing that Murphy doesn’t do is swat at the airplanes trying to knock him down like Kong. He responds to detractors with an even keeland even wins many over

How can you take on Leroy Brown or Big Jim Walker?

The biggest thing that you can do for yourself is question everything that you know about the niche you want to be a part of. Who are the big players? Who are the up and comers? Who can you learn from, emulate and ultimately surpass? You have to put in the time and the work to become a success. You might make something completely awesome and viral and hit it big, but that often does not happen overnight. Build trust by helping, being an expert and being available. Everyone is an expert in something. That is the premise behind Peter Shankman‘s HARO. Reporters need sources and since people are experts in things they can help the reporters and be those sources of information.

Are you a source for valuable information?

That is what you have to ask yourself as well. Is what you are saying something that people need to hear? Or will your content entertain, inform and motivate your audience to come back. If you regurgitate everything that is already being said then I guarantee that your audience will find the original voice and follow that one. You will never be a Rockstar that way. You MUST have your OWN voice, opinions and ideas. So, Get out there! Tug on Superman’s Cape, Pull the mask off the Old Lone Ranger and go mess around with Jim because he and Leroy Brown may be the baddest men in town right now but there weren’t always and the won’t be forever.