Of course, we also have to congratulate songwriter Les Reed. I’d bet every singer, composer and lyricist hopes for a song that will endure and, in Delilah, all involved saw that wish come true.

The single was recorded on December 20, 1967. It was released in the UK on February 23, 1968 and entered the charts on February 28, 1968. The song entered the U.S. charts on March 16, 1968.

This is surely one of his most enduring songs. Of course, as he has discussed at times, it is the story of a murder. When he first performed it in New York on Toast of the Town, the actual name of Ed Sullivan’s TV show, he had to change the lyrics. No, the murder didn’t bother the CBS-TV censor. It was the suggestion that an unmarried couple had spent the night together.

In 2003, Cymru Assembly Member Helen Mary Jones tried to get the song banned at rugby matches. She said: `I find it very offensive that a song about domestic violence leading to murder is regularly heard at rugby matches. Delilah is about a man who murders his partner and then asks for forgiveness after she is dead.”

Clearly, her attempt failed. And, anyway, the singer says, “As she deceived me I watched and went out of my mind.” Surely, an insanity defense is indicated.

Long a staple of Tom’s show, the single — the B-side was Smile — reached #2 in the UK, #15 in the US and #5 in Canada. The album stayed on the UK charts for 29 weeks, peaking at #1.

One of Tom’s first performances of the song was on The Beat Room, the Bandstand-British TV show. You can watch some pretty good video of that performance here.

As usual, if you cannot play it, drop me a line using the “Contact TJI” link at the bottom right and I’ll email it to you.

Thanks to my friend, the (very) Official Tom Jones Record Master, Tom Terry. I am sure if I’ve made any errors, you will email me so I can fix the post.

First, apologies for not wishing TJI’s Canadian friends a Happy Canada Day on July 2. I, personally, should have remembered, as July 2 was a significant day in my life. But, sadly, I forgot all aboot it. So, better late than never, hope it was as grand as your nation deserves. And, of course, today is Independence Day here in the USA. Happy Fourth of July to all. And, may all of
us — in the US, Canada or anywhere else — cherish and protect our freedom
so that the concept will grow and expand throughout the world.

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The BBC Wales tribute show will be shown today and tomorrow. If anyone can record the show and send it to TJI, please use the email link below right to let me know and I can tell you how to email it. Below is the preview of the show from BBC Wales’ website.

Tom Jones – a living pop legend and international superstar. Now celebrating his 70th year – and after half a century at the top of the entertainment industry – everyone thinks they know the singing icon Sir Tom Jones. But only those closest to the Boy from Ponty know the real story. With contributions from Jools Holland and James Dean Bradfield. Still recording, still touring, still performing – Wales’s greatest export shows no sign of stopping.

1. Sun 4 Jul 2010 / 22:25 / BBC One (Wales only)
2. Mon 5 Jul 2010 / 19:00 / BBC Two (Wales only)

Next is a Tom Jones Trivia Quiz (“How Well Do You Know Tom Jones?”) from BBC Wales. Sadly, BBC Wales had one answer wrong. (I placed an asterisk — * — by that answer) and they also employed some really bad grammar and, as an editor, I naturally corrected that. I found those two facts disturbing, to say the least. They’re always saying how Tom Jones is best known in the land of his birth. Apparently not. And, although British English is supposed to be the standard — and I, for one, have no argument with that — the original wording of parts of this quiz lower the bar for all other English-speakers.

At any rate, below are the 10 questions, the choice of answers and, after the last question, the actual answers.

1. What was Tom’s first UK single?
Delilah / Once Upon A Time / Chills And Fever

To finish the rest of the quiz, to see the answers and to watch the Welsh tribute video, click here to

2. In which year did Tom get his knighthood?
2004 / 2005/ 2006

3. How many years after leaving in 1964 did it take for Sir Tom to return to perform in Pontypridd?
41 / 43 / 34

4. What chart position did Tom’s single Sexbomb reach when it was released in 2000?
Three / Twenty-three / Four

5. How much money was Tom Jones paid by Lew Grade for each series of The Tom Jones Show from 1969 to 1971?
$3million / $6million / $9million

6. Whose version of Green Green Grass Of Home inspired Tom to record his own?
Jerry Lee Lewis / Porter Wagoner / Bobby Bare

7. To which Bond film did Tom Jones contribute the theme song?
Goldfinger / Thunderball / Octopussy

8. What was Tom Jones’ original stage name?
Tommy Scott / Johnny Jones / Tommy Rocket

9. Tom Jones and The Art Of Noise released their cover of Prince’s song Kiss in which year?
1990 / 1994 / 1988

10. Which famous songwriter co-wrote the classic Tom Jones single What’s New, Pussycat?
Paul Anka / Burt Bacharach / Neil Diamond

Answers:

