National anthems

From many years of attending matches at Murrayfield, for me the best is the French one, with Wales a close second. Ireland did have a great anthem but they ditched it for that terrible bland anodyne effort.

German and Italian all due to Michael Schumacher in his Ferrari years and must admit the Italian one is pretty good

one of those two I can still remember perfectly - but I have no idea if its te German or Italian one

The Italian national anthem is the best.
Anyway:

German - I'm half German
British - Well I'm half English too
American - 'cos it can't be avoided
Belgian - I watch a lot of cycling
Australian - ditto
Italian - ditto (oh and F1 of course)
Dutch - ditto
French - don't we all?

Fun fact: The UK and Liechtenstein anthem uses the same tune. I think the Greek and Cypriot one is as well? (might be wrong about that one)

Not sure of how many I recognise but I do like the French one, partly due to it being sung so passionately and defiantly in Casablanca.

Must have been hugely moving at the time in 1942.

Is it the Argentine one that sou ds like it's set to a waltz? Not exactly stirring stuff. Not even a bloody tango.

I wish I could track it down but there was a good newspaper article a few years ago about the meanings of anthems from around the world. The British one effectively has us lauding an unelected individual