I wound my way back to Gene Thomasson’s 1961 near-hit (which peaked at #53) mainly because it’s one of the cover songs on the classic Flamin’ Groovies 1976 album Shake Some Action, and I am always happy to seek and find the originals. Shake Some Action is a 14-track affair that came after founders Roy Loney and Tim Lynch had left the band. It’s composed of half original songs by Cyril Jordan and Chris Wilson and half cover songs by artists as well-known as the Beatles and as obscure as Gene Thomas—adding up to a nearly perfect, seamless whole. Thomas managed a #17 hit in 1968, “Playboy,” in the Nashville-based Gene & Debbe act with Debbe Neville and her spectacular beehive hairdo. It’s a nice country-tinged tune, apt in many ways for 1968, but I agree with the Groovies that “Sometime” (or, as it is sometimes and more accurately credited, “Sometimes”), is the better song. And I’m not sure who does it better. The Groovies version rocks it up nice with a full band and emphasis on harmonies, drumkit, and electric guitar. The Gene Thomas version is much more stripped down, with an easier tempo and Thomas’s plaintive solo voice stalked by a mellow saxophone. The singer’s problem is the same in both places, of course: “Sometimes I cry when I’m lonely / Sometimes I cry when I’m blue / Right now, I’m cryin’ ‘cos I love you / I’m cryin’ ‘cos you don’t love me too.” He’s worried that “all the tears I shed were shed in vain.” Given the way things generally go in this world, it’s a valid concern and he’s probably right. It doesn’t take much more than that for a great pop song.
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