What does Hey There Delilah mean?

Plain White T's: Hey There Delilah Meaning

Album cover for Hey There Delilah album cover

Song Released: 2007


Covered By: Jasmine Thompson


Hey There Delilah Lyrics

Hey there Delilah
What's it like in New York City?
I'm a thousand miles away
But girl tonight you look so pretty
Yes you do
Time Square can't shine as bright as you
I swear it's true

Hey there Delilah
Don't you worry about the...

  1. 1TOP RATED

    #1 top rated interpretation:
    iris
    click a star to vote
    Jun 25th 2007 !⃝

    This song goes deeper than what people think. I mean just listening to this song you see the obvious and don't read in between the lines. This really is a beautiful simple and straight to the point very laid back song...
    I feel that obviously this is a long distance relationship but that they once were together and it wasn't always long distance. That they are trying to make this work for their love for each other BUT I feel that they are both losing their hope and faith and he is trying to convince her that it will work by the line " if every simple song I wrote you would take your breath away I'd write it all.. Even more in love with me you'd fall" meaning subliminally that he would do what ever it takes to keep their love strong.. To make her fall deeper in love so he wouldn't have to fear losing her and their dream together.

    The line " I can promise you that by the time we are through the world will never be the same and your to blame" saying that by staying with him we can prove our friends wrong and the world will change their looks and beliefs on love and she would be to blame because she made the choice of staying with him proving everyone's doubts wrong...

    By him saying be good and don't you miss me he is saying that don't miss him because she will always have his heart.....
    I love this effin song!

  2. 2TOP RATED

    #2 top rated interpretation:
    Ruwantha
    click a star to vote
    Oct 12th 2008 !⃝

    Hey there Delilah,
    Whats it like in New York City,
    well I'm a Thousand miles away but girl
    Tonight you look so pretty
    yes you do...
    Time Square can't shine as bright as you
    You know its true...

    The singer here is describing his beautiful lover... asking her whats it like to be away thousands of miles away from him... "thousand miles away but girl tonight you look so pretty..." It in some way says that the singer is away from the girl and he is not feeling good about it, but the girl is ok with it... She is pretty... She is doing fine away from him. She captures the attraction better than the Time Square of New York! He is perhaps jealous of that sub conciously.

    Hey there Delilah
    Don't you worry about the distance
    I'm right there if you get lonely
    Give this song another listen
    Close your eyes
    Listen to my voice it's my disguise
    I'm by your side...

    He wonders if she too might be feeling down at times. Would she go through patches of loneliness in life... He wants to say he will always be there for her. Since she's choosen to keep him away he sings for her thinking, in her dark hours she could listen to him and feel his soul in her. He is telling that he will be there for her if she lets him at any time... That he wants to wait for her... and his love for her never dies.

    Oh it's what you do to me
    Oh it's what you do to me
    Oh it's what you do to me
    Oh it's what you do to me
    What you do to me...

    Simple but strong... The singer explains the hurt in his heart... How the loss feels like cutting him deep inside. How he has lost him self to her... and asks see what you do to me.... It is killing me inside.

    Hey there Delilah
    I know times are getting hard
    But just believe me girl
    Someday I'll pay the bills with this guitar
    We'll have it good
    We'll have the life we knew we would
    My word is good

    The singer is not yet a popular artist... but I guess this verse goes deeper... what it actually means is to give a cue as to why she left. Any realtionship to work people needs some financial stability... He lacked it. Perhaps she went off because of that... Perhaps he could not provide what she wanted...But he wants to live his dream. He dreams on that he achieves his target and gets a chance to have her back... He makes a promise in such case he would give her her dreams... but on the other hand he knows that is only an if...

    Hey there Delilah
    I've got so much left to say
    If every simple song I wrote to you
    Would take your breath away
    I'd write it all
    Even more in love with me you'd fall
    We'd have it all

    When a relationship ends, the one who gets dumped usually has so much to say. So much that he feels may change her mind. But she has probably cut him off... He never had a chance to tell her how much she meant to him. How much he loved her. His dreams of having her besides... See her raise his kids... watch her sleep by his side... feel her breath close to him... He is simply unable to tell her all that. If there is anything that would make her listen to all that he would give out anything in life to do so.. He is blindly in love and totally feeling lonely.

    A thousand miles seems pretty far
    But they've got planes and trains and cars
    I'd walk to you if I had no other way
    Our friends would all make fun of us
    but 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 we get through
    The world will never ever be the same
    And you're to blame

    If she accepts he would go half way around the world to reach her. There are planes, cars, trains to link him to her, if that aint enough he wants to walk to her on his feet no matter how many miles... but she does not accept! Everyone around thinks he is not good enough for her... She is a beauty queen, but he is the average town boy with a suitcase of dreams... Had she accepted him all their friends would say she is crazy... But it does not matter and why should it? No one on earth would have felt how he feels for her.... No one would know how they felt for each other at that stolen moments... No one would understand what happened between them!

    There is a faint hope that she would come back to him... There is a faint hope she may see him again and may be feel for him... but its gonna take time. He knows that even if their feelings for each other may not change... Their common dreams would stay the same, they won't be able to live it as the rest of the world is not going to wait. She may be married to someone else... He may be married to someone else by then... They may have kids with their partners... So the times they once dreamt are never coming back unless she realises now and makes the move...

    Hey there Delilah
    You be good and don't you miss me
    Two more years and you'll be done with school
    And I'll be making history like I do
    You'll know it's all because of you
    We can do whatever we want to
    Hey there Delilah here's to you
    This one's for you

    This is a strong ending to the song... Couple of years from now, she will move on and live the glory. She would be graduating out of school, having a glamorous occupation... may be married to a smart guy... He too may achieve his financial goals. May be he becomes a pop singer and a brilliant guitarist... but for him he will never get over her... The memories of her will ever linger in him, hurting him with every breath he takes and every time his heart beats...because for him there is no one like her... but for her he will only be a dark smokey figure in her history... The looser who lost her, and the looser who lost him self to her...

    Finally for all that he missed out to tell her, he says he tributes his soul for the girl... This one's for you... one may argue that is the song, but I feel its rather his soul he speaks about...


    Well thanks for reading through... You may disagree! but I believe this is what this song means to me. I love it always... Does not matter even if the writer never thought about this when he wrote this.. I still like to feel the way I have described about it...

    Thanks again!

  3. 3TOP RATED

    #3 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jul 24th 2007 !⃝

    Ok this song is about how the lead singer met this girl Delilah and liked her and then he wrote this song about her....even though they'd only met once....and it turns out the girl...Delilah... Has a boyfriend and he wasn't that thrilled about this song. So that's what this song is really about cause I heard them explain it on TRL.

  4. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jul 31st 2013 !⃝

    The woman is dressed like a hooker. Why is she a hooker now ? Was she always a hooker?
    Nice Emo male and female hooker.
    Whats it all about ? God knows.
    But with no explanation in the words we only have the video to go by. The women is not in a classroom or library studying but is on the street on a cold wet day wearing a crotch high skirt. Are we supposed to discern something else? Mind you 90% of women in videos are young thin model look a likes, one assumes the a-typical female aspiration and the majority male desire.
    Nothing new in pop music then :)

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  5. anonymous
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    Jun 11th 2012 !⃝

    tom higgenson (lead singer) was inspired to write 'hey there delilah' after meeting delilah dicrescenzo (american runner).

  6. anonymous
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    Apr 5th 2012 !⃝

    I think that the first commentary by Iris, is the best one. Because it describes exactly what I think the meaning of this song is.

    This is my favorite song, because it's acoustic and it's just so calm.
    I have so many memories with this song, and I always begin to cry when I hear it.

    I know that this isn't a analysis of the lyrics, but I thought that you should hear my opinion.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  7. Lauraw884
    click a star to vote
    May 30th 2011 !⃝

    This song is most obviously about a long distant relationship... of two people who are deeply in love and have been trying to do anything to keep that love strong... e.g. complementing his love.
    The whole begging of the song is him reassuring her that it will all be okay and that it will work out with time... they will be together with time.
    With all this reassurance he hopes that she will be okay and will believe it is all worth it in the end... even with their friends believing that it will never work... saying that she shouldn't take it to heart because their love means so much more than that.
    He also says "I'll be making history like I do" ... saying she is his influence... or she is the one that makes him strong.
    The chorus is basic... simply saying that all these things... all the love he feels is for her... a simple expression of his love for her.
    Overall... this is an adorable song :)
    Long distant relationships are hard (I know) and will be worth it in the end :) Just don't give up.

  8. anonymous
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    Jan 28th 2011 !⃝

    Anonomous wrote, "Well I'm not sure this is entirely right but if you look at Delilah in the video, to me she looks like a prostitute. Because she's putting on a lot of make-up and walking around in alleys and on streets and stuff. So maybe he fell in love with this girl who moved to NYC and she really didn't love him (but he didn't know that) and she told him that she was going to school but maybe she dropped out and became a prostitute."

    This is spot on!

  9. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Mar 20th 2009 !⃝

    Okay. Its pretty obvious. Picture this:

    You go on tour and of course when your on tour you get lonely. Right? So he she's ths girl in the crowd and decides to talk to her after the show. HE thinks that its just going to be a one night stand because he has to leave in the morning. But SHE wants it to be more than that. SO they fall in love that night but when he has to leave they part and say there farewells THEN! Right before they leaves she says "Dont forget to write!/Call!" At the top of her lungs! So the song to me is really like a love letter or a phone call or voice message. Thus the "Hey There Delilah Whats It Like In New York City?". Thats How I see it.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  10. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Mar 11th 2009 !⃝

    His girlfriend left to go to New York City and he's trying to cheer both of them up.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  11. BillabongGirl
    click a star to vote
    Mar 2nd 2009 !⃝

    I think it is a beautiful song about a situation that people run into each and every day all over the world. A good looking love sick guy sends his girlfriend to New York to begin their new life while he finishes up making something of himself to support the two of them, in the mean time, his young beautiful girlfriend runs into hard times and has to resort to prostitution to survive in the pricey city but never tells him of her hard time so as not to worry him. But their love for each other is stronger than the strongest steel that no other can break and though she has to sell herself on the New York city streets, still she keeps a look out for his return, waiting to have the life they said they would and he continues to love her unconditionally. Or at least that the way I had perceived it from the video. Though he may not have meant for Delilah to be a prostitute, the director of the video did a good job of making her look like one. But its a wonderful video and one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard and often makes me cry just to hear it. Delilah will be found and swept off her feet by her far off Romeo. What an awesome song no matter how you look at it.

  12. anonymous
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    Dec 26th 2008 !⃝

    If you look at the video, you realize that the girl looks alot less innocent than he does. She wears a ton of makeup, short miniskirts, and walks through alleyways.

    I believe that the girl and boy both had a deep connection with each other at one point, then moved away to find there own jobs and maybe they promised each other that they would come back to each other once they have found jobs and have finished school.

    However, the boy is barely making money even though he has big dreams that he'll become a famous guitarist, and I believe that the girl wants a good future for both of them and decides to make money in a bad way, (prostituting?) and has dropped out of school because she doesn't believe in herself.

    But they both want to be together and they both try to earn a living for a good future.

    I know that the song originally is about a guy who wrote it for about a real girl named Delilah, and the story in the song is fictional, but my perception is just based on the lyrics and the music video. :)

  13. anonymous
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    Jun 28th 2008 !⃝

    Okay,despite popular opinion, this song and Hate (I really don't like you) are related. First, of all the singer wrote Hey There Delilah for Delilah, an actual girl, actually living in NYC. Second, he wrote it for her because he really liked her and she didn't notice him. In truth, not talking about the song, Delilah turned him down, so he wrote Hate (I really don't like you).

  14. anonymous
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    Dec 21st 2007 !⃝

    This song is about this guy's girlfriend who is in New York ("What's it like in New York City?") for college or something ("two more years and you'll be done with school"). He is totally in love with her and writes a lot of songs about her ("If every simple song I wrote to you"). The guy is trying to maintain a long distance relationship and is a musician barely scraping by.("someday I'll pay the bills with this guitar"). He believes things will be better and they will get back together. Even though Delilah has done something that has hurt him a lot ("oh, what you do to me...") he is still crazy in love with her. I think this song could be the ex-boyfriend's side of Big Girls Don't Cry by Fergie.

  15. anonymous
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    Oct 19th 2007 !⃝

    Actually, he met her once and promised her he'd write a song about her. He wrote the whole thing in one night. Its all b.s. He's not in love with her but that's ok. maybe she needed someone to write a song for her. maybe this song helped her through college. Its always nice to think that someone is thinking about you, but there is no real meaning behind this. He pulled it straight out of his arse one night. 'if every SIMPLE song I wrote to you would take your breath away i'd write it all, even more in love with me you'd fall...' I admit it def. evokes some good feelings listening to it, but its too bad the love he feels in this song for this delilah girl isn't real. and that its not all b/c of her. Heres to you, this ones for you.

  16. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Oct 5th 2007 !⃝

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hey_There_Delilah

    It's very interesting what Delilah said about the song..

  17. memi09
    click a star to vote
    Aug 31st 2007 !⃝

    As much as I love the Plain White T's, the actual story is only about a potential relationship with a fan of his. There isn't anything more to it. Sorry.

  18. anonymous
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    Jul 4th 2007 !⃝

    Well I'm not sure this is entirely right but if you look at Delilah in the video, to me she looks like a prostitute. Because she's putting on a lot of make-up and walking around in alleys and on streets and stuff. So maybe he fell in love with this girl who moved to NYC and she really didn't love him (but he didn't know that) and she told him that she was going to school but maybe she dropped out and became a prostitute.

    -- don't yell at me if you think this is totally wrong, this is just my own opinion

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