Folk and Traditional Song Lyrics:
Rivers of Babylon

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Rivers of Babylon

Rivers of Babylon
(Brent Dowe & Trevor McNaughton)

(1:)
By the rivers of Babylon, where he sat down,
and there he wept when he remembered Zion.
Oh, the wicked carry us away captivity,
require from us a song,
How can we sing King Alpha's song in a strange land?

(1)

(2:)
So, let the words of our mouth
and the meditations of our heart
be acceptable in Thy sight.
Oh, verai!

(1)

(2)

(first verse: also sung as "the Lord's song")

______________________________________________

Here is the Boney M version.

(1:) By the rivers of Babylon, where we sat down,
there we wept when we remembered Zion.
By the rivers of Babylon, where we sat down,
there we wept when we remembered Zion.

Let the wicked carry us away in captivity, requiring of us a song,
How can we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?
Let the wicked carry us away in captivity, requiring of us a song,
How can we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?

Instrumental + steel drums

So, let the words of our mouth and the meditations of our heart
be acceptable in Thy sight. Here tonight

So, let the words of our mouth and the meditations of our heart
be acceptable in Thy sight. Here tonight

Repeat first verse twice

______________________________________________

This song is also printed in Rise Up Singing (RUS). The words have a few curious
variations from the ones posted above, so I will enter them yet again. The
original version was by a reggae group called the Melodians. The sound track CD
for "The Harder They Come" produced by Jimmy Cliff actually contains the
Melodians version. My favorite recording of the song is by Sweet Honey In The
Rock.

Rivers of Babylon
(Brent Dowe & Trevor McNaughton)

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down
And there we wept when we remember Zion
There the wicked (The Babylonians) carry us away captivity, require of us a
song.
How can we sing King Alfa's (the Lord's) song in a strange land?
Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
Be acceptable in thy sight over I (here tonight)
(B. Dow, T. Mcaughton, G. Reyan, F. Farian/Ackee Music Inc.; Al Gallico Music;
Gema)

RR BM BS AB
oct00
Download the song in PDF format for printout etc. Download the song in RTF format for editing etc.