Babylon AKA Waters of Babylon

This three part round is usually called "Waters of Babylon", to distinguish it from the "Rivers of Babylon".  It is based on Psalm 137.

Rise Up Singing gives the 2nd line as "we sat down ... ", but most other sources refer to "we lay down ...".   PowerPoint sllides for both options are provided below.

The Cantaria folk song archive provides a downloadable audio (MP3) version of the song for learning purposes.

RUS does not give a chord pattern for the tune.  Other sources suggest this pattern for Am (the key of the melody line printed in RUS):

Am     G
By the waters,
    F         E   Am
The waters of Babylon

Am              G
We lay down and wept,
    F        E      Am
And wept for thee Zion.
Am          G
We remember thee
         F
Remember thee
         E     Am
Remember thee Zion.

This notation shown here is a little different to the version in RUS: as well as being in a different key, it has a more exaggerated timing.

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Lyrics:

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By the waters, the waters, of Babylon.
We lay down and wept, and wept, for thee Zion.
We remember, we remember, we remember thee Zion.

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Downloads / Song samples

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PowerPoint slides - lay down version PowerPoint slides - sat down version