Rivers of Babylon
Encyclopedia
"Rivers of Babylon" is a rastafarian song written and recorded by Brent Dowe and Trevor McNaughton of the Jamaican reggae
group The Melodians
in 1970. The Melodians' original versions of the song appeared in the sound track to the 1972 movie The Harder They Come
and the 1999 Nicolas Cage movie Bringing Out the Dead
. It became popularized in Europe by the 1978 Boney M. cover version.
Psalm 137
:1-4, a hymn expressing the yearnings of the Jewish people in exile
following the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem in 586 BC:
The namesake rivers of Babylon
are the Euphrates
river, its tributaries, and the Chebar river. The song also has words from :
It is one of a few pop songs whose lyrics come directly from the Bible (See also Turn! Turn! Turn! by Pete Seeger
, 40 by U2
, and The Lord's Prayer
by Sister Janet Mead
).
For Rastafarians the river may be the Atlantic Ocean and Zion is Africa, where their fathers were taken into captivity to become slaves in America (part of Babylon).
, with a version that was released as a single. Boney M.'s release stayed at the #1 position in the UK for five weeks and was also the group's only significant US chart entry, peaking at #30 in the Pop charts. In the UK Boney M. sold more than 1,985,000 copies of the song, making the single officially 3x platinum and one of the all-time best-selling singles in the UK. In Canada, the song was a Top 25 hit on the RPM Magazine top 100 singles chart and reached #9 on the Adult Contemporary chart. The song was the first single from the band's equally successful 1978 album Nightflight to Venus
. Some controversy arose when the first single pressings only credited Frank Farian and Reyam (aka Hans-Jörg Mayer) of Boney M; after an agreement with Dowe and McNaughton, these two were also credited on later pressings.
Boney M. performed an early mix of the song in a German TV-show singing "How can we sing King Alpha's song" although it was changed to "the Lord's song" (as in the biblical quote) in the released versions. King Alpha refers to Haile Selassie. Selassie's wife Menen Asfaw
is known as Queen Omega aka The Queen.
The initial single mix of "Rivers of Babylon" is most notable for lead singer Liz Mitchell
's ad-libs (Daughters of Babylon, you got to sing a song, sing a song of love, yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah) between the two verses. On subsequent single pressings, only the 'yeah's were maintained. The full ad-libs however re-emerged in the US only 12" version.
The single mix differs from the album version by having Liz Mitchell singing the verse "Let the words of our mouth ..." with Frank Farian
, on the LP, Farian sings this as a solo part; it is also slightly shorter, the instrumental passage before the last "humming" part is edited out, and the fade out is a little longer ("Oooooh of the power... yeah yeah yeah yeah" can only be heard in the single mix).
was a traditional Caribbean nursery rhyme. When "Rivers of Babylon" had slipped to #20 in the UK charts, radio stations suddenly flipped the single, seeing "Brown Girl in the Ring" going all the way to #3 and becoming a hit in its own right. The early single pressing features the full-length 4:18 version with a chorus bit being edited out. The single mix is also slightly different from the album version which features steel drums on the outro riff of the song, the single mix doesn't.
"Brown Girl in the Ring" was also issued separately in Canada
as an A-side in the summer of 1979. It reached #8 on the Canadian AC chart in July 1979, becoming the third Boney M song to reach the top 10 on that chart, after "Rivers of Babylon" and "Rasputin
." On RPM's Top 100 singles chart, the song stalled at #79.
Liz Mitchell had previously recorded Brown girl in the ring in 1975 with the group Malcolm's Locks her ex-boy friend Malcolm Magaron as the lead singer, and arranger Peter Herbolzheimer accused Frank Farian for stealing his arrangement for the song. The court case ran for more than 20 years in Germany.
single by German band Boney M., issued to launch the group's reunion, having been split since their 10th anniversary, 1986. The double-A-side single contained new mixes of the band's two very most successful single releases ever. Although their remix album
sold well, the single failed to chart.
, Snuff
, Steve Earle
, Daniel O'Donnell
, Yabby You
, Sweet Honey in the Rock
, Linda Ronstadt
and the Skatalites
The Unitarian Universalist Association
has included the song in their supplemental hymnal Singing the Journey (Hymn #1042) .
In 1978, Brazil
ian-Paraguay
an singer Perla
recorded a version of the song with lyrics in Portuguese
entitled Rios da Babilônia, which reached great popularity in Brazil
and Latin America
.
