Tom Jones' Delilah banned from Principality Stadium by Welsh Rugby Union
Sir Tom Jones' hit, Delilah, has been banned from the Principality Stadium the Welsh Rugby Union has announced.
The 1968 song about a jealous lover stabbing his unfaithful partner has been removed from choir playlists.
The announcement comes after the WRU has come under fire for allegations of sexism and misogyny.
Delilah reached No. 2 in the charts in 1968 before going on to become a Welsh favourite among the rugby-loving public. However its place in modern society has been debated in recent years, with its references to domestic abuse.
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 has 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.”
The song was originally written by Barry Mason and Sylvan Whittingham, with music by Les Reed. It earned Reed and Mason the 1968 Ivor Novello award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically.
The Rhondda MP Sir Chris Bryant has wanted the song to be banned for some time but says the Welsh Rugby Union has a wider range of issues to deal with.
"I've always thought it was wrong that we sing that song at rugby matches, not least because I know painfully in the Rhondda that match days are the worst day for domestic violence in Wales quite often."
"But this is the least important thing frankly that the WRU need to be doing at the moment.
"You've got allegations of racism, misogyny, sexism going on; you've got massive problems about brain injuries and players who are suing because they've not been looked after properly; you've got lots of decisions to be made about the future of the game and it just beggars belief that this is the one thing yes let's stamp on that today.
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 laughingI felt the knife in my hand and she laughed no more
My, my, my DelilahWhy, 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
In 2014, Dafydd Iwan - whose song Yma O Hyd, on the endurance of Welsh language and culture, which 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.”
However songwriter Sylvan Whittingham has 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.
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