Around 100,000 people in Australia got a special treat that millions across the globe would love to have witnessed: Ed Sheeran paired with Tom Jones.
It happened at the AFL Grand Final at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
We’ve heard Ed with Taylor Swift and The Inquisitr has reported on Sheeran co-writing songs for One Direction, Usher, and Skrille,x and that he’s even recently worked with David Guetta. Sheeran has quite the growing repertoire, but this collaboration is one for the ages.
The Daily Mail says Sheeran opened the show with his hits “Sing” and “The A-Team” before covering Tom Jones’ hit “Kiss.” That’s when Tom Jones appeared and, as the report puts it, “electrified” the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
After their performance of “Kiss,” Jones continued with solo performances that included “Mama Told Me Not to Come,” “Delilah,” and “If Only I Knew,” of which he credited the song’s early success to Australia.
But not everyone was thrilled with the pre-game performance. The AFL and Jones took heat for Jones’ performance of “Delilah,” a song he wrote in 1968 about a man that kills his cheating girlfriend.
The lyrics include the lines “At break of day when that man drove away, I was waiting. I cross the street to her house and she opened the door. She stood there laughing. I felt the knife in my hand and she laughed no more.”
Triple M radio’s Eddie McGuire is quoted by News as saying, “I just thought it was the wrong selection. Obviously at the moment domestic violence is a massive issue in world sport. In the National Football League in America they are getting absolutely smashed because of their tin-eared approach to domestic violence.”
McGuire went on to say, “Tom has got a songbook bigger than the yellow pages. Don’t walk into the fire. Sing ‘It’s Not Unusual,’ sing the ‘Green Green Grass of Home’…”
“It was an inappropriate song in 2014.” McGuire said.
His co-host, Luke Darcy, disagreed.
“He was fantastic, the grand final was brilliant and if he chooses to play ‘Delilah’, come on… it was written in 1968, no one has even an inkling that would be an issue.”
Sheeran was blasted by some for his performance of “The A-Team,” the song that introduced Sheeran to much of the world. It just happens to be about a homeless crack-addicted prostitute.
“In a pipe she flies to the Motherland, or sells love to another man. It’s too cold outside for angels to fly. An angel will die.”
