By The Waters Of Babylon: A Song History

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"By the Waters of Babylon" is a short round setting words from Psalm 137[1]. The Choral Public Domain Library credits it to Philip Hayes and traces it to his collection The Muses Delight, published in London in 1786, where it is said to appear as a round for four voices in B-flat[1]. Hayes (1738–1797) was born in Oxford, the son of the university's professor of music, and took over that post himself in 1777[2]. A university library catalogue confirms the collection itself: The Muses Delight: Catches, Glees, Canzonets, and Canons, issued by Harrison and Co. around 1786[3].

Wood engraving of men holding out stringed instruments to grieving women beside a lily pond

Sir Edward John Poynter, By the Rivers of Babylon, from Dalziels’ Bible Gallery, wood engraving, 1865–81. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Public domain (CC0). An illustration of Psalm 137, the source of the round’s words.

The attribution is not settled, though. Hymnary.org's survey of modern hymnals shows the same tune credited variously to Hayes (two books naming The Muses' Delight of 1786 as their source), to William Billings, to an anonymous author, or to traditional or Jewish melody; the site's own tune entry calls it a "traditional Jewish melody"[4]. Billings did draw on Psalm 137, but in a quite different piece: his four-part anthem "Lamentation over Boston," printed in The Singing Master's Assistant in 1778, whose text echoes the psalm in responding to the Revolutionary War[5].

Don McLean recorded the round as "Babylon," the short closing track of his 1971 album American Pie on United Artists[6], accompanying himself only on banjo[7]. In a filmed live performance he split the audience into three groups so that they could sing it as a round[7].

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Sources

  1. Choral Public Domain Library: "By the Waters of Babylon (Philip Hayes)".
  2. Hyperion Records: "Philip Hayes (1738-1797)".
  3. Penn Libraries catalog: "The muses delight: catches, glees, canzonets, and canons".
  4. Hymnary.org: "BY THE WATERS (Jewish)".
  5. Choral Public Domain Library: "Lamentation over Boston (William Billings)".
  6. University of North Texas Libraries catalog: "American pie" (United Artists UAS-5535).
  7. Aleteia: "Admire Don McLean leading an audience in this exquisite psalm".