Since the Plain White T’s are virtually unknown in the UK, I thought I’d lead off this review by telling you a few things about the band.First: they’ve been around since 1997, so don’t be calling them an overnight success. Plus, they’ve released 4 albums to date, the latest of which is Every Second Counts.

Second: Hey There Delilah was originally released in 2005 as part of the band’s third album. Since the tune went to #1 in the USA, it’s been added to the fourth album as a bonus track.

Without over-analyzing it, Hey There Delilah is one of those timeless, rich acoustic ballads. The band plays it subtle, avoiding gimmicks and keeping it to acoustic guitars and low-key strings in the background.

The Background Story

The inspiration for Hey There Delilah is a tale of unrequited love. Well, possibly a crush. Basically, the Plain White T’s Tom Higginson was introduced to an athlete called Delilah DiCrescenzo. Although they never hooked up, Tom wrote a song about her:

There was never anything between us. It was kind of funny ? kind of sad, actually. The story of my life… I thought she was the most beautiful girl I had ever seen. I told her, ‘I have a song about you already.’ Obviously, there was no song. But I thought it was smooth..

The end result? Delilah wasn’t interested and stayed with her boyfriend of the time. She’s getting a little bit sick of the song by now, and there a very clever spoof MP3 response (supposedly from her lawyers) to Tom by way of a cease and desist. Check it out.