1.Chills And Fever. It was released in August 1964.
2. 2006 *“For me, to accept a Knighthood is a great and humbling honour, and I know my family — and hope my friends and fans – will share in my gratitude and excitement,” he said. (BBC Wales said the answer was 2005.)
3. 41 He returned to perform at the town’s Ynysyngharad Park in May 2005 for his 65th birthday.
4. Three It was the highest-charting single from his Reload album, which was his most successful LP ever.
5. $9 million He had stars such as Johnny Cash, The Bee Gees and The Moody Blues on his hit US TV show.
6. Jerry Lee Lewis He heard the track on Lewis’ 1965 album Country Songs For City Folk.
7. Thunderball He sang the song for the 1965 film which starred Sean Connery.
8. Tommy Scott Having been Tommy Scott for a few years, Tom Jones was renamed for the stage as another Tommy Scott was working in London in the mid 1960s.
9. 1988 Prince had released the single in 1986, and Tom Jones had been performing a cover version in his live performances for two years by the time it was released.
10. Burt Bacharach Bacharach wrote the song with Hal David. It was released by Tom Jones in 1965. Other versions have been by people such as Bobby Darin, Tony Bennett, Anita Kerr and The Four Seasons.

You can watch it here.

As usual, if you cannot play it, drop me a line using the “Contact TJI” link at the bottom right and I’ll email it to you.

If you go to the iTunes in Great Britain, you’ll see that, instead of the title song — previously announced as being the 12th track on Praise and Blame — is now listed as “Burning Hell (Ethan Johns Wood Room Version) [Bonus Track].”

The US iTunes store still doesn’t have the CD listed and both amazon in the US and the UK still have Praise and Blame as the 12th track. Oddly, amazon UK is offering an “import” of the US CD for £24.99….’Tis a puzzlement.

Anyway, since I had to be out of the house at 5 am Monday and 6 am Tuesday, I am just putting up a video of Tom singing (as in photo at left) one of my favorites — From 1989, it’s Jerry Lee Lewis’ massive first his, Great Balls of Fire. Just smashing!

You can watch it here.

As usual, if you cannot play it, drop me a line using the “Contact TJI” link at the bottom right and I’ll email it to you.

You can watch it in the TJI.com Video Library. Before you do, however, read the few sentences below and check out that video, too. They are the two top videos on the page.

A brief explanation of the origin and spread of of the blues from a 1990 documentary features BB King, Eric Clapton, Booker T and The MGs, Jeff Beck, Little Richard, Bonnie Raitt. Mick Fleetwood & Tom Jones.

As pointed out just above, it’s brief and the video quality ain’t great. But it goes a long way toward explaining this music. Tom talks for — literally — four seconds beginning at 2:53. But there are lots of others singers, too. Worth seeing.

You can watch it in the TJI.com Video Library.

And, if for some reason you cannot access these videos or any of them in the Video Library, just use the “Contact TJI” link at bottom right to let me know. Don’t forget to watch both videos!

Finally, since Tom’s first gig in the US was the tour of Dick Clark’s Caravan of Stars in 1965 and he also appeared on American Bandstand to sing She’s A Lady, it would have been grand to see him do a brief video tribute to Dick Clark on the Emmy Awards last night, wouldn’t it? After all, they had video greetings from Cher, Manilow, Donny Osmond and lots of others. Sir Tom would have been a nice addition.

Tom with Jonathan Ross, February 6, 2009.

25 June 2010

Veteran Welsh singer-songwriter Tom Jones has sealed a worldwide publishing deal with EMI Music Publishing. The agreement encompasses Tom’s full back catalogue and future releases including his forthcoming album Praise and Blame, out July 26. It marks the first time the musician has signed with a major publisher.

The Sun reports that:

On July 16, Tom will join Jonathan Ross for his last BBC show. Also on the guest list are Prince (maybe a duet of Kiss?); David Beckham (to whom The Sun refers as “Golden Balls”), Mickey Rourke and Jackie Chan.

Friday Night With Jonathan Ross is shown on BBC America one week after they’re shown in the UK. So look for this ep on July 23 and, of course, TJI plans to post it, too.

This is the video I was working on yesterday — getting it from several gigabytes in size down to 48MB or so. Now, this is a transfer from a video tape, so the picture clarity isn’t the same as it might be when directly made from a DVD. The digital age didn’t dawn until after this was done.

It’s a lovely video for a terrific cause. The screen shot at right is taken from it. You’ll see lots of children, Dave Stewart (Eurythmics) and learn more about ChildLine.

You can watch it in the TJI.com Video Library.

At #14, is this: “After his first appearance in 1992, Tom Jones said: ‘Van Morrison was on before me and he was complaining that the crowd were falling asleep. When I went on, kids seemed to arrive from everywhere and there was a banner that read “Tom F***ing Jones”. That was really something.’”

(TJI knows two people who brought a similar sign to Irving Plaza — that’s a venue, not the name of a person — and Tom saw it and really seemed to enjoy it. The photo of Tom here was from the same time as his first Glastonbury appearance.)

