Hey There Delilah
Encyclopedia
"Hey There Delilah", written by Tom Higgenson, is the third single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 released from the band Plain White T's
Plain White T's
Plain White T's is an American Pop rock band from Chicago, Illinois. Formed in 1997 by high school friends Tom Higgenson and Ken Fletcher, the group had a mostly underground following in Chicago basements, clubs, and bars in its early years, and underwent numerous personnel changes.The band is best...

 2005 album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

 All That We Needed
All That We Needed
All That We Needed is a 2005 album by the Plain White T's. This is also Plain White T‘s second album with Fearless Records. In July 2007, after the release of Every Second Counts, the song “Hey There Delilah” was re-issued as a single and sold unexpectedly well, hitting #1 on the Billboard Hot...

. In June 2007, over two years after the song's release, it became the band's first hit in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

, eventually reaching #1 on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

 in July. From July 3, 2007 through July 28, the song was the number one most played song on the radio, and the number one downloaded song on the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 iTunes Music Store
ITunes Store
The iTunes Store is a software-based online digital media store operated by Apple. Opening as the iTunes Music Store on April 28, 2003, with over 200,000 items to purchase, it is, as of April 2008, the number-one music vendor in the United States...

. Since its release, "Hey There Delilah" has been covered by many artists worldwide in one form or another. Since release, it has sold over 4,000,000 digital copies in the US alone.

It was the first number one single for the Plain White T's
Plain White T's
Plain White T's is an American Pop rock band from Chicago, Illinois. Formed in 1997 by high school friends Tom Higgenson and Ken Fletcher, the group had a mostly underground following in Chicago basements, clubs, and bars in its early years, and underwent numerous personnel changes.The band is best...

. It also reached number two in the UK. The song ended 2007 as the year's 14th biggest-selling single in the UK.

Although "Hey There Delilah" is from the Plain White Ts' third album, All That We Needed
All That We Needed
All That We Needed is a 2005 album by the Plain White T's. This is also Plain White T‘s second album with Fearless Records. In July 2007, after the release of Every Second Counts, the song “Hey There Delilah” was re-issued as a single and sold unexpectedly well, hitting #1 on the Billboard Hot...

, since the single's popularity new versions of the intervening fourth album, Every Second Counts, have "Hey There Delilah" added as a bonus track with a string section augmenting the original recording. The music video for the song was directed by Jay Martin.

The song was written after Higgenson met Delilah DiCrescenzo
Delilah DiCrescenzo
Delilah DiCrescenzo is an American distance runner. She competes in the women's 3000 meters steeplechase. She is a 2001 graduate of Queen of Peace High School in Burbank, IL and a 2005 graduate of Columbia University, where she majored in sociology. In May 2011, Delilah received her Masters degree...

, a nationally ranked American steeplechase
Steeplechase (athletics)
The steeplechase is an obstacle race in athletics, which derives its name from the steeplechase in horse racing.-Rules:The length of the race is usually 3000 m; junior events are 2000 m, as women's events formerly were. The circuit has four ordinary barriers and one water jump. Over 3000 m, each...

 and cross country
Cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...

 runner.

Critical reaction

Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...

magazine named "Hey There Delilah" one of The 10 Best Songs of 2007, ranking it at #7. Music critic Josh Tyrangiel
Josh Tyrangiel
Josh Tyrangiel is a journalist, and editor of Bloomberg Businessweek. He joined the magazine following its acquisition by Bloomberg L.P. in December 2009. Prior to joining Bloomberg Businessweek, Tyrangiel was deputy managing editor of TIME magazine and managing editor of TIME.com...

 called it "an intimate love song that's damn near universal." Tyrangiel praised the Plain White T’s for managing to make another "aching guy reaching out to distant girl song feel fresh," singling out singer Tom Higgenson’s otherwise imperfect voice and "nasal delivery [for making] the nearly-comic sincerity of the lyrics seem completely genuine."

The song was a double 2008 Grammy Award
50th Grammy Awards
The 50th Annual Grammy Awards took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, on February 10, 2008. Kanye West received the most nominations, with eight. Amy Winehouse was the big winner, winning a total of five awards. Herbie Hancock's River: The Joni Letters won Album of the Year,...

 nominee, for 2007 Song of the Year
Grammy Award for Song of the Year
The Song of the Year is one of the four most prestigious awards in the Grammy Awards ceremony, if not in all of the American music industry. It has been awarded since 1959 and unlike the Record of the Year award, which goes to the performer and production team of a single song, Song of the Year...

