Rivers of Babylon
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"Rivers of Babylon" is a spiritual song penned by the late Brent Dowe and Trevor McNaughton of the Melodians. It is based on the Biblical hymn Psalm 137 (from the King James Version). Psalm 137 is a hymn expressing the yearnings of the Jewish people in exile following the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem in 586 BC. The rivers of Babylon are the Euphrates river, its tributaries, and the Chebar river. The song also has words from Psalm 19:14.
NFTY, the youth group of the Union for Reform Judaism, uses the song in its songbook. This means that the song can be substituted for the actual prayer, which in Hebrew is called "Y'hiyu L'ratzon".
The Unitarian Universalist Association has included the song in their supplimental hymnal Singing the Journey (Hymn #1042) [1].
The most popular version of the song is by Boney M in 1978, which was released as a single and stayed at the #1 position in the UK for 5 weeks. In the UK, that version sold over 1,985,000 copies, making the single officially 3x platinum. Other popular versions have been performed by the Melodians, Sublime, Steve Earle and Sweet Honey in the Rock.
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| Preceded by: "Night Fever" by The Bee Gees | UK number one single (Boney M version) May 13 1978 | Succeeded by: "You're The One That I Want" by John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John |