On 19 November 1978, a cover version
with lyrics in Swedish
, Kommer du ihåg Babylon? (Do you remember Babylon?), performed by Swedish
dansband
Schytts entered the 1st place on Svensktoppen
.
In 1992 Southern California ska band Sublime
covered this song on their debut album 40 Oz. to Freedom
with the help of Jack Maness, who sang and played guitar.
Canadian Christian rock band The Kry
covered this song on their 1996 album "What About Now" (although the song was titled "By the Rivers of Babylon").
In 1992 the Croatia
n group Vatrogasci
(Firefighters) made a parody of this song, translating it in croatian language
(naming "Joj što volim") and making it in turbofolk
arrangement.
Pop group Brotherhood of Man
recorded a version for their Sing 20 Number One Hits
album in 1980.
The Neville Brothers has a version of the song on their Walkin' in the Shadow of Life CD released on October 19, 2004 on the Chordant label.
Rob Tobias and Friends recorded their version of the song for the "Sparks" CD released in 2006 (Maximio Productions). One lyric change noted was the line "How can we sing a 'holy' song in a strange land."
Jorma Kaukonen
recorded version of the song for his 2007 album, Stars In My Crown
.
Sinéad O'Connor
also recorded it for her 2007 album, Theology
.
Linda Ronstadt
also recorded a version of this song.
A Polish Christian rock
group 2Tm2,3 performed an acoustic version of "Rivers of Babylon" based on the Boney M recording.
A somewhat different, but still recognisable as the same song, version appeared on Don McLean
's 1972 LP American Pie
, titled just 'Babylon'.
near Limerick
, Ireland.
The song Rivers of Babylon features prominently in the 2009 Kazakh film Tulpan
. It is also played as background music in the 2009 film Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel
Also, it is used in the 2010 movie Jack Goes Boating
, in the opening scene and a couple of other important scenes.
The song appears as part of the soundtrack in the 2009 video game Rabbids Go Home
.
The band Sublime
recorded this song on their 40oz. to Freedom album.
Irish pop singer Daniel O'Donnell
covered this song.
http://www.lizmitchellfanclub.com/malcolm.html
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
group The Melodians
The Melodians
The Melodians were a reggae band formed in the Greenwich Town area of Kingston, Jamaica in 1965, by Tony Brevett , Brent Dowe and Trevor McNaughton...
in 1970. The Melodians' original versions of the song appeared in the sound track to the 1972 movie The Harder They Come
The Harder They Come
The Harder They Come is a 1972 Jamaican crime film directed by Perry Henzell.The film stars reggae singer Jimmy Cliff, who plays Ivanhoe Martin, a character based on Rhyging, a real-life Jamaican criminal who achieved fame in the 1940s...
and the 1999 Nicolas Cage movie Bringing Out the Dead
Bringing Out the Dead
Bringing Out the Dead is a 1999 drama film directed by Martin Scorsese, and based on the novel by Joe Connelly with the screenplay by Paul Schrader...
. It became popularized in Europe by the 1978 Boney M. cover version.
Background
The song is based on the Biblical hymnHymn
A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification...
Psalm 137
Psalm 137
Psalm 137 is one of the best known of the Biblical psalms. Its opening lines, "By the rivers of Babylon..." have been set to music on several occasions....
:1-4, a hymn expressing the yearnings of the Jewish people in exile
Exile
Exile means to be away from one's home , while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened with imprisonment or death upon return...
following the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem in 586 BC:
The namesake rivers of Babylon
Babylon
Babylon was an Akkadian city-state of ancient Mesopotamia, the remains of which are found in present-day Al Hillah, Babil Province, Iraq, about 85 kilometers south of Baghdad...
are the Euphrates
Euphrates
The Euphrates is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia...
river, its tributaries, and the Chebar river. The song also has words from :
It is one of a few pop songs whose lyrics come directly from the Bible (See also Turn! Turn! Turn! by Pete Seeger
Pete Seeger
Peter "Pete" Seeger is an American folk singer and was an iconic figure in the mid-twentieth century American folk music revival. A fixture on nationwide radio in the 1940s, he also had a string of hit records during the early 1950s as a member of The Weavers, most notably their recording of Lead...