 (won by Amy Winehouse
Amy Winehouse
Amy Jade Winehouse was an English singer-songwriter known for her powerful deep contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres including R&B, soul and jazz. Winehouse's 2003 debut album, Frank, was critically successful in the UK and was nominated for the Mercury Prize...

) and 2007 Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal
Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal
The Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals was awarded between 1966 and 2011...

 (won by Maroon 5
Maroon 5
Maroon 5 is an American pop rock band from Los Angeles, California. While they were in high school, lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist Adam Levine, keyboardist Jesse Carmichael, bass guitarist Mickey Madden, and drummer Ryan Dusick formed a garage band called Kara's Flowers and released one album...

). Though the two never dated, the real Delilah attended the Grammy Award show that year as the guest of Tom Higgenson, the song's writer.

On VH1
VH1
VH1 or Vh1 is an American cable television network based in New York City. Launched on January 1, 1985 in the old space of Turner Broadcasting's short-lived Cable Music Channel, the original purpose of the channel was to build on the success of MTV by playing music videos, but targeting a slightly...

's Top 40 Videos of 2007, "Hey There Delilah" was #8, ahead of "If Everyone Cared
If Everyone Cared
"If Everyone Cared" is the title of a song recorded by Canadian rock group Nickelback. It was released in November 2006 as the sixth single from the album All the Right Reasons, and the single released in Australia and the US respectively...

" by Nickelback and behind "Say It Right
Say It Right
"Say It Right" is a song recorded by Canadian recording artist Nelly Furtado, from her third studio album, Loose . Written by Furtado, Tim "Timbaland" Mosley and Nate "Danja" Hills, the song was inspired by, as Furtado described it, the "spooky, keyboard-driven pop sound" of the band Eurythmics,...

" by Nelly Furtado
Nelly Furtado
Nelly Kim Furtado is a Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer and actress. Furtado grew up in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.Furtado first gained fame with her debut album, Whoa, Nelly!, and its single "I'm Like a Bird", which won a 2001 Juno Award for Single of the Year and a 2002 Grammy...

.

Cover versions

  • The British
    British people
    The British are citizens of the United Kingdom, of the Isle of Man, any of the Channel Islands, or of any of the British overseas territories, and their descendants...

     girl group
    Girl group
    A girl group is a popular music act featuring several young female singers who generally harmonise together.Girl groups emerged in the late 1950s as groups of young singers teamed up with behind-the-scenes songwriters and music producers to create hit singles, often featuring glossy production...

     Sugababes
    Sugababes
    The Sugababes are an English pop girl group based in London, consisting of members Heidi Range, Amelle Berrabah and Jade Ewen. The Sugababes were formed in 1998 with founding members Siobhán Donaghy, Mutya Buena and Keisha Buchanan. Their debut album, One Touch, was released in 2000 under London...

     covered the song during a BBC Radio 1
    BBC Radio 1
    BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...

     Live Lounge
    Live Lounge
    The Live Lounge is a segment on the British radio station BBC Radio 1. Originally hosted by Jo Whiley on her mid-morning radio show and now hosted by Fearne Cotton, it exhibits well-known artists usually performing one song of their own and one by another artist, in an acoustic format...

    show. The song was recorded and listed as a B-side on their single "Denial".* The German
    Germans
    The Germans are a Germanic ethnic group native to Central Europe. The English term Germans has referred to the German-speaking population of the Holy Roman Empire since the Late Middle Ages....

     group The Baseballs
    The Baseballs
    The Baseballs are a German rock and roll band founded in Berlin in 2007. They became popular with rock cover versions of modern hits such as "Umbrella" by Rihanna and "Hot n Cold" by Katy Perry. The band members are only credited by their first names...

     covered the song in rockabilly
    Rockabilly
    Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...

     style for their debut album Strike! in 2009.
  • The Los Angeles based Vitamin String Quartet covered the song.
  • The Synthpop
    Synthpop
    Synthpop is a genre of popular music that first became prominent in the 1980s, in which the synthesizer is the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s by the use of synthesizers in progressive rock, electronic art rock, disco and particularly the "Kraut rock" of...

     band Go Persicope has covered the song.

Live cover performances

  • Concert pianist Marrina Waks also covered this song in a broad array of styles on piano
    Piano
    The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

    .
  • American Idol
    American Idol (season 8)
    The eighth season of American Idol premiered on January 13, 2009, and concluded on May 20, 2009. Judges Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, and Randy Jackson continued to judge the show's contestants, along with Ryan Seacrest as host. The season introduced Kara DioGuardi as the fourth judge on the Idol...

    contestant Ju'not Joyner covered this song on the March 3rd, 2009 episode of the show. Jamar Rogers covered the song during Hollywood week. Jimmy Kennedy covered the song during the New York/New Jersey Auditions
    American Idol (season 10)
    The tenth season of American Idol premiered on January 19, 2011 and concluded on May 25, 2011, on Fox. The show underwent a number of changes from season nine, including the reduction of the judging panel to its original number of just three judges , a returning executive producer, a new music...

