Album: Long Live Rock 'n' Roll (1978)

License This Song 

Songfacts®:

• Like the rest of the Long Live Rock 'N' Roll album, "Gates Of Babylon" was recorded in an 18th-century French manor named Château d'Hérouville (Honky Château) where the composer Chopin had once lived - it was converted into a recording studio. David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Pink Floyd, Elton John, Fleetwood Mac, and other biggies have recorded there, as well, and many reported paranormal experiences. The experience Rainbow had, though, was on a whole other level.
  
  Rainbow frontman Ronnie James Dio claimed that a demonic presence kept interrupting the band's recording sessions, causing equipment failures. They had particular problems during "Gates Of Babylon," so much so that they couldn't complete the song. So the band, who had been dabbling in the occult for some time already, performed a séance. Through that, they learned that the demonic presence was named Baal.
  
  Making contact didn't dull the creature's destructive disposition. Issues escalated until the force took to throwing cutlery and furniture around and even making glasses pass completely through a table. A local priest refused to help them because he was already familiar with the malevolence in the house.
  
  The band finally managed to complete the song, but the worst was yet to come. As they were leaving the house, Dio's wife Wendy was shoved down a flight of stairs by an invisible force. A box of fine China in her arms broke the worst of her fall, and she suffered only minor injuries, but the experience was enough that Dio swore off summoning spirits and dallying with the occult for the rest of his days.
  
  The story is noted in the album's liner notes, which read, "Special thanks to E.H Reid, Colin Pearson, Pierre Calamel, Michel Laurent, Jean Claude, no thanks to Baal."
• Lead singer Ronnie James Dio wrote the lyrics and Rainbow guitarist Ritchie Blackmore the music. David Stone, who played keyboards, is said to have written parts of it, although he was not credited on the album.

Comments: 2

• Someone Who Just Watched A Stream On Drugs, Mysticism, And The Modern WorldThese lyrics likely refer to the opium/hashish induced dreams (sleeping with the devil, visions, seeing in your mind) experienced by 19th century experimenters/authors/"spiritualists" who were obsessed with orientalism (Arabian nights imagery; magic carpet rides, genies, caravans, Babylon, saber dances, the veils of reality/the dancer [see also Black Sabbath's Heaven and Hell]).
  
  In other words, 19th century potheads were using exotic oriental drugs and describing their trips using exotic oriental images, the anesthetic and dreamlike states produced by these drugs being conceived, in a gnostic sense as a mystical technique, a "key" to (the gates of sweet hell) Paradise or the "Ideal State" (a city of heavenly sin).
  
  The ambivalent language used in Gates of Babylon denotes at once the archaic gnostic/mystery cult seance importance placed on the psychedelic experience as a key (I think you're ready to see [by partaking of the "fruit" as Eve did]) to a "Paradise lost", yet it also touches on the addicting and disrupting effects (to trap you within, riding the endless caravan as a slave) of these drugs, thus not really endorsing them as such but rather treating them as the ambiguous, mysterious, and potentially dangerous substances/phenomenon that they are.
• AnonymousThis song is about the rich and how most of them go against Jesus because they have so much money despite its dark lyrics it actually has a very Christian meaning in the Bible it says a camel rope to go through the eye of a needle is more likely than a rich man to go to heaven. They say I can take you anywhere. Because Satan and his demons can get you rich but you will go to hell for this which is what the lines sleep with the devil and debt you must pay sleep with the devil the devil will take you away dio does not mean literally sleep with the devil he means if you trust the devil there will be literal hell to pay so to conclude this song is about the rich and how they will never make it to heaven

More Songfacts:

Head FirstAerosmith

Geffen Records made history on June 27, 1994 when Aerosmith's "Head First" became the first major label song made available for exclusive digital download. Download speeds at the time were so slow it took around 75 minutes to download the track.

Whatta ManSalt-N-Pepa

Salt's "mighty good man" in the Salt-N-Pepa "Whatta Man" video is played by Tupac Shakur.

Justify My LoveMadonna

Madonna's "Justify My Love" was co-written by Lenny Kravitz.

Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)Jay-Z

Jay-Z's "Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem)" is based on the song "It's A Hard Knock Life" from the Broadway play Annie.

BenMichael Jackson

Michael Jackson's first #1 solo hit, "Ben," is about a pet rat.

Sixth Avenue HeartacheThe Wallflowers

Mike Campbell from Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers played the slide guitar on "Sixth Avenue Heartache." There is a connection here - Wallflowers lead singer Jakob's dad, Bob Dylan, played with Tom Petty in The Traveling Wilburys.

Editor's Picks

Five Rockers Who Rolled With The DevilSong Writing

Just how much did these monsters of rock dabble in the occult?

Annie Haslam of RenaissanceSongwriter Interviews

The 5-octave voice of the classical rock band Renaissance, Annie is big on creative expression. In this talk, she covers Roy Wood, the history of the band, and where all the money went in the '70s.

Vanessa CarltonSongwriter Interviews

The "A Thousand Miles" singer on what she thinks of her song being used in White Chicks and how she captured a song from a dream.

AC/DCFact or Fiction

Does Angus really drink himself silly? Did their name come from a sewing machine? See if you can spot the real stories about AC/DC.

He Hit Me (And It Felt Like A Kiss): A History Of Abuse PopSong Writing

Songs that seem to glorify violence against women are often misinterpreted - but not always.

Movie Stars In Music VideosSong Writing

Johnny Depp, Angelina Jolie, Mila Kunis and John Malkovich are just a few of the film stars who have moonlighted in music videos.