It Doesn't Have to Be That Way

"It Doesn't Have to Be That Way"
Single by Jim Croce
from the album Life and Times
B-side	"Roller Derby Queen"
Released	December 1973[1]
Genre	Folk rock
Length	2:31
Label	ABC
Songwriter(s)	Jim Croce
Producer(s)	Terry Cashman, Tommy West
Jim Croce singles chronology
"Time in a Bottle" (1973) "It Doesn't Have to Be That Way" (1973) "I'll Have to Say I Love You in a Song" (1974)

"It Doesn't Have to Be That Way" is a song written and recorded by Jim Croce for his 1973 album Life and Times. Originally released early that year as the B-side of the "One Less Set of Footsteps" single, it was reissued that December as the third and final single from the album as well as Croce's second posthumously-released single. It reached a peak of #64 on the Billboard Hot 100, spending five weeks on the chart.

Because of its Christmas setting and the wintery images associated with its lyrics, the song is often played during the holiday season.