B.J. Thomas Went Country With This 1975 Song (and Still Managed To Top the Pop Charts)

Songs about what melancholy songs can do to a listener are more common than you think. Think about ditties like Elton John’s “Sad Songs (Say So Much)” or Neil Diamond’s “Song Sung Blue”.

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B.J. Thomas rode just such a ditty to the top of the pop charts in 1975. “(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song” is a mouthful of a title but a gem of a song.

A Versatile Voice

B.J. Thomas was in need of something different to spark a career resurgence. He’d made himself a star in the 60s thanks to his distinctive voice. There was a country lilt in its DNA. But he also had the ability to deliver soulful histrionics when that was needed.

The variety of songs with which Thomas scored hits speaks to this vocal versatility. His first big hit was a cover of Hank Williams’ “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry”. A few years later, he rode to the top of the charts via the flowery Burt Bacharach-Hal David pop song “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head”.

The hits dried up a bit in the early 70s for Thomas. Since he had always loved country music while growing up in Oklahoma and Texas, he decided to roll the dice and join up with producer Chips Moman to make a country-leaning album for ABC Records in 1975. That record would include his second and final No. 1 pop hit.

“Wrong” So Right

Chips Moman wrote “(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song” with Larry Butler. Originally, Butler wanted to pitch the song around to other artists. But Moman convinced his writing partner that Thomas could pull it off.

Thomas was able to deliver the lyric with his typical bluesy croon once in the studio. Moman’s production may have skewed a bit country. But it still maintained the easy hooks that would work at pop radio.

Anyway, 1975 was a great year for songs that most would classify as country to cross over to the pop charts. “(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song” earned an odd accolade in that, to that point, it was the longest song title (ten words) to ever top the US pop charts.

Behind the Lyrics of “(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song

Thomas begins the track with a verse separate from the rest of the song, a la what you might expect from an American Songbook tune. “It’s lonely out tonight,” he sings. “And the feelin’ just got right for a brand new love song.” Only he doesn’t want the happy kind. He desires the kind in which you can wallow.

After all, the narrator is bemoaning the loss of his “baby.” He wants a tune “so sad that it makes everybody cry.” And he insists that his misery desperately needs company. “’Cause I don’t want to cry all alone,” he explains.

B.J. Thomas returned to the world of country music in the 80s and enjoyed some more success in that idiom. But his highlight in the genre remains “(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song”. He made that wordy title go down effortlessly smooth and engagingly sad.

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