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Rivers of Babylon "is a song written and recorded by Brent Dowe and Trevor McNaughton of the Jamaican reggae group The Melodians in 1970. However, the song was popularized by the cover version of the German disco group Boney m. in 1978.

Content[]

[hide]*1 The Melodians


Rivers of Babylon
Single from:

The Melodians

Released 1970
Type of carrier Vinyl single
Genre Reggae
Writer (s) Brent DoweTrevor McNaughton
Producer (s) Leslie Kong
Position (s) in the charts
Portal  [1]   Music

The Melodians[Edit][]

In 1970 brought the Jamaican reggae group The Melodians the single Rivers of Babylon from. The song was written and performed by Are Dowe and Trevor McNaughton.The version was not a hit. After the German disco group Boney m. covered the song in 1978, came the release of The Melodians in in the Dutch Single Top 100 for 1 week. Versions of the original execution to hear in the title song of the movie The Harder They Come (1972) and in the film Bringing Out the Dead (1999).

Background[Edit][]

The character of this song results mainly from the Bibleliterally taken over Psalms. It contains pieces from Psalm 137: 1 and Psalm 19: 14 or 19: 15. It concerns the Jews in exile who wistfully recall the rivers in Babel to their homeland. For the Rastafari is this song recognizable: the river is the Atlantic Ocean, Zion is Africa and Babylon is America (the slave-story).

Chart Positions[Edit][]

Dutch Single Top 100[Edit][]

Chart positions: 19-08-1978
Week: 1
Position: 45 from

Rivers of Babylon / Brown girl in the ring
Single from:

Boney M.

From the album:

Nightflight to Venus

(Cover on en.wikipedia.org)
B-side (s) Brown girl in the ring
Released 3 april1978
Type of carrier Vinyl single
Recording 1978
Genre RocksteadyEuro discoReggae
Duration 05: 00
Tag Hansa Records
Writer (s) Frank FarianHans-Jörg MayerBrent DoweTrevor McNaughton
Producer (s) Frank Farian
Position (s) in the charts
Boney M.
1977

Belfast

1978

Rivers of Babylon /Brown girl in the ring

1978

Rasputin/Painter man

Portal  [2]   Music

Boney M.[Edit][]

Rivers of Babylon is one of the best selling songs of the disco group Boney m., with almost 2 million sold records in Great Britain, where it took out 3 x Platinum . In the Dutch Single Top 100 was 9 weeks on number one. It was the best-selling single of 1978 in Netherlands with almost 400,000 copies sold. [1after the death of Bobby Farrell in december 2010, the single for 1 week back in the Dutch Single Top 100.

Chart Positions[Edit][]

Dutch Top 40[Edit][]

Chart positions: 15-04-1978-19-08-1978
Week: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
Position: 13 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 4 12 20 30 37 40 from

Dutch Single Top 100[Edit][]

Chart positions: (Week 1 to 22) 15-04-1978 up to and including 09-09-1978

Chart positions: (Week 23) 08-01-2011

Week: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23
Position: 17 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 4 4 9 13 20 23 27 38 from 8 from

Flemish Radio 2 Top 30[Edit][]

Chart positions: 22-04-1978-12-08-1978
Week: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17
Position: 7 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 2 2 6 5 13 23 29 from

Radio 2 Top 2000[Edit][]

Number (s) with markings

in the Radio 2 Top 2000

' 99 ' 00 ' 01 ' 02 ' 03 ' 04 ' 05 ' 06 ' 07 ' 08 ' 09 ' 10 ' 11 ' 12 ' 13
Rivers of Babylon 381 00 h 445 564 732 440 533 615 502 529 1143 950 1030 1662 1483

Rivers of Babylon
Single from:

Phoney Jam

Released 2004
Type of carrier CD single
Genre DanceHouse
Writer (s) Brent DoweTrevor McNaughton
Position (s) in the charts
Portal  [3]   Music

Phoney Jam[Edit][]

In 2004, Phoney Jam a dance/house version of the song Rivers of Babylon. The single was 1 week noted in the Dutch Single Top 100.

Chart Positions[Edit][]

Dutch Single Top 100[Edit][]

Chart positions: 07-02-2004
Week: 1
Position: 72 from
Predecessor:

Blondie - Denis

Number 1-hit in the Dutch Single Top 100

Boney M. 22 april 1978 - 7 July 1978 11 weeks

Successor:

John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John - You're the one that I want

Predecessor:

Bee Gees - Stayin' alive

Dutch Top 40 number-one single

Boney M. 29 april 1978 - 30 June 1978 9 weeks

Successor:

John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John - You're the one that I want

A parody[Edit][]

In 1978, the song was parodied by The Barron Knights in their medley A Taste of Aggro. "By the rivers of Babylon ' was ' there's a dentist in Birmingham '.

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