, 40 by U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
, and The Lord's Prayer
The Lord's Prayer (Sister Janet Mead song)
"The Lord's Prayer" is a rock setting of the Lord's Prayer with music by Arnold Strals recorded in 1973 by the Australian nun Sister Janet Mead. Mead was known for pioneering the use of contemporary rock music in celebrating the Roman Catholic Mass and for her weekly radio programs...
by Sister Janet Mead
Sister Janet Mead
Sister Janet Mead is a Roman Catholic nun and is best known for recording a rock version of The Lord's Prayer. The surprise hit reached #3 on the Australian Singles Chart in 1974 and #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in that same year. The single earned her a Grammy Award nomination and Golden Gospel...
).
For Rastafarians the river may be the Atlantic Ocean and Zion is Africa, where their fathers were taken into captivity to become slaves in America (part of Babylon).
Boney M. version
Rivers of Babylon was covered in 1978 by Germany-based disco band Boney MBoney M
Boney M. is a Eurodisco group created by German record producer Frank Farian. Originally based in Germany, the four original members of the group's official line-up were Jamaicans Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barrett, Maizie Williams from Montserrat and Bobby Farrell from Aruba...
, with a version that was released as a single. Boney M.'s release stayed at the #1 position in the UK for five weeks and was also the group's only significant US chart entry, peaking at #30 in the Pop charts. In the UK Boney M. sold more than 1,985,000 copies of the song, making the single officially 3x platinum and one of the all-time best-selling singles in the UK. In Canada, the song was a Top 25 hit on the RPM Magazine top 100 singles chart and reached #9 on the Adult Contemporary chart. The song was the first single from the band's equally successful 1978 album Nightflight to Venus
Nightflight to Venus
Nightflight to Venus is the third album by the band Boney M, and was released in July 1978.The album became a major success in continental Europe, Scandinavia, and Canada, topping most of the album charts during the second half of 1978 and also became their first UK number one album...
. Some controversy arose when the first single pressings only credited Frank Farian and Reyam (aka Hans-Jörg Mayer) of Boney M; after an agreement with Dowe and McNaughton, these two were also credited on later pressings.
Boney M. performed an early mix of the song in a German TV-show singing "How can we sing King Alpha's song" although it was changed to "the Lord's song" (as in the biblical quote) in the released versions. King Alpha refers to Haile Selassie. Selassie's wife Menen Asfaw
Menen Asfaw
Empress Menen Asfaw was the wife and consort of Emperor Haile Selassie I of Ethiopia. Empress Menen was the daughter of Asfaw, Jantirar of Ambassel...
is known as Queen Omega aka The Queen.
Different versions
Just as in the case of "Ma Baker", "Rivers of Babylon" established what was to become a habit of Boney M. singles, namely that the original pressings featured an early version that was soon replaced by a more widely available mix.The initial single mix of "Rivers of Babylon" is most notable for lead singer Liz Mitchell
Liz Mitchell
Liz Mitchell is a singer, best known as the former lead singer of the 1970s disco/pop band, Boney M.-Early life:...
's ad-libs (Daughters of Babylon, you got to sing a song, sing a song of love, yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah) between the two verses. On subsequent single pressings, only the 'yeah's were maintained. The full ad-libs however re-emerged in the US only 12" version.
The single mix differs from the album version by having Liz Mitchell singing the verse "Let the words of our mouth ..." with Frank Farian
Frank Farian
Frank Farian , is a German record producer and songwriter. He started out as a trained cook before moving into the music industry...
, on the LP, Farian sings this as a solo part; it is also slightly shorter, the instrumental passage before the last "humming" part is edited out, and the fade out is a little longer ("Oooooh of the power... yeah yeah yeah yeah" can only be heard in the single mix).
Brown Girl in the Ring
The single's B-side Brown Girl in the RingBrown Girl in the Ring (song)
"Brown Girl in the Ring" is a traditional children's song in the West Indies. It was originally featured in the game of the same name.Brown Girl in the Ring is a children's ring game thought to have originated in Jamaica....
was a traditional Caribbean nursery rhyme. When "Rivers of Babylon" had slipped to #20 in the UK charts, radio stations suddenly flipped the single, seeing "Brown Girl in the Ring" going all the way to #3 and becoming a hit in its own right. The early single pressing features the full-length 4:18 version with a chorus bit being edited out. The single mix is also slightly different from the album version which features steel drums on the outro riff of the song, the single mix doesn't.
