Dear Delilah

Album: Around Grapefruit (1968)
Charted: 21
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Songfacts®:

  • "Dear Delilah" is about a man whose heart has been broken after a woman named Delilah chose someone else over him. There's some emotional downplaying with the euphemistic chorus of "You're bringing me down dear Delilah." Heartbreak and jealousy hurt a lot more than just being "brought down."
  • This is the best-known song from Grapefruit, a band The Beatles supported. John Lennon gave them their name, which he took from the title of a book Yoko Ono published in 1964. Grapefruit linked to The Beatles through Apple Corps. Here's how.

    The Beatles started Apple Corps, which includes Apple Publishing, in 1968 as a tax shelter. They eventually got invested in it as a creative venture in addition to a business one. Terry Doran ran Apple Publishing in 1967 when John Perry, formerly of Tony Rivers and the Castaways, came to him with some songs. Doran wasn't interested in the tunes but was impressed enough by Perry to invite him into his band.

    From there, Grapefruit was born and signed to Apple. More importantly than that contract, they caught the personal interest of The Beatles. Lennon introduced the band to the media, while McCartney had Perry join the backing chorus of "Hey Jude" and directed a promotional video for a Grapefruit song titled "Elevator" (Grapefruit's second single). All The Beatles had creative input to Grapefruit to some degree.

    The first Grapefruit single was "Dear Delilah," backed on the B-side by "Dead Boot." The single hit #21 on the UK singles chart, but Grapefruit was never able to follow up on that success, and the band fell apart soon after. They made one more album, Deep Water, in 1969, and then disbanded.
  • Grapefruit frontman George Alexander was the older brother of Angus and Malcolm Young of AC/DC. He'd been born as Alexander Young and had stayed in the UK after the rest of the family moved to Australia, where AC/DC formed.

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