This is a very fitting last song on Side 2 of the American Pie album. Both songs, American Pie and Babylon, mourn the loss of a “promised land” by God’s “chosen people.”
As others pointed out, these lyrics are based on Psalm 137:1 from the Bible. During the Babylonian captivity (or exile) in the 7th century BC, the Jew’s homeland, the ancient Kingdom of Judah, was conquered by the Babylonians. Many Jews were taken to Babylonia, a kingdom located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers ("the waters of Babylon") in the area of modern-day Iraq.
The Jews saw themselves as God’s chosen people as they were the first to embrace monotheism. In a similar way, Americans have described themselves as a chosen people – “manifest destiny” in the 19th Century and “American exceptionalism” in the 20th.
I think by including this song at the end of the American Pie album, McLean is suggesting that the events and cultural changes of the late 50’s to early 70’s left Americans exiled from their own promised land. Certainly, loss is a recurring theme in American Pie and, whatever his personal beliefs, McLean use biblical/religious imagery throughout that song.
It also interesting to note, as commenter TheThornBirds does here, that for Rastafarians, “Babylon” is their term for decadent western society. Also “Zion” is the Rastafarian name for the Promised Land -- which for them is present-day Ethiopia.
This is a very fitting last song on Side 2 of the American Pie album. Both songs, American Pie and Babylon, mourn the loss of a “promised land” by God’s “chosen people.”
As others pointed out, these lyrics are based on Psalm 137:1 from the Bible. During the Babylonian captivity (or exile) in the 7th century BC, the Jew’s homeland, the ancient Kingdom of Judah, was conquered by the Babylonians. Many Jews were taken to Babylonia, a kingdom located between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers ("the waters of Babylon") in the area of modern-day Iraq.
The Jews saw themselves as God’s chosen people as they were the first to embrace monotheism. In a similar way, Americans have described themselves as a chosen people – “manifest destiny” in the 19th Century and “American exceptionalism” in the 20th.
I think by including this song at the end of the American Pie album, McLean is suggesting that the events and cultural changes of the late 50’s to early 70’s left Americans exiled from their own promised land. Certainly, loss is a recurring theme in American Pie and, whatever his personal beliefs, McLean use biblical/religious imagery throughout that song.
It also interesting to note, as commenter TheThornBirds does here, that for Rastafarians, “Babylon” is their term for decadent western society. Also “Zion” is the Rastafarian name for the Promised Land -- which for them is present-day Ethiopia.