"Brown Girl in the Ring" was also issued separately in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
as an A-side in the summer of 1979. It reached #8 on the Canadian AC chart in July 1979, becoming the third Boney M song to reach the top 10 on that chart, after "Rivers of Babylon" and "Rasputin
Rasputin (song)
"Rasputin" is a 1978 disco hit single by the Germany-based pop and disco group Boney M., the second single off their hugely successful album Nightflight to Venus. The song is a semi-biographical song whose subject and namesake is Grigori Rasputin, a friend and advisor of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia...
." On RPM's Top 100 singles chart, the song stalled at #79.
Liz Mitchell had previously recorded Brown girl in the ring in 1975 with the group Malcolm's Locks her ex-boy friend Malcolm Magaron as the lead singer, and arranger Peter Herbolzheimer accused Frank Farian for stealing his arrangement for the song. The court case ran for more than 20 years in Germany.
1988 Remix
"Rivers of Babylon" / "Mary's Boy Child / Oh My Lord" is a 1988 remixRemix
A remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version. This term is also used for any alterations of media other than song ....
single by German band Boney M., issued to launch the group's reunion, having been split since their 10th anniversary, 1986. The double-A-side single contained new mixes of the band's two very most successful single releases ever. Although their remix album
Greatest Hits of All Times - Remix '88
Greatest Hits of All Times - Remix '88 is a remix album by Boney M. released in 1988. Boney M.'s new manager at the time, Simon Napier-Bell, succeeded in persuading the four original members to briefly reunite and promote this remix album...
sold well, the single failed to chart.
Other recorded versions
Other popular versions have been performed by the Dennis BrownDennis Brown
Dennis Emmanuel Brown was a Jamaican reggae singer. During his prolific career, which began in the late 1960s when he was aged eleven, he recorded more than 75 albums and was one of the major stars of lovers rock, a sub-genre of reggae...
, Snuff
Snuff (band)
Snuff are a British punk rock band formed in Hendon in 1986. Their name reportedly came about after a long discussion about names ended up with one of them claiming "That's Enough", which was then shortened to Snuff...
, Steve Earle
Steve Earle
Stephen Fain "Steve" Earle is an American singer-songwriter known for his rock and Texas Country as well as his political views. He is also a producer, author, a political activist, and an actor, and has written and directed a play....
, Daniel O'Donnell
Daniel O'Donnell (Irish singer)
Daniel Francis Noel O'Donnell is an Irish singer, television presenter and philanthropist. O'Donnell came to public attention in 1983 and has since become a household name in Ireland and the UK. He has also had considerable success in the US. He is known for his close relationship with his...
, Yabby You
Yabby You
Vivian Jackson , better known as Yabby You , was a reggae vocalist and producer, who came to prominence in the early 1970s through his uncompromising, self-produced work.-Biography:...
, Sweet Honey in the Rock
Sweet Honey in the Rock
Sweet Honey in the Rock is an all-woman, African-American a cappella ensemble. They are an American Grammy Award-winning troupe who express their history as women of color through song, while entertaining their audience. They have together worked from four women to the difficult five-part harmony...
, Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt is an American popular music recording artist. She has earned eleven Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, an ALMA Award, numerous United States and internationally certified gold, platinum and multiplatinum albums, in addition to Tony Award and Golden...
and the Skatalites
The Unitarian Universalist Association
Unitarian Universalist Association
Unitarian Universalist Association , in full the Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations in North America, is a liberal religious association of Unitarian Universalist congregations formed by the consolidation in 1961 of the American Unitarian Association and the Universalist Church of...
has included the song in their supplemental hymnal Singing the Journey (Hymn #1042) .
In 1978, Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
ian-Paraguay
Paraguay
Paraguay , officially the Republic of Paraguay , is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to the east and northeast, and Bolivia to the northwest. Paraguay lies on both banks of the Paraguay River, which runs through the center of the...
an singer Perla
Perla (singer)
Perla, artistic name of Ermelinda Pedroso Rodríguez D'Almeida , is a Paraguayan-Brazilian singer.Born and raised in Paraguay, she moved to Brazil at an early age in search of challenges and opportunities. She raised to prominence in the 1970s with her hit Fernando, a Portuguese-language version of...
recorded a version of the song with lyrics in Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
entitled Rios da Babilônia, which reached great popularity in Brazil
Brazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
and Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
.
On 19 November 1978, a cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
with lyrics in Swedish
Swedish language
Swedish is a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is largely mutually intelligible with Norwegian and Danish...
