Plain White T's: "Hey There Delilah" (2005)

"Hey There Delilah," written by Tom Higgenson, is the third single released from the band Plain White T's 2005 album All That We Needed. In June 2007, over two years after the song's release, it became the band's first hit in the United States, eventually reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 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. iTunes Music Store. 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. 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, 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, a nationally ranked American steeplechase and cross country runner. Excluding song titles with "God" or "Lord", the song was the sixth featuring a Biblical character in its title to hit the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart.


- Lyrics:


hey there delilah
whats it like in new york city
im a thousand miles away
but girl tonight you look so pretty
yes you do
time square cant shine as bright as you
i swear its true

hey there delilah
dont you worry about the distance
im right there if you get lonely
give this song another listen
close your eyes
listen to my voice its my disguise
im by your side

oh its what you do to me
oh its what you do to me
oh its what you do to me
oh its what you do to me
what you do to me

hey there delilah
i know times are gettin hard
but just believe me girl
someday ill pay the bills with this guitar
we'll have it good
we'll have the life we knew we would
my word is good

hey there delilah
ive got so much left to say
if every simple song i wrote to you
would take your breath away
id write it all
even more in love with me youd fall
we'd have it all

oh its what you do to me
oh its what you do to me
oh its what you do to me
oh its what you do to me

a thousand miles seems pretty far
but they've got planes and trains and cars
id walk to you if i had no other way
our friends would all make fun of us
and we'll just laugh along because we know
that none of them have felt this way
delilah i can promise you
that by the time that we get through
the world will never ever be the same
and youre to blame

hey there delilah
you be good and dont you miss me
two more years and youll be done with school
and ill be makin history like i do
you know its all because of you
we can do whatever we want to
hey there delilah heres to you
this ones for you

oh its what you do to me
oh its what you do to me
oh its what you do to me
oh its what you do to me
what you do to me