Hey There Delilah | Chords + Lyrics
Intro
||: D5 | F#m :||
Verse 1
| D5 | F#m |
Hey there Delilah what’s it like in New York City?
| D5 | F#m | Bm Bm/A |
I’m a thousand miles away, but girl tonight you look so pretty, yes you do.
| G A | Bm | A A5 |
Times Square can’t shine as bright as you, I swear it’s true.
Verse 2
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.
Chorus 1
| D5 D5/A | Bm Bm/C# | D5 D5/A | Bm Bm/C# |
Oh, it’s what you do to me, oh it’s what you do to me.
| D5 D5/A | Bm Bm/C# | D5 D5/A | Bm Bm/C# | D5 D5/A |
Oh, it’s what you do to me, oh it’s what you do to me, what you do to me.
Verse 3
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.
Verse 4
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.
Chorus 2
| D5 D5/A | Bm Bm/C# | D5 D5/A | Bm Bm/C# |
Oh, it’s what you do to me, oh it’s what you do to me.
| D5 D5/A | Bm Bm/C# | D5 D5/A | Bm Bm/A |
Oh, it’s what you do to me, oh it’s what you do to me.
Middle 8
| G5 | A |
A thousand miles seems pretty far, but they’ve got planes and trains and cars.
| D5 D5/A | Bm Bm/A |
I’d walk to you if I had no other way.
| G5 | A |
Our friends would all make fun of us, and we’ll just laugh along because.
| D5 D5/C# | Bm Bm/A |
We know that none of them have felt this way.
| G5 | A |
Delilah, I can promise you, that by the time that we get through.
| Bm | Bm | A | A5 |
The world will never ever be the same, and you’re to blame.
Verse 5
| D5 | F#m |
Hey there Delilah you be good and don’t you miss me.
| D5 | F#m | Bm Bm/A |
Two more years and you’ll be done with school, and I’ll be making history like I do.
| G A | Bm Bm/A | G A | Bm Bm/A |
You’ll know it’s all because of you, we can do whatever we want to.
| G A | Bm | A | A5 |
Hey there Delilah here’s to you, this one’s for you.
Chorus 3 (as Chorus 2)
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.
Outro
||: D5 D5/A | Bm Bm/C# :|| x4
Oh, oh, oh…
| D5 D5/A | D |
Hey There Delilah Chords: Learn the progressions
Plain White T’s monster hit Hey There Delilah starts with chords I – III (#8 on my top 10 chord progression list), followed by chord VI.
A bass line then takes us to chords IV – V – VI before we finally finish on chord V, like this:
| D5 (I) | F#m (III) | D5 (I) | F#m (III) | Bm (VI) Bm /A |
| G (IV) A (V) | Bm (VI) | A (V) A5 |
If you’ve read the TAB for exactly how to play this (see further down this page), just reading the chords is enough to remind you how to play Hey There Delilah like the original.
The chorus moves between chords I (D) and VI (Bm) with the help of a bass line, like this:
| D5 (I) D5/A | Bm (VI) Bm/C# | D5 (I) D5/A | Bm (VI) Bm/C# |
Again, when you’ve seen the TAB and sorted out how to finger this, it’s easy to read the chords.
During the middle 8, we recycle Hey There Delilah’s chords, like this:
| G5 (IV) | A (V) | D5 (I) D5/A | Bm (VI) Bm/A |
Here’s a chord chart I made for you.
Hey There Delilah Chord Chart | PDF + iReal Pro
Even though Hey There Delilah’s chords and song structure are easy to learn and remember, should you have a big repertoire, it’s nice to have a chord chart to glance at.
You can download what you saw above as a PDF: Hey There Delilah Chord Chord Chart PDF.
This chart was created using iRealPro, here’s a link to that file: Hey There Delilah Chord iReal Pro. Using this and the iRealPro app, you can change the key.
In the course, we look at TAB and play along to loops to learn Hey There Delilah Chord in more depth, below is a preview.
Hey There Delilah TAB | Course Preview
What makes this sound good is how Tom Higgenson is picking these chords using very compact chord shapes.
The D chord is just a D5, there is no 3rd or top string. When we switch to F#m, the F# is the D chords 3rd, again we don’t play the top string.
This creates a defined part, compare it by switching key to C, playing C – Em instead as open-position chords and you’ll see what I mean.
Here’s TAB for how he does it (play along with the loop above for best results).
Members get TAB and a play-along loop for this for the chorus too, making it very easy to learn. The same goes for the middle 8.
In the course, there are 8 guitar lessons discussing how to play all parts of Hey There Delilah, as well as how to create 2nd guitar parts. We even use the CAGED system to improvise a part.
At the top of this page, you’ll find several videos (in the playlist) of me playing all this with the singer.
Here’s a link to the 8 step-by-step guitar lessons: Hey There Delilah – Guitar Lessons with TAB.
Hey There Delilah was one of 2007’s biggest tunes!
Plain White T’s is an American pop/rock band who had the most success with their song Hey There Delilah, charting at #1 in many countries during 2007.
Using a very persistent marketing technique, Hey There Delilah was pushed for over two years before it was finally #1.
In the end, the song ended up carrying the promotion of two albums on its shoulders. First, on the album All That We Needed (2005), then re-released on Every Second Counts (2006).
The latter recording had a string section added to the one acoustic guitar arrangement. It is this version that achieved daily radio play in most countries in the world for a few months in 2007.
Nominated for Song of the Year at the 2008 Grammy Awards, Hey There Delilah only lost out to Amy Winehouse who won it with Rehab. Ironically she couldn’t attend as she was in Rehab!
Time magazine decided that it should be at #7 on their list of songs of 2007. They added that “the concept of an aching guy reaching out to a distant girl felt fresh”.
Hey There Delilah Chords | Related Pages
Hey There Delilah | 8 Step-by-step Guitar Lessons + TAB
In this first series of lessons in the intermediate acoustic course, we learn how to play Hey There Delilah by Plain White T’s, fingerstyle.
We do this alongside learning about the CAGED system and how it helps us play all over the fretboard.
Five similar tunes | Chords + Lyrics
Plain White T’s tunes
Plain White T’s is an American rock band that had great success with their song Hey There Delilah, charting at #1 in many countries in 2007.
Using a very persistent marketing technique, Hey There Delilah was pushed for over two years before it was finally #1.
Plain White T’s on the web
About me | Dan Lundholm
This was a guitar lesson about Hey There Delilah chords, by Dan Lundholm. Discover more about him and how you can learn guitar with Spytunes.
Most importantly, find out why you should learn guitar through playing tunes, not practising scales, and studying theory in isolation.