, Kommer du ihåg Babylon? (Do you remember Babylon?), performed by Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
dansband
Dansband
Dansband is a Swedish term for a band that plays dansbandsmusik . Dansbandsmusik is often danced to in pairs. Jitterbug and foxtrot music are often included in this category. The music is primarily inspired by swing, schlager, country, jazz, and rock...
Schytts entered the 1st place on Svensktoppen
Svensktoppen
Svensktoppen is a record chart at Sveriges Radio. Until January 2003, the songs had to be in the Swedish language. Svensktoppen has aired since 1962, except for the years 1982-1985. Svensktoppen airs once a week...
.
In 1992 Southern California ska band Sublime
Sublime (band)
Sublime was an American ska punk band from Long Beach, California, formed in 1988. The band's line-up, unchanged until their breakup, consisted of Bradley Nowell , Eric Wilson and Bud Gaugh . Michael "Miguel" Happoldt also contributed on a few Sublime songs, such as "New Thrash." Lou Dog, Nowell's...
covered this song on their debut album 40 Oz. to Freedom
40 Oz. to Freedom
40oz. to Freedom is the 1992 debut album by the Southern California ska-punk band Sublime released by Skunk Records and again by MCA. 40oz. to Freedom received mixed critical reviews upon its first release, but has earned an improved public perception since...
with the help of Jack Maness, who sang and played guitar.
Canadian Christian rock band The Kry
The Kry
The Kry is a Christian rock/worship band from Quebec City, Canada. The band consists of Jean-Luc La Joie Yves La Joie, , Nic Rodriguez , The Lajoie brothers currently both serve on staff at located in Southern California.In addition to their invitational songs,...
covered this song on their 1996 album "What About Now" (although the song was titled "By the Rivers of Babylon").
In 1992 the Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
n group Vatrogasci
Vatrogasci
Vatrogasci is a Croatian parody rock band formed in 1991 by Tihomir Borošak and Dean Parmak. The Band is known in particular for humorous songs and their often parody specific songs of contemporary musical acts....
(Firefighters) made a parody of this song, translating it in croatian language
Croatian language
Croatian is the collective name for the standard language and dialects spoken by Croats, principally in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Serbian province of Vojvodina and other neighbouring countries...
(naming "Joj što volim") and making it in turbofolk
Turbo-folk
Turbo-folk is a popular musical sub-genre that originated in Serbia, the Balkans. Having mainstream popularity in Serbia, although closely associated with Serbian performers, its sound is as popular in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Montenegro...
arrangement.
Pop group Brotherhood of Man
Brotherhood of Man
Brotherhood of Man are a British pop group who achieved success in the 1970s, most notably by winning the 1976 Eurovision Song Contest with "Save Your Kisses for Me"....
recorded a version for their Sing 20 Number One Hits
Sing 20 Number One Hits
Sing 20 Number One Hits is the tenth album released by British pop group Brotherhood of Man. Released in 1980, it was the group's second biggest-selling album.- Background :...
album in 1980.
The Neville Brothers has a version of the song on their Walkin' in the Shadow of Life CD released on October 19, 2004 on the Chordant label.
Rob Tobias and Friends recorded their version of the song for the "Sparks" CD released in 2006 (Maximio Productions). One lyric change noted was the line "How can we sing a 'holy' song in a strange land."
Jorma Kaukonen
Jorma Kaukonen
Jorma Ludwik Kaukonen Jr. is an American blues, folk, and rock guitarist, best known for his work with Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna.-Biography:...
recorded version of the song for his 2007 album, Stars In My Crown
Stars in My Crown (album)
Stars in My Crown is a Jorma Kaukonen studio album released in 2007 on Red House Records. Kaukonen returned to song-writing with this album, and again incorporated the work of several contributing musicians including Barry Mitterhof, who had been playing mandolin with Hot Tuna since 2002...
.
Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U"....
also recorded it for her 2007 album, Theology
Theology (album)
Theology is the eighth full-length album by Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor. It was released in 2007 on Rubyworks...
.
Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt
Linda Ronstadt is an American popular music recording artist. She has earned eleven Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, an ALMA Award, numerous United States and internationally certified gold, platinum and multiplatinum albums, in addition to Tony Award and Golden...
also recorded a version of this song.
