Sir Tom Jones has kept his vow to “keep on singing Delilah”.
Jones defiantly belted out the song on Friday (21.07.23) at Cardiff Castle in Wales, then again delighted fans with it at Newbury racecourse on Saturday (22.07.23) after he publicly challenged a ban on choirs performing his grisly hit about a woman’s murder.
Addressing fans in Cardiff by questioning the Welsh Rugby Union’s decision to stop playing ‘Delilah’ at Wales matches, he said: “Who was the man who didn’t want us to sing ‘Delilah’?
“He stopped the choir from singing but he didn’t stop the crowd from singing it. And we will keep singing it too.”
He’s also said to have told fans: “You can’t stop us singing ‘Delilah’. Can you imagine?… they may stop the choir from singing it, but they haven’t stopped the crowd. Keep on singing it – and I’ll keep on singing it too.”
The 1968 ballad, written by Barry Mason, was removed from playlists at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff due to its lyrics describing a woman’s murder by her boyfriend after she is caught with another man.
Tom’s defiance has been backed by former Undertones frontman Feargal Sharkey, 64, who says it is a “classic murder ballad that goes back to the very foundations of folk music”.
Tom previously defended the song in 2014 amid calls to have it banned from being sung at rugby matches.
He said: “I love to hear it sung at rugby games. It makes me very proud to be Welsh.
“I think if they’re looking into the lyric about a man killing a woman, it’s not a political statement.
“It’s just something that happens in life that (a) woman was unfaithful to him and he just loses it.”
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