Boney M. – Rivers of Babylon

“Rivers of Babylon” – Single by Boney M.from the album Nightflight to Venus, released in 1978.  Single B-side is “Brown Girl in the Ring”.

Some of the lyrics came from Psalm 137 of The Bible. The original Psalm was written during the Jews exile in Babylon in around 600 BC.

This spent five weeks at #1 in the UK and was the biggest-selling single of 1978 there. It is also the biggest ever selling record by a black act in the UK. This song broke the record for most weeks at #1 in Germany – 17 weeks.

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.

At the end of 2007 Boney M. were the only act to have two singles in the UK all-time Top 10 best sellers list. At that date, this song was the fifth top selling single of all time in the UK and Boney M’s medley of “Mary’s Boy Child/Oh My Lord” was the tenth. (UK’s top selling single of all time is Elton John’s “Candle In The Wind”).

Embed

Copy and paste this HTML code into your webpage to embed.

Boney M. - Rivers of Babylon

Boney M. - Rivers Of Babylon (ZDF Disco 12.06.1978) (VOD)04:19

Acest video, “Rivers Of Babylon” al grupului Boney M. a fost filmat pe 12.06.1978, în cadrul programului ZDF Disco. Primul video este de la Sopot Festival 1979.

Single-lul a fost lansat la 3 Aprilie 1978 în Germania. Pe fața B se află o altă melodie de success: Brown Girl In The Ring.

Melodia a fost preluată de la un grup jamaican The Melodians care au lansat-o în 1970. A fost super-hit în Europa, precum și în America Latină. Chiar și la Billboard Hot 100, a ajuns pe locul 30.

Versurile sânt bazate pe Psalm-ul 137.

Versuri:
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down
ye-eah we wept, when we remembered Zion.

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down
ye-eah we wept, when we remembered Zion.

When the wicked
Carried us away in captivity
Required from us a song
Now how shall we sing the lord’s song in a strange land

When the wicked
Carried us away in captivity
Requiering of us a song
Now how shall we sing the lord’s song in a strange land

Let the words of our mouth and the meditations of our heart
be acceptable in thy sight here tonight

Let the words of our mouth and the meditation of our hearts
be acceptable in thy sight here tonight

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down
ye-eah we wept, when we remembered Zion.

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down
ye-eah we wept, when we remembered Zion.

By the rivers of Babylon (dark tears of Babylon)
there we sat down (You got to sing a song)
ye-eah we wept, (Sing a song of love)
when we remember Zion. (Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah)

By the rivers of Babylon (Rough bits of Babylon)
there we sat down (You hear the people cry)
ye-eah we wept, (They need their God)
when we remember Zion. (Ooh, have the power)

Views: 5