After a season of ballads colected by Francis Child, I thought as it was Sunday that I turn our attention to another ballad, this time composed by Lord Byron and based on Psalm 137. This psalm has been for centuries a favourite with poets and poetical translators, and its pathos appealed to Lord Byron when engaged in writing his Hebrew Melodies.
We sat down and wept by the waters
Of Babel, and thought of the day
When the foe, in the hue of his slaughters,
Made Salem’s high places his prey,
And ye, Oh her desolate daughters,
Were scattered all weeping away.
Written April, 1814. It was the fashion then for musical societies to call on the popular poets for contributions, and tunes were composed for them, though these have practically passed into oblivion.
Byron’s ringing ballad (from II Kings 19:35) —
Th’ Assyrian came down like a wolf on the fold
And his cohorts were gleaming in purple and gold,
has been so much a favourite for recitation and declamation that the loss of its tune is never considered.
Another poetic rendering of the “Captivity Psalm” is worthy of notice among the lay hymns not unworthy to supplement clerical sermons. It was written by the Hon. Joel Barlow in 1799, and published in a pioneer psalm-book at Northampton, Mass. It is neither a translation nor properly a hymn but a poem built upon the words of the Jewish lament, and really reproducing something of its plaintive beauty. Two stanzas of it are as follows:
Along the banks where Babel’s current flows
Our captive bands in deep despondence strayed,
While Zion’s fall in deep remembrance rose,
Her friends, her children mingled with the dead.
The tuneless harps that once with joy we strung
When praise employed, or mirth inspired the lay,
In mournful silence on the willows hung,
And growing grief prolonged the tedious day.
Like Pope, this American poet loved onomatope and imitative verse, and the last line is a word-picture of home-sick weariness. This “psalm” was the best piece of work in Mr. Barlow’s series of attempted improvements upon Isaac Watts — which on the whole were not very successful. The sweet cantabile of Mason’s “Melton” gave “Along the banks” quite an extended lease of life, though it has now ceased to be sung. Joel Barlow was a versatile gentleman, serving his country and generation in almost every useful capacity, from chaplain in the continental army to foreign ambassador. He was born in Redding, Connecticut in 1755, and died near Cracow, Poland in December 1812.
“Rivers of Babylon” was covered in 1978 by Germany-based disco band Boney M., with a version that was released as a single. Boney M.’s release stayed at the no. 1 position in the UK for five weeks and was also the group’s only significant US chart entry, peaking at no. 30 in the Pop charts. Boney M.’s version of the song remains one of the top ten best selling singles in the UK, where it is one of only seven songs to have sold over 2 million copies.
