Delilah is former professional distance/steeplechase runner Delilah DiCrescenzo.
She met the plain white T’s singer through a mutual friend, in like 2001 or so.
They were both from the Chicago area and he wrote the song when she went away to college (at Columbia in New York), they were never in a relationship though.
The woman on stage here is not Delilah
Seeing him perform that song in the Chicago burbs at a random town fall fest in the early 2000s when I was in middle school right around the time it started to blow up on the radio is a wild memory I have lol
We used to make fun of Plain White Ts when they opened for Lucky Boys Confusion. Then this song came out and rocketed them past LBC. It was unexpected, for sure.
In the early 2000s I went to see Reel Big Fish and Sum 41 opened for them. They were supposed to open up for the Mighty Mighty Bosstones later that year but blew up literally a couple weeks before the show and got their own tour.
"If you want to know what DiCrescenzo thought of the song, which went on to sell more than 4 million copies in the U.S. alone, check out this interview in which she described hearing it for the first time:
My first thought: "Oh no! Did I lead Tom on?" I became anxious. I was with Will. I'm still with Will to this day. Tom and I had a friendly relationship and I wondered if he misconstrued my actions. He put so much effort into the song. I felt guilty, like, "I'm such a wench!"
Ididn't want the spotlight. I was nervous that I'd let Tom's fans down. They'd be disappointed to hear I have a boyfriend. Every girl would want a song written about her, and they'd think I was ungrateful and rude to deny Tom. I felt pressure to live up to those expectations."
I think writing a song like that for someone who you just met who you know has a boyfriend is... a little creepy. I mean OK he's a songwriter, sometimes you can't help what inspires you. But maybe keep it to yourself and don't give it to her. Change the name to like Susannah, Emilia, Theresa, Victoria, Natalia... all of which maintain the cadence.
Fair enough you think it's creepy, and I would tend to agree. However, that's different than the actual person involved thinking it is creepy - which is what the parent comment incorrectly stated.
They played at my company Halloween party because my coworker was the mother of a band member. This was 98...Lombard/Oakbrook Terrace. They were adorable and already had the girls following...
Pretty sure you don’t. See that woman on the stage, she might be A Delilah. But she is not, in fact, THE actual Delilah who inspired the Plain White T’s hit, “Hey There Delilah”. That Delilah, Delilah DiCrescenzo is a former track star and very attractive person. We would all understand why THAT Delilah would inspire such a song.
Back in the geocities era of the internet, a pre-incel satire (?) website blew up when its owner came up with the now infamous Ladder Theory. One of the other popular theories on the site was about Für Elise, in which Beethoven would bring women to his home and convinced them to sleep with him by naming this unpublished song after them. No matter how hard he tried, however, one woman would not put out... Elise. So he doubled-down, officially published it as "Für Elise" and played it in his concerts.
Hey There Delilah would therefore be the Tom Higgenson's Für Elise.
I just learned this about Toto's "Rosanna" (she was dating a member of Toto, but not the one who wrote the song). Bummed me out. At least she still has "In Your Eyes."
So
She claimed that the song “in your eyes” was about her. Peter Gabriel never said it was and still adamantly said it’s not about her. So I’m gonna believe the guy that wrote it.
You can just write in your native language and reddit will translate it into whatever language the user has set. That being said, sorry for criticising you when you're writing in your second(/third/fourth) language. I've just been shocked by the quality of writing on here. Many of these people only speak English.
Like, it's still a catch AF song more than a decade later, but I remember hearing the story and thinking it felt creepy - especially with the song using her real, actual name (which was not a common name)
The song's existence never really bothered her, though apparently her boyfriend wasn't a fan. But yes, she did claim to get tired of hearing it everywhere.
It's not an uncommon name. It's not even the creepiest song with Delilah in the title. The classic Tom Jones song Delilah is about murdering a woman for sleeping with someone else.
And two decades, even more than 2 decades later is still "more than a decade later. So I am technically not wrong (pretty sure I was thinking 15ish years ago for the song, because I know it was not a 90s song and the 90s cannot possibly be more than 20 years ago right?
You're not the first to mention this. I did specifically say "more than a decade later", so I was accurate!
I am a bit shocked that that song is 21 years old!
But also I am old enough to think that 1996 was just 20 years ago, so I have a flawed sense of time because damn age messes with your perception of time.
There is a song that I heard recently that uses my actual name and I hate it. Was kind of indifferent to the song that was a variation of my name, because not my actual name and I could hear the difference. But now? No. Stop. Please, don't!
The story is pretty much exactly as you’d expect. A different coworker thought it was funny to play all the songs with her name in it. And definitely wasn’t the first time she’s heard them.
My cousin ran with her at Columbia and it was embarrassing, creepy, stalker behavior.
That said, I've got a dog named Delilah and it's a catchy song. I'm appreciative of the person who added "hey there deleighleigh what's it like in salt lake city" as a fun variation when the first one gets stuck in my head.
The woman on the stage is Lolo (Lølø) who is a performer on her own. She loved the song and thought about what if Delilah responded and it's gotten back to PWT who invited her to collaborate
Delilah dated my buddies cousin - Liam Boylan-Pett. He was a decorated runner at NY too.
Hearing stories from my friend...basically Delilah was SUPER weirded out by the whole thing: song and event invite.
So the singer invited her to some kind of event, she agreed and then heard he was going to "show her off" - so she almost backed out. Delilah pretty much said that, "she hoped that would end it." Liam was not happy she went but hoped the same (that it would end "it" - whatever "it" was (obsession). Not sure if it did. But Liam went too and they left like an hour after the event. Super weird situation that I think Delilah/Liam handled well.
Details are fuzzy - as it was over 20 years ago - but I'm pretty sure that's how it went down.
AFAIK Delilah dated Will Boylan-Pett, Liam’s brother. They both ran at Columbia around that time though. Delilah did a video series when she was sponsored by Puma which centers around her and Will living together in NYC
Yes! This is the right guy - Will (not Liam). My mistake.
Been a long while since I chatted with my old High School buddy - we chatted about it after basketball practices a few times. We didn't believe him until we reconnected at an alumni basketball game years later. He was like, "told you so 😂" and showed pictures of her at the event + pictures of Will/Delilah together at a wedding or something similar.
The details were fuzzy, but all-in-all, she was not happy about going to the event (The Emmy's?).
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u/Rand0m_Spirit_Lover 13d ago edited 13d ago
Delilah is former professional distance/steeplechase runner Delilah DiCrescenzo.
She met the plain white T’s singer through a mutual friend, in like 2001 or so.
They were both from the Chicago area and he wrote the song when she went away to college (at Columbia in New York), they were never in a relationship though.
The woman on stage here is not Delilah
The actual Delilah: