This track features a well-loved Iraqi folk song, "Balîni-b Balwa" (He’s a plague on me!), which was also widely known among the Baghdad Jewish community in India. "Balîni-b Balwa" is sung in Arabic, but Rivers of Babylon begins and ends the performance with the Hebrew refrain of a popular Sabbath text, "Ki Eshmérah Shabbath", which may also be sung to the same tune. Though it may appear inappropriate to combine religious and secular sentiments, the practice of singing a sacred text to a tune associated with profane lyrics has been standard practice for many centuries. Known in many Jewish traditions, the text may be sung to a number of tunes, some associated with secular song, as in this case. "Balîni-b Balwa" is a love song, despite its title! We hear a number of stock verses, which are equally at home in many other Iraqi folk songs.