Welsh belter Tom Jones has today’s classic song of the day, “Delilah.” Decca Records (in the UK; London Records here in the U.S.) released “Delilah” in February of 1967 and it peaked at #15 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #2 on the UK Singles chart. It was also a top ten hit in Australia, Austria, Belgium (#1), Canada, Finland (#1), France (#1), Ireland (#1), the Netherlands (#1), New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, South Africa (#1), Spain, Sweden, Switzerland (#1), and West Germany (#1).
“Delilah” was written by the team of Les Reed (music) and Barry Mason (words). Mr. Mason relates what inspired him to write the song:
“The song was written about a teenage girl called Delia I met on holiday in Wales when I was about fourteen. It was a whirlwind holiday romance, but I never got the girl out of my mind. I wanted to write a song about her for years, but why why why Delia just didn’t work. Then one day it just hit me, I changed the name to Delilah and after that it just fell into place.”
“Delilah” was first recorded by P.J. Proby but Mr. Proby didn’t like it and didn’t release it. The song next went to Tom Jones, who thought it was a comedy song. He was convinced otherwise and instructed to sing it as seriously as possible. The resulting recording (with backup vocals by a young and not-yet-famous Elton John) was a barnburner. It’s a brassy, overly dramatic power ballad in 3/4 time about a man who discovers that his girl, the aforementioned Delilah, is cheating on him, so he kills her. Accordingly, Tom Jones kills it with his powerhouse vocals.
Tom Jones was a very big deal back in the late ’60s and early ’70s, and has stayed in the public eye in the years since. He scored eleven top ten singles in the U.S. (“It’s Not Unusual,” “What’s New Pussycat?,” “Green, Green Grass of Home,” “Love Me Tonight,” “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again,” “Without Love (There is Nothing),” “Daughter of Darkness,” “I (Who Have Nothing),” “She’s a Lady,” “Say You’ll Stay Until Tomorrow,” and “Delilah”), a handful of country hits in the 1980s, and a popular cover of the Prince tune “Kiss” in 1988 with the band Art of Noise. He also recorded the theme song for the James Bond movie Thunderball, and had literally thousands of women’s panties thrown at him in concerts around the globe.
Mr. Jones is still out there working hard today. He’s currently one of the coaches on The Voice UK and is a very robust 85 years old.
For today’s daily bonus video of the day, here’s Tom Jones in his prime, singing “Delilah” live on the April 21, 1968, episode of The Ed Sullivan Show. Man, could he bring it.
