Practices and Styles

Reggae Babylon: Commentary on "The Rivers of Babyon"

By Leon Burke
Music Director
Eliot Chapel
St. Louis, MO

The tune "Rivers of Babylon" was a popular church tune in Jamaica. Rastafarians who reside there sing it all the time. This tune was popularized in the US by its inclusion in a movie "The Harder They Come" (which, by the way, is the name of another tune in the movie) starring reggae great Jimmy Cliff. The most notable version of "Rivers of Babylon" was recorded by The Melodians, a famous Jamaican singing group.

The soundtrack album is still available in the US from Island Records 314 586 158-2 (another version is available through Amazon.com ). I have Rastafarian friends from Jamaica who sang this song in church and the version of the words that appear in "Singing the Journey" are the correct words, liturgically, even though they differ slightly from the lyrics that appear in the record (CD) jacket of the aforementioned soundtrack.

1042 Rivers of Babylon : mp3 : 1.7M

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