A Polish Christian rock
Christian rock
Christian rock is a form of rock music played by individuals and bands whose members are Christians and who often focus the lyrics on matters concerned with the Christian faith. The extent to which their lyrics are explicitly Christian varies between bands...
group 2Tm2,3 performed an acoustic version of "Rivers of Babylon" based on the Boney M recording.
A somewhat different, but still recognisable as the same song, version appeared on Don McLean
Don McLean
Donald "Don" McLean is an American singer-songwriter. He is most famous for the 1971 album American Pie, containing the renowned songs "American Pie" and "Vincent".-Musical roots:...
's 1972 LP American Pie
American Pie (album)
American Pie is the title of a 1971 music album by Don McLean, best known for its title track about The Day the Music Died. The third track, "Vincent," is a tribute to the famed artist Vincent Van Gogh....
, titled just 'Babylon'.
In popular culture
On September 30th, 1979, Rivers of Babylon was sung by an estimated crowd of 280,000 people attending the papal visit of John-Paul II in GalwayGalway
Galway or City of Galway is a city in County Galway, Republic of Ireland. It is the sixth largest and the fastest-growing city in Ireland. It is also the third largest city within the Republic and the only city in the Province of Connacht. Located on the west coast of Ireland, it sits on the...
near Limerick
Limerick
Limerick is the third largest city in the Republic of Ireland, and the principal city of County Limerick and Ireland's Mid-West Region. It is the fifth most populous city in all of Ireland. When taking the extra-municipal suburbs into account, Limerick is the third largest conurbation in the...
, Ireland.
The song Rivers of Babylon features prominently in the 2009 Kazakh film Tulpan
Tulpan
Tulpan is a 2008 Kazakh drama film. The film is directed by Sergey Dvortsevoy and distributed by . Tulpan is Kazakhstan's 2009 Academy Awards official submission to Foreign Language Film category...
. It is also played as background music in the 2009 film Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel
Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel
Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel is a 2009 science fiction comedy film directed by Gareth Carrivick from a script by Jamie Mathieson, starring Anna Faris, Chris O'Dowd, Marc Wootton and Dean Lennox Kelly....
Also, it is used in the 2010 movie Jack Goes Boating
Jack Goes Boating (film)
Jack Goes Boating is a 2010 romantic comedy film from Overture Films and Relativity Media. Philip Seymour Hoffman makes his directorial debut as he stars alongside Amy Ryan, John Ortiz, and Daphne Rubin-Vega. The film's script was adapted by Robert Glaudini from the 2007 play entitled Jack Goes...
, in the opening scene and a couple of other important scenes.
The song appears as part of the soundtrack in the 2009 video game Rabbids Go Home
Rabbids Go Home
Rabbids Go Home, known in France as Les Lapins Crétins : La Grosse Aventure , is a "comedy-adventure" video game developed by Ubisoft Montpellier and published by Ubisoft for the Wii and Nintendo DS. The game was released in North America on November 1, 2009, in Australia on November 5, 2009 and...
.
The band Sublime
Sublime
Sublime may refer to:* Sublime ** Their third album, Sublime ** Sublime with Rome, a reunited version of the above band* Sublime * Sublime * Sublime , the DV8 superhero...
recorded this song on their 40oz. to Freedom album.
Irish pop singer Daniel O'Donnell
Daniel O'Donnell
Daniel or Danny O'Donnell may refer to:* Daniel O'Donnell, Irish singer* Daniel O'Donnell , American legislator from the state of New York* Danny O'Donnell * Danny O'Donnell...
covered this song.
Charts (1978 Boney M. version)
| Chart | Peak Position |
|---|---|
| Eurochart Hot 100 | 1 |
| Norway Singles Chart VG-lista VG-listen is a Norwegian record chart. It is weekly presented in the newspaper VG and the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation program Topp 20. It is considered the primary Norwegian record chart, charting albums and singles from countries and continent around the world. The data is collected by... |
1 |
| New Zealand Singles Chart Recording Industry Association of New Zealand The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand is a non-profit trade association of record producers, distributors and recording artists who sell music in New Zealand... |
1 |
| Swedish Singles Chart Sverigetopplistan Sverigetopplistan, earlier known as Topplistan and Hitlistan and other names, is since October 2007 the Swedish national record chart, based on sales data from Swedish Recording Industry Association .... |
1 |
| UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
1 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 30 |
Sources
Article on the origins of the lyricshttp://www.lizmitchellfanclub.com/malcolm.html