“Delilah” is a song recorded by Welsh singer Tom Jones in December, 1967. It was originally recorded by P. J. Proby in late November, 1967. Proby hated the song and refused to include it on his album Believe It Or Not, which was being compiled and recorded at the time. Proby’s original version was released on the CD The Best Of The EMI Years.., in 2008. The lyrics were written by Barry Mason, and the music by Les Reed, who also contributed the title and theme of the song. It earned Reed and Mason the 1968 Ivor Novello award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically.
It reached No. 1 in the charts of several countries, including Germany and Switzerland. It reached No 2 in the British charts in March 1968 and was the sixth-best selling single of that year. The US Billboard chart records its highest position as 15.
Although the song is a soulful number set in triple metre, the underlying genre may be considered to be a power ballad in the British ballad tradition. Jones’s version features a big-band accompaniment set to a flamenco rhythm. The pitch of the final note is A4.
Jones narrates the song from the point of view of someone who perceives himself as a betrayed lover and who spies a woman in silhouette on a window blind as she makes love to another man. Although he realises that she is no good for him, he calls her ‘his’. At the break of day, armed with a knife and waiting until her paramour leaves, he knocks on the door, which she opens only to laugh in his face. He stabs her to death, then waits for the police come to break down the door and take him away.
Delilah Lyrics
I saw the light on the night that I passed by her window
I saw the flickering shadow of love on her blind
She was my woman
As she deceived me I watched and went out of my mind
My my my Delilah
Why why why Delilah
I could see, that girl was no good for me
But I was lost like a slave that no man could free
At break of day when that man drove away I was waiting
I crossed the street to her house and she opened the door
She stood there laughing
I felt the knife in my hand and she laughed no more
My my my Delilah
Why why why Delilah
So before they come to break down the door
Forgive me…
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