Monday, July 12, 2010

Rivers of Babylon - Alla polttavan auringon


We now have in Finland a rare opportunity to 'enjoy' temperatures well above 30 degrees celsius. For a week or so I'm now going to finnpick songs that some way are connected with summer and hot summer in particular. I begin with "Alla polttavan auringon" (Under the burning sun" by the group Bon Bon (see earlier entry). The original rastafarian song "Rivers of Babylon" was written and recorded by the Jamaican reggae group The Melodians in 1970. However, it only became popular outside Jamaica in 1978 when Boney M did a disco version of it and it became a worldwide hit. The Melodians' original versions of the song appeared in the sound track to the 1972 movie "The Harder They Come". The song is based on the Biblical hymn Psalm 137, a hymn expressing the yearnings of the Jewish people in exile following the Babylonian conquest of Jerusalem in 586 BC. For Rastafarians the Babylon river is the Atlantic sea and Zion is Africa, where their fathers were taken into captivity to become slaves in America (i.e. Babylon).

Here's the triplet:

1 comment:

magomusiikki said...

Kisuhan sen originaali kotimaisen version teki ja tunnetuimman. Mutta ihan kiva, että heidänkin levytyksensä pääsevät esille tänä päivänä.