    2 years later. In all three cases, this song was the contestant's last performance before being eliminated.
  • Louis Tomlinson - who would later become a member of boyband One Direction
    One Direction
    One Direction are a British-Irish boy band, consisting of members Niall Horan, Zayn Malik, Liam Payne, Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson. They finished third on the seventh series of The X Factor. Following The X Factor, the group signed a record contract with Syco Music.One Direction's debut single...

     - covered the song during the audition stage of The X Factor.
  • Sesame Street, Covered as "The Letter T" song, using the same music but different lyrics with some derived from the original

Remixes & sampling

  • Rapper Tyga
    Tyga
    Michael Stevenson , better known by his stage name Tyga , is an American rapper signed to Young Money Entertainment, Cash Money Records and Universal Republic Records. He is of Vietnamese and Jamaican descent...

     did a remix of the song.
  • Chuck Inglish from hip hop
    Hip hop
    Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...

     group The Cool Kids
    The Cool Kids
    The Cool Kids is an American hip hop group. Consisting of rappers Antoine "Sir Michael Rocks" Reed and Evan "Chuck Inglish" Ingersoll , the group is based in Chicago, Illinois and Detroit, Michigan...

     created a remix which includes lots of percussion and instruments, but does not actually have him using lyrics of his own on the song.
  • Danse Daimons made the official remix and re-made parts of the video in 2007. The remix is a hip hop remix and he raps from the perspective of the "other man" in Tom and Delilah's relationship and implies he is the reason Delilah left Tom.

Parodies

The song's cliché lyrics and simple structure have made it the target of numerous parodies.
  • The first parody to appear was Kevin Tor
    Kevin Tor
    Kevin Tor is a stand-up comedian.Tor is most famous for his parody of Plain White T's hit song "Hey There Delilah". The rendition has appeared on Radio 1 in the UK. His version is called the 'Stalker' version. Tor's version of the song can be found on his website or directly from his site at...

    's version of Hey There Delilah, the Stalker version.
  • One of the more popular examples is Robert Lund and M. Spaff Sumsion's "Re: Your Song About My Client Delilah", which takes the form of a cease-and-desist letter to Tom Higgenson from Delilah's attorney. Cinema Blend
    Cinema Blend
    Cinema Blend is a website founded and run by Josh Tyler dedicated to news and reviews of upcoming and currently playing films, movie projects, Television Shows, and a newly founded Music section which covers album reviews, band interviews and daily news from the industry. It combines gossip from...

     called it one of the best song parodies since "Weird Al" Yankovic
    "Weird Al" Yankovic
    Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic is an American singer-songwriter, music producer, accordionist, actor, comedian, writer, satirist, and parodist. Yankovic is known for his humorous songs that make light of popular culture and that often parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts...

    's "White and Nerdy". Dr. Demento
    Dr. Demento
    Barret Eugene Hansen , better known as Dr. Demento, is a radio broadcaster and record collector specializing in novelty songs, comedy, and strange or unusual recordings dating from the early days of phonograph records to the present....

     named it one of his top ten songs of 2007.
  • Another popular parody surfaced in October 2008; former Republican
    Republican Party (United States)
    The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...

     vice presidential
    Vice President of the United States
    The Vice President of the United States is the holder of a public office created by the United States Constitution. The Vice President, together with the President of the United States, is indirectly elected by the people, through the Electoral College, to a four-year term...

     candidate Sarah Palin
    Sarah Palin
    Sarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice-presidency.She was...

     appeared on YouTube
    YouTube
    YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....

    . "Hey Sarah Palin", by MC Howie and Julie K, uses the melody of this song.
  • In an animated segment for Sesame Street
    Sesame Street
    Sesame Street has undergone significant changes in its history. According to writer Michael Davis, by the mid-1970s the show had become "an American institution". The cast and crew expanded during this time, including the hiring of women in the crew and additional minorities in the cast. The...

    , the song is parodied by three animated white letter T's - a reference to the band's name - singing about themselves. Tom Higgenson provides the voice for the song.
  • Seth and Willie Fred
    Seth and Willie Fred
    Seth and Willie Fred sometimes simply referred to as SWF, is a Comedy Rock, Country, Southern Rock, Parody band from Blakely, Georgia, formed in 2006...

     performed "Hey There Alana" on their SWF:WTF tour and to this day is one of their more popular songs even though it has never appeared on one of the comedy group's albums.
  • Another parody with over 2 million YouTube views is a song called "Hey There Vagina" written and performed by Psycho Mike. It was the most requested song on KROQ-FM
    KROQ-FM
    KROQ-FM — branded 106.7 KROQ — is a commercial modern rock radio station licensed to Pasadena, California serving the Greater Los Angeles. The call sign is pronounced "kay rock." It is the flagship station of Loveline hosted by Dr...

     for a week in June 2007, until it was pulled from the air by station lawyers.
  • Christian
    Christian
    A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...

     parodies, based on the story of Samson
    Samson
    Samson, Shimshon ; Shamshoun or Sampson is the third to last of the Judges of the ancient Israelites mentioned in the Tanakh ....

     and Delilah
    Delilah
    Delilah appears only in the Hebrew bible Book of Judges 16, where she is the "woman in the valley of Sorek" whom Samson loved, and who was his downfall...

    , include a version by Christian comedian Tim Hawkins, and another re-named "Hair Care Delilah".
  • "Hey There Cthulhu", by the Eben Brooks Band, focuses on the Lovecraft god-monster lored for its insanity-inducing presence and the destruction it will bring upon its awakening. The singer apparently goes mad by the end of the song.
  • American comedian Paul Bond performs a parody during his stand-up routine, wherein the narrator is deceived by Delilah, who turns out to be a man.

Charts

Chart (2007) Peak
position
Australian Singles Chart
ARIA Charts
The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...

3
Austrian Singles Chart
Ö3 Austria Top 40
Ö3 Austria Top 40 is the name of the official Austrian singles chart, as well as the radio show which presents it, aired Fridays on Hitradio Ö3. The show presents the Austrian singles, ringtones and downloads chart. It premiered on 26 November 1968 as Disc Parade and was presented by Ernst Grissemann...

2
Belgian (Flanders) Singles Chart 2
Canadian Hot 100
Canadian Hot 100
The Canadian Hot 100 is a music singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks songs in Canada. The chart debuted in the Billboard issue dated June 16, 2007 and was made available for the first time via their online services on June 7, 2007...

1
Dutch Singles Chart
Dutch Top 40
The Dutch Top 40 is a weekly music chart, which started as the "Veronica Top 40", because the offshore radio station Radio Veronica was the first to introduce it. It remained "The Veronica Top 40" until 1974, when the station was forced to stop broadcasting...

8
Eurochart Hot 100 Singles
Eurochart Hot 100 Singles
The European Hot 100 Singles has been compiled by Billboard and Music & Media magazine since March, 1984. The chart is based on national singles sales charts in 15 European countries: Austria, Belgium , Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden,...

1
German Singles Chart
Media Control Charts
The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie...

1
Italian Singles Chart 14
Irish Singles Chart
Irish Singles Chart
The Irish Singles Chart is Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on behalf of the IRMA by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured...

2
New Zealand Singles Chart
Recording Industry Association of New Zealand
The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand...

9
Norwegian Singles Chart
VG-lista
VG-listen is a Norwegian record chart. It is weekly presented in the newspaper VG and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation program Topp 20. It is considered the primary Norwegian record chart, charting albums and singles from countries and continent around the world. The data is collected by...

15
Swedish Singles Chart 6
Swiss Singles Chart 9
UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

2
US Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

1
US Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks
Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks
The Adult Contemporary chart is a weekly chart published in Billboard magazine that lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary and "lite-pop" radio stations in the United States...

1
US Billboard Hot Modern Rock Tracks 3
US Billboard Pop 100
Pop 100
The Pop 100 was a songs chart that debuted in February 2005 and was released weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States until its discontinuation in 2009...

1

Year-end charts

Chart (2007) Rank
German Singles Chart
Media Control Charts
The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie...

 
23
Chart (2008) Rank
German Singles Chart
Media Control Charts
The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie...

 
96

Decade-end charts

Chart (2000–2009) Rank
US Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

97

Certifications

Country Certification Date Quantity certified
Germany
Bundesverband Musikindustrie
The Bundesverband Musikindustrie or simply BVMI represents the music industry in Germany. The association represents the interests of nearly 350 labels and music industry related enterprises....

1× Gold 2007 150,000
USA
Recording Industry Association of America
The Recording Industry Association of America is a trade organization that represents the recording industry distributors in the United States...

3× Platinum 2011 3,000,000

See also

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
x
OK