Here’s a look at David Carbonara’s song Babylon in episode 6 from season 1 of Mad Men, which was also named “Babylon” and was originally aired on August 23rd, 2007. Adapted from Don McLean’s version and based on Psalm 137 (more here).
It was the first on-camera song that I produced for the series Mad Men, and I got a cameo appearance to boot😎
Lyrics to david carbonara’s babylon
By the waters
The waters
Of Babylon
We lay down and wept
And wept
For thee Zion
We remember
Thee remember
Thee remember
Thee Zion
What they say, (from Wikipeida)
The episode was received very positively by critics. Alan Sepinwall, writing for New Jersey’s The Star-Ledger, praised its focus on the show’s female characters, and in particular the progression of Peggy’s story.[1] Andrew Johnston, writing for Slant Magazine, considered it the show’s “most entertaining” episode to date, and wrote that its ending “beautifully demonstrates the level of insight that makes Mad Men so special.”[2]
In December 2013, Emily VanDerWerff of The A.V. Club gave the episode a full “A” grade, writing retrospectively:[3]
The episode includes the first major story for Joan, a triumph for Peggy, and a minor but hugely important story point for Rachel. It features Midge for a brief time, and it gives us a taste of both Betty’s view of the world (which seems haunted by her fear that her looks will fade) and the glimmerings of what relationship she has with Sally. It’s the first episode of the show that functions more or less as a guided tour of the women of Mad Men, and that’s a mode that the show would return to at least once per season for as long as it ran […] They’re all struggling toward Utopia, a good place yet also a place that cannot be.
Mad Men’s Babylon, in 3 sentences
The Agency is looking to land an advertising contract to promote tourism to Israel. Don and his team try to come up with a theme but know so little about the country that they’re stumped. So Don calls Rachel Menken to see if she has any ideas. Roger Sterling is getting tired of sneaking around with Joan Holloway and suggests she should get her own apartment but she knows better. Peggy comes up with an advertising concept during a testing session for a new line of lipsticks and she’s subsequently asked to write copy.
one Quote:
Don Draper: Utopia.
Rachel Menken: Maybe. They taught us at Barnard about that word, ‘utopia’. The Greeks had two meaning for it: ‘eu-topos’, meaning the good place, and ‘u-topos’ meaning the place that cannot be.
On Spotify: David Carbonara’s Babylon
