Who recorded it first
Rivers of Babylon
Not a Boney M. original — The Melodians recorded it in Jamaica in 1970
Boney M.’s 1978 disco version is one of the best-selling singles in British history, and most listeners file the song as a Euro-disco creation. It is a cover. “Rivers of Babylon” was written by Brent Dowe and Trevor McNaughton of the Jamaican group The Melodians and recorded by them in 1970 for producer Leslie Kong’s Beverley’s label. The Jamaican government initially banned it as subversive because of its Rastafarian framing; once the ban was lifted it took three weeks to reach number one in Jamaica, and the soundtrack to the 1972 film The Harder They Come carried it to the rest of the world.
The record
Who recorded it first
Released Recorded in 1970 in Kingston for producer Leslie Kong and issued on his Beverley’s Records label; it is also the title track of The Melodians’ 1970 Beverley’s album, catalogue BLP 019.
Charted A number one in Jamaica — it reached the top within three weeks once the government ban on it was lifted. No international chart placing is recorded for the Melodians version; it reached listeners abroad through the 1972 soundtrack album.
Hear The Melodians’ Leslie Kong–produced recording, as issued on The Harder They Come www.youtube.com · An auto-generated upload on the “The Melodians - Topic” channel; the description reads “Provided to YouTube by Universal Music Group” and carries a ℗ 1970 Island Records line, crediting Leslie Kong as producer. Its running time of 4:15 is within seconds of the MusicBrainz Harder They Come cut (4:18), and far from the 2:51 Beverley’s album cut — the same period recording in its soundtrack form, not a later re-recording.How we know
The song was written and recorded in 1970 by Brent Dowe and Trevor McNaughton of The Melodians, with lyrics adapted from Psalms 137 and 19 — see Wikipedia’s article on the song ↗.
The Jamaican government initially banned the record for its Rastafarian references; once lifted, it took three weeks to top the Jamaican chart, per the same Wikipedia article ↗.
The 1970 Jamaican pressing on Leslie Kong’s Beverley’s Records, catalogue BLP 019, is catalogued at MusicBrainz ↗; the recording it links to ↗ runs 2:51.
Boney M.’s cover followed on 3 April 1978 on Hansa, Sire and Atlantic; the first single pressings credited only Frank Farian and Reyam (Hans-Jörg Mayer), and Dowe and McNaughton were added on later pressings after an agreement — see Wikipedia’s article on the song ↗.
Wikipedia’s “Rivers of Babylon” article, covering the 1970 original and every major coverKnow more about the original — or think we’ve got it wrong? Add a source →
Fact-check
Right song, wrong origin story
The Boney M. single is so large in European memory that the Jamaican record underneath it disappears. Here is what the sources actually say.
Boney M.
Their version, released 3 April 1978 and produced by Frank Farian, topped charts across Europe and sold over two million copies in the UK — but it is a cover of a Jamaican record.
The Melodians
Recorded in 1970 for producer Leslie Kong at Beverley’s in Kingston. Banned in Jamaica, then a Jamaican number one within three weeks of the ban being lifted.
Brent Dowe and Trevor McNaughton
Both were members of The Melodians. The first pressings of the Boney M. single credited only Frank Farian and Reyam (Hans-Jörg Mayer); Dowe and McNaughton were added on later pressings after an agreement, which is part of why the song reads as European.
The Harder They Come soundtrack
The Melodians’ recording reached an international audience through the Island soundtrack album to the 1972 film — the route by which the song got to Europe at all.
Boney M. made it enormous. The Melodians made it.
Context
Why the cover swallowed the original
The Melodians’ record was never obscure — it was a Jamaican number one and it opened a globally distributed film soundtrack. What it lacked was European radio. Boney M. arrived on a continental pop machine built by Frank Farian, with a Hansa/Atlantic release, a television-ready group and an arrangement engineered for the 1978 discotheque. That record sold in numbers that simply rewrite public memory: over two million UK copies, one of only seven singles ever to pass two million there and one of the ten best-selling British singles ever pressed.
There is a second reason the authorship blurred. The first pressings of the Boney M. single credited only Frank Farian and Reyam (Hans-Jörg Mayer), so the label copy that reached the earliest European buyers carried German names alone; Dowe and McNaughton were added on later pressings, after an agreement. Combined with a sound that gave no audible clue of rocksteady origin, the song arrived in Europe looking like something that had been made there.
The chronology, step by step
- 1963 — The Melodians form in Greenwich Town, Kingston: Tony Brevett, Brent Dowe, Trevor McNaughton.
- 1970 — Dowe and McNaughton write “Rivers of Babylon”, adapting Psalms 137 and 19. The Melodians record it for Leslie Kong at Beverley’s.
- 1970 — The Jamaican government bans the record as subversive; after the ban is lifted it reaches number one in Jamaica within three weeks. It is also the title track of the group’s Beverley’s album, catalogue BLP 019.
- 1971 — Leslie Kong dies; the group moves to other producers.
- 1972 — The Melodians’ recording appears on the Island soundtrack album to the film The Harder They Come, reaching an international audience.
- 3 April 1978 — Boney M. release their version on Hansa, Sire and Atlantic, produced by Frank Farian. The first pressings credit only Farian and Reyam (Hans-Jörg Mayer); Dowe and McNaughton are added on later pressings after an agreement. It tops charts across Europe and passes two million UK copies.
A Jamaican number one that the discotheque re-issued as its own invention.