In early 1975, pop and country singer B.J. Thomas was looking for a track that could bridge the gap between his signature soul-tinged pop and country music. He found it in a song with a title almost as long as its road to the top of the charts: “(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song.”
AM radio listeners didn’t realize that the melancholy, sing-along anthem wasn’t the result of months of meticulous songwriting. Rather, songwriters Chips Moman and Larry Butler wrote the entire track in a 20-minute burst of inspiration.
In an interview with Country Road TV, Larry Butler and B.J. Thomas discussed the backstory behind the song. It remains the longest-titled No. 1 charting song to date, according to Songfacts.
“I was sitting in my office, and I got a call from my buddy Chips Moman, who said, ‘What are you doing after work?’ I said I was going home, and he said, ‘Stop by the house,” Butler began.
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Butler continued, “He told me he had an idea for a song that he had had for two and a half years. I said, ‘Let me hear it.’ So he started playing it and 20 minutes later, the song was finished.”
“We couldn’t write down the words fast enough,” Butler concluded. “So when we were finished, I said that I had a session coming up with this new artist. He said he was getting ready to produce B.J., and he said, ‘I think I’m gonna do it with him.”
“(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song” didn’t just top the Billboard Hot 100 and Hot Country Singles charts simultaneously. It also won a Grammy Award for Best Country Song, cementing its place as one of the most enduring crossover hits of the 1970s.
In all, B.J. Thomas placed five Top 10 hits on the Billboard Top 10. He also hit No. 1 in January 1970 with “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head.”
Additionally, Thomas charted with the songs “Hooked on a Feeling” in January 1969, “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” in April 1966 and “I Just Can’t Help Believing,” in August 1970.
Larry Butler died on January 20, 2012, at the age of 69. B.J. Thomas died on May 29, 2021, at 78.
Related: Dolly Parton Says Her Late-’70s Chart-Topper Was So Catchy ‘A Monkey Could Have Made It a Hit’
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