麻豆约拍

From Leslie Griffiths, Methodist Minister:聽聽聽聽聽聽聽

The autobiography of Tom Jones is to be published tomorrow 鈥� and he鈥檒l be here on Friday 鈥� perhaps in this very chair - to plug it.聽 Throughout the whole of my adult life, I seem to have heard him and Shirley Bassey in full voice. It鈥檚 Not Unusual and Goldfinger appeared at almost exactly the same time, fifty years ago, and these Welsh national treasures have rarely been out of the news since.

For all their success in the charts, each of them has moved well beyond the world of music. They鈥檝e both been awarded honours at the hands of Her Majesty the Queen. Arise Dame Shirley; arise Sir Tom. Shirley Bassey has passed into folklore through her links with the James Bond industry and Tom Jones has acquired a similar iconic status by 鈥� amongst other things - by having a refrain from one of his songs enter the repertory of the crowds who attend Welsh international rugby matches.

Delila has taken its place alongside Bread of heaven as one of the options for 75,000 people needing to break into song 鈥� and we鈥檝e had plenty of opportunity to do that of late!聽 It does seem strange that Tom Jones鈥檚 song is about an unfaithful woman while bread of heaven is about an ever-faithful God; and that Delila ends up stabbed to death by her jealous lover in the one song while an ever-loving God guides a lost and hopeless bunch of nomads through a barren desert in the other. 鈥淢y, my, my, Delila; why, why, why, Delila?鈥� 鈥淏read of heaven, feed me now and evermore.鈥� Those snatches, that鈥檚 what they are, from longer songs have become rallying calls, a kind of swashbuckling tally ho, to encourage the Welsh dragons in their hunt for victory.

From my perspective, I鈥檓 just glad that an old Welsh hymn can still hold its place in the popular mind. I鈥檓 sure Tom Jones could sing the whole hymn if he wanted to; he and I both grew up in those valleys where the hills were alive with the sound of praises, praises we were glad to give to the God who made us all.