“Rivers of Babylon,” popularized by Jimmy Cliff, has long been one of my favorite songs. Its, ahem, a little hard to improve or add to the words taken directly from Psalm 137 of the Jewish Bible (aka Old Testament), but my ukulele teacher, Bill Trainor, has long encouraged me to do exactly that. I resisted until I started reading David Blight’s marvelous biography Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom where he highlights Douglass’s strong reliance on the old testament and particularly this verse as a foundation of his quest for the abolition of slavery.
As I thought through the arc of history for African Americans and how we as a people are still living and reaping the effects of slavery, segregation and institutionalized racism in this nation, I began to be more interested in what the next verses would look like. So below are the original lyrics with mine following in italics:
RIVERS OF BABYLON
BY Brent Dowe / Frank Farian / George Reyam /
Trevor McNaughton
Chorus–original (Psalm 137)
By the Rivers of Babylon
Where we sat down
And there we wept
When we remembered Zion
1. And the wicked carried us away in captivity
Required of us a song
How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land
2. So let the words of our mouths
And the meditations of our hearts
Be acceptable in thy sights here tonight
ADDITIONAL LYRICS in italics BY SARA S. NICHOLS
copyright 2019
New Chorus 1
By the harbors of Baltimore
Where we were sold
And there we bled
When we remembered Africa
1. And the wicked carried us away in captivity
Require of us a smile
How can we sing the Lord’s song in this exile?
2. So let the words of our mouths
And the meditations of our hearts
Be acceptable in thy sights here tonight
New Chorus 2
By the rivers of Birmingham
Where we sat down
And there we wept
When we remembered Jubilee
1. And Bull Connor carried us away in captivity
Required of us a song
How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?
2. So let the words of our mouths
And the meditations of our hearts
Be acceptable in thy sights here tonight
New Chorus 3
By the Rivers of Ferguson
Where we stood up
And there we screamed
When we remembered Martin’s Dream
1. And the wicked carried us away in captivity
Require of us a smile
How can we sing the Lord’s song in this exile?
2. So let the words of our mouths
And the meditations of our hearts
Be acceptable in thy sights here tonight
Yes! Thank you.