LAST LISTENED TO no idea
CHANCE OF WAKING TO IT non existant RATING
Just to clear this up straight away: this is the original version. Ok?
Good. Let us continue.
During the '60s and '70s, arguably the most creative period in Jamaica's musical history, almost none of its musical output reached beyond its shores. There was the occasional hit in the UK, but that was it. This left the way open for other acts to cover tunes and score hits, which happened on many occasions. Best known was the cover of this by Boney M and Blondie's version of The Paragons Tide is High. And then there was UB40, but i find it's best not to think about UB40 at all.
The Melodians were a vocal trio best known for their sweet harmonies. They recorded Rivers Of Babylon during the rocksteady period and, after a career of mostly love songs, it was their first song to touch on Rastafarian consciousness.
In Rastafari, Babylon is a white colonial or imperialist power structure that is responsible for the oppression of all blacks and as such it has very negative connotations. On the other hand Zion is the black spiritual home, seen as being specifically Ethiopia, it is also roughly comparable to Judao-Christian-Islamic heaven. Hence the chorus:
By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down
ye-eah we wept, when we remembered Zion.
This was the biggest hit that The Melodians ever scored. In '71, the following year, their producer died and the quality of their output was seen to drop, never to reach these heights again.
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