This page is provided so that you can hear the tunes of items which we use in church. Mostly they are written by the vicar. Please note that they are copyright - we are very happy to give permission to you to use them, but we would like to hear about it. Please include any use on your Christian Copyright Licence returns.
Down this page:
- the words,
- the story,
- the sheet music,
- media player.
By Babylon's rivers
By Babylon's rivers
By Babylon's rivers we sat in tears
and hung up our harps on the trees,
we had to endure all the laughs and jeers
of those who'd invaded us,
captured, paraded us,
brought us right down to our knees.
They asked us to sing for them joyful songs,
the songs of the Lord God our King!
How can we rejoice in this land of wrongs?
They're skilled in tormenting us,
misrepresenting us:
how can we possibly sing?
If I should forget you, Jerusalem,
reduce me to lowest of low:
if I should forget you, may God condemn
and take all my skill away,
make my life spill away,
curse me with sorrow and woe.
Remember O Lord what these heathen did
when Holy Jerusalem fell.
Remember their shouts as they wanted rid
of all that is beauty and
honour and duty: they
sounded your city's death-knell.
In anger I'd bless those who came with sword,
struck Babylon's infants with blows.
But Yahweh is holy, and pure, and Lord:
revenges and slaughters are
not what the daughters of
Zion should wish for their foes.
Words and tune copyright © John Hartley 2007.
Based on Psalm 137.
Story behind the song
The ideas for this song came when a member of the COIN (Christians on the Internet) e-mail discussion group asked for ideas about how to adapt the ending of Psalm 137 so as to make it acceptable for singing in a modern setting. The question tied in with a conversation on the CSO (Christian Songwriting Organisation) e-mail group about the psalms, and I decided to see if I could replace the explicit cry for vengeance at the end of the psalm with an admission of the feelings but a holding back from the actual wish.
I have a lot of respect for the opinion of one member, who said he thought the psalm should be sung as originally written, and prefaced by a disclaimer to say that we are singing it out of respect for the scripture but we are not endorsing the cry for vengeance. However, it seems to me that the song has to stand on its own, and in the song itself we can go some way to acknowledging the feelings while still discerning what is an acceptable response.
Psalm 137 is famous in the "By the rivers of Babylon" song sung by the group "Boney M", and it's interesting to see how they solved this conundrum - by simply tacking on the conclusion of a different psalm to smooth out the ending. So here's my attempt. I think there is always room for alternative songs based on passages of scripture.
I'm grateful to members of CSO for some critiques of the words, although I haven't managed yet to incorporate the good advice. As always I'd be grateful for further comments about what works, what doesn't, and why.
John Hartley.
Windows Media Player. When you click the left-hand "play" button your computer should have started to play the tune. If it didn't, you might be able to get the tune by clicking here, or by right-clicking the link, choosing "save target as", saving it onto your computer, and then opening it with a music-playing program.
Please remember that a midi file of a tune isn't supposed to be a state-of-the-art musical arrangement - it is only supposed to give a basic idea of how the tune goes. Any reasonable organist / keyboard player / music group could make it sound far better.