'Delilah' by Tom Jones: The making of the deadly Welsh rugby anthem

25 February 2026, 11:24

Why, why, why!

Few stars have the longevity or back catalogue of Tom Jones.

He's been releasing massive records since back in the 1960s, and is still going strong today, playing a mix of his classics and more recent hits on the road well into his 80s.

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Some of his earliest hits are still welcomed like old friends when he belts them out on tour.

That includes 'It's Not Unusual', 'Green, Green Grass of Home' and of course 'Delilah'.

But do you know who wrote 'Delilah', how it became a rugby anthem, and why it got cancelled?

Who wrote 'Delilah'?

Tom Jones is the man who made 'Delilah' famous, but he didn't write the song.

While he has a sprinkling of songwriting credits across his career, he's primarily a performer, not a writer. All of his biggest hits came from the pen of others, and 'Delilah' is no exception.

'Delilah' was written by Les Reed, who came up with not just the music but also the title and gist of the song. The actual lyrics were written by Barry Mason, the co-writer of 'Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)'.

It's still credited to Reed and Mason, but it's worth mentioning that Mason's ex-wife Sylvan Whittingham claimed in 1983 to have written half the lyrics to the song. The case was settled out of court by 1986.

What are the lyrics of 'Delilah' all about?

Delilah

'Delilah' is a murder ballad: a tale of sex, jealousy and death.

It's told in the first person about a man who, for some reason swings by his partner's home late at night, with the curtains not doing much to cover up what was going on ("the flickering shadow of love on her blind").

He waits until the break of day, when the man drives off. He confronts her. Rather than sobs or regret, there's only scorn and mirth ("she stood there laughing").

And then.

"I felt the knife in my hand and she laughed no more."

Yikes.

Then while waiting for the coppers to arrive ("before they come to break down the door"), Sir Tom then offers up a mix of apology and victim blaming ("Forgive me Delilah I just couldn't take anymore").

As for the name Delilah, not only does it roll off the tongue pretty well, but there's surely an intentional echo of the story of Samson and Delilah from the Book of Joshua.

Delilah was a beauty who sold out her Nazarite lover to the Philistines (and was immortalised on the silver screen by Hedy Lamarr in Cecil B. DeMille's Samson and Delilah).

When did Tom Jones release 'Delilah' and where did it get in the charts?

Tom Jones - Delilah - "Top Of The Pops" Show (1968)

Tom Jones got in the studio to record 'Delilah' on December 20, 1967 with producer Peter Sullivan.

It was released in February 1968 with 'Smile' on the flip side.

'Delilah' topped the charts in several European countries, including West Germany and France.

And while it stalled at number 2 on the UK chart, being kept off the top by The Beatles 'Lady Madonna' for two weeks and Cliff Richard's 'Congratulations' for one. It did top the Melody Maker charts, for whatever that's worth.

In the US it got all the way to number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100, his best showing Stateside since 'Green Green Grass of Home' a couple of years earlier.

How did 'Delilah' become a Welsh rugby anthem?

Tom Jones - Delilah - Wales v England - 17th April 1999

With Tom Jones being Welsh royalty and rugby being pretty much a religion to many a Welshman, it's not a big leap to see how his biggest songs would be adopted by rugby fans there, especially those which lend themselves to a mass singalong.

So 'Delilah' became a fast terrace favourite, and as early as 1971 there was even a meta reference to it in Max Boyce's 'Hymns and Arias': "We sang 'Cwm Rhondda' and 'Delilah'; damn, they sounded both the same".

Originally 'Delilah' was simply a terrace chant, sung by fans before, during and after games.

Eventually it became part of the official matchday routine, being incorporated into proceedings at the National Stadium at Cardiff Arms Park.

On April 17, 1999, Tom Jones performed the song in person before Wales's win over England in that year's Five Nations at Wembley Stadium.

When and why did 'Delilah' get cancelled?

Tom Jones "Delilah" on The Ed Sullivan Show

There's always been the whiff of controversy around 'Delilah'.

When it was first released it wasn't the femicide that got censors irate, but the suggestion of (gasp) a man and woman spending the night together.

In fact, before Tom performed the song on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1968, the telly censors tried to get the lyric "at break of day when the man drove away" changed to "at break of day I was still 'cross the way".

Jones stood his ground and stuck to the original lyrics. But by 35 years later, sensibilities had changed.

The idea of sexual shenanigans – marital or otherwise – became much less of a hot potato, and people were more concerned by what was at best an amoral or even sympathetic telling of a story of control and jealous murder.

By this point, not only was the song part of the furniture at the new Millennium Stadium in Cardiff, they even popped the lyrics up on the big screen, which probably didn't help matters.

It was on June 20, 2003, when Senedd Member Helen Mary Jones argued that the song "glorifies violence against women".

Tom Jones performing "Delilah" Live at KCRW's Apogee Sessions

Lyricist Barry Mason's response ("she's being silly... nobody listens to the lyrics") only fanned the flames, while Welsh Rugby Union saying that "fans sing this song without concern for the lyrics" dodged the issue.

In 2014, politician and folky Dafydd Iwan joined the chorus of disapproval.

"It's a song about murder and it does tend to trivialise the idea of murdering a woman and it's a pity these words now have been elevated to the status of a secondary national anthem," he said. "I think we should rummage around for another song instead of 'Delilah'".

Tom Jones hit back.

"I love to hear it being sung at Welsh games," he said, denying that the song was any sort of political statement. "It makes me very proud to be Welsh that they're using one of my songs."

By this point though the disapproval had built to levels that could no longer be contained.

The song was removed from the half-time entertainment and playlist by Welsh Rugby Union in 2015, and in 2023 they confirmed that this was the case and that guest choirs were asked not to perform the song, sparking news reports.

Chief Constable of Dyfed–Powys Police Dr Richard Lewis said: "There's been a lot of misplaced criticism of this decision to stop singing 'Delilah'.

"The song depicts the murder of a woman by a jealous partner For context, approx 2 women a week are murdered by a partner or ex-partner It's time to sing something else."

But not everyone was happy.

"I am not remotely minimising violence, or especially violence against women, but there are a lot of things that we all could be doing to help the situation, other than banning 'Delilah'," said Richard Marx before he performed the song in Cardiff that year.

And Sir Tom continued to play the song, telling the crowd before a rendition at Cardiff Castle: "Who was the man who didn't want us to sing Delilah? You can’t stop us singing 'Delilah'.

"He stopped the choir from singing but he didn’t stop the crowd from singing it. And we will keep singing it too!"

Who has covered 'Delilah'?

Weetabix: Samson and Delilah

Despite (or because?) of all the controversy, 'Delilah' has been covered a fair few times over the years since its release.

There's been versions by The Platters, Connie Frances, Tommy Steel and Michael Ball with Alfie Boe.

And a favourite, if somewhat silly, rendition that's stuck in the memory was John Otway's 1995 Weetabix ad, which made those biblical Samson and Delilah explicit while swapping out that murderous knife for a cereal munching spoon.