The Fockers Are Back & You May Be Interested: In 2000 the film Meet the Parents was a huge hit. It was followed in 2004 by Meet the Fockers, which was also a hit. Now, for Christmas 2010, we can look forward to Little Fockers.

The same cast as was in the 2004 film is back — Stiller, DeNiro, Hoffman, Streisand, Danner — along with a lot of people (Harvey Keitel comes to mind) who weren’t in the others in the series.

Why am I telling you this? Because the fans’ friend in Florida — who’s a fan herself — sent a link to this trailer for Little Fockers. She — I’ll call her BB to protect her privacy — thought it would be of interest to fans of Sir Tom. I agree. So, take one minute, 46 seconds to check it out and see if you do, indeed, find it of interest.

You can watch it here.

As usual, if you cannot play it, drop me a line using the “Contact TJI” link at the bottom right and I’ll email it to you.

Come back to TJI tomorrow for a video many of you haven’t seen.

Meanwhile, in case you’re interested, when Sir Tom is here in Las Vegas in August, Lady Gaga will do a night at the Grand Garden Arena at the MGM and, down the road at the Hilton, Al Green will be playing the second weekend Tom is in the Hollywood Theatre. Always something interesting in Las Vegas.

Not having anything to do with Tom Jones or Las Vegas, but something I found interesting: Remember in 2006 when the American Film Institute (AFI) honored Sir Sean Connery for lifetime achievement? Tom, newly knighted, wore the badge of that honor he shares with Connery and Tom sang Thunderball. If you forgot that show, you can see video of Tom’s performance and Sir Sean’s reaction (photos above) by clicking here. (Not great quality, but you’ll get the idea. And, as Tom was a newly minted knight, it would’ve been nice if they’d introduced him using the title.)

Anyway, Connery retired from films (for good, he said) around that time and has been living in the Bahamas and writing his autobiography. Anyway, he’s out of retirement and working on the first every full-length animated feature to be made in Scotland. In a move that sort of reunites Agent 007 with the voice of Goldfinger, Dame Shirley Bassey is set to sing the title song of the movie, Sir Billi. I had the opportunity to interview one of the filmmakers and the story, with some video, is in my Huffington Post blog.

So, as I was so busy that this became an almost impossible TJI day, I chose one of my favorite brief videos. To revisit Tom Jones’ 1989 performance of Great Balls of Fire at London’s Hammersmith Odeon, just click here.

As usual, if you cannot play either of the videos posted today, drop me a line using the “Contact TJI” link at the bottom right and I’ll email the video you couldn’t see (or both of them) to you.

Appearing on the stage at Vibrato was Anna Mjöll, a jazz singer from Reykjavík, Iceland. Appearing as a guest in the restaurant was Sir Tom Jones, a multi-genre singer from Pontypridd, Wales (now living a mere few miles from Bel-Air).

Anyway, because it is such a part of him for sure, Tom joined Mjöll to sing. Among other tunes, they did Fly Me To The Moon and When I Fall In Love. There was more, but this was caught on cellphone video. I’ve worked to improve the quality but — as you can see from the screen shot — it was so bad to begin with…..

However, such videos are always fun and you’ll probably enjoy it.

You can watch it in the TJI.com Video Library.

And, according to WCBS-101.1 FM in New York City (a great station), on June 22, 1992,” Tom Jones was joined during his performance at London’s Town & Country Club by Pink Floyd’s Dave Gilmour on guitar.” As you know they performed that terrific version of Purple Rain on Tom’s TV series The Right Time that year. (That series really should be out on DVD!)

Alan Yentob meets a musical legend who is preparing to celebrate his 70th birthday in the summer of 2010, as the arts series concludes.

During an intimate and revealing encounter, Sir Tom Jones looks back on a remarkable singing career, reflecting on his highs, lows, achievements and regrets.

A pop legend, a soul singer, and a true rock ‘n’ roller, Tom Jones (often referred to as The Voice) possesses the dynamic stagecraft and supercharged vocal power that won the admiration of Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra – and, of course, millions of fans all over the world. Such illustrious endorsements should come as no surprise; in a career spanning almost five decades. Sir Tom has sung almost every idiom in popular music — including pop, rock, show tunes, country, dance and techno. He has also sold more than 100 million albums, hosted a successful TV variety programme, and has headlined at some of the biggest venues in Las Vegas.

Featuring exclusive contributions from an outstanding line-up of fellow musicians and former collaborators, including Jools Holland, Sandie Shaw, Robbie Williams, Cerys Matthews and Kelly Jones, this film attempts to get a glimpse of the real man behind the showman – and to show how this septuagenarian is still striving to be as relevant today as he ever was.

The BBC’s description of the show says, “Imagine… aims to capture the power and effect of the arts and the people who have changed our way of looking at the world.

“It is presented by Alan Yentob, who says ‘The brief for Imagine… is simple. To be bold. We aim to be inclusive but we hope to inspire and surprise too.’”