The Welsh Rugby Union has removed the song Delilah from its Principality Stadium choirs' playlist, it has announced. Sir Tom Jones' 1968 hit, about a jealous lover stabbing his unfaithful partner, has become a Welsh rugby anthem but will now not be played at the Principality Stadium and not sung by choirs. The Six Nations begins in Cardiff on Saturday.
The announcement comes after a damning week which saw the WRU come in for intense criticism amid allegations of a "toxic" culture and misogyny. Warren Gatland's Wales side host Ireland and England in Cardiff this year, and travel away to Scotland, Italy and France.
Delilah was recorded by Sir Tom in 1968 and reached No. 2 in the charts before going on to become a Welsh favourite among the rugby-loving public, but its place in modern society has been debated in recent years. One line reads: “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.”
A Principality Stadium spokesperson said: “Delilah will not feature on the playlist for choirs for rugby internationals at Principality Stadium. The WRU removed the song from its half-time entertainment and music play list during international matches in 2015. Guest choirs have also more recently been requested not to feature the song during their pre-match performances and throughout games.
“The WRU condemns domestic violence of any kind. We have previously sought advice from subject matter experts on the issue of censoring the song and we are respectfully aware that it is problematic and upsetting to some supporters because of its subject matter.”
Written by Barry Mason and Sylvan Whittingham, with music by Les Reed, the song earned Reed and Mason the 1968 Ivor Novello award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically. But calls have been made to consider rugby’s relationship with Delilah for some time given its connotations with domestic abuse.
In 2014, Dafydd Iwan - whose stirring anthem Yma O Hyd, on the endurance of Welsh language and culture, is now a major Wales football anthem - said it was “a song about murder and it does tend to trivialise the idea of murdering a woman. It’s a pity these words now have been elevated to the status of a secondary national anthem.”
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Rhondda MP Chris Bryant added to the chorus of disapproval in 2016. “It is a simple fact that when there are big international rugby matches on, and sometimes football matches as well, the number of domestic violence incidents rises dramatically,” he said. “I know that some people will say, ‘Oh, here we go, he’s a terrible spoilsport,’ but the truth is that that song is about the murder of a prostitute.” Adding that there were many other songs that could be sung instead, he said: “I have sung Delilah as well, everybody loves doing the ‘She stood there laughing’ moment, but if we are really going to take this issue seriously in Wales we have to change how we do things.”
Songwriter Sylvan Whittingham previously said, in 2015: “Delilah is no more likely to cause domestic violence than listening to Mack the Knife would cause you to stab a prostitute. And what about all those great Shakespearean tragedies?”
In 2020, England’s Rugby Football Union reviewed the context of England’s rugby anthem — “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” — amid the Black Lives Matter protests. The song is believed to have its roots in American slavery, with its credited author being Wallace Willis — a freed slave from Oklahoma. The RFU didn’t ban the singing of the song but said it would “proactively” educate fans on the song’s history.
More recently, Gallagher Premiership side Exeter Chiefs dropped the use of the Tomahawk Chop following the club’s rebrand away from Native American imagery but the tune has made a return over the tannoy in games at Sandy Park in 2023.
Full lyrics to Sir Tom Jones' Delilah
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 Delilah I just couldn't take anymore
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 Delilah I just couldn't take anymore
Forgive me Delilah I just couldn't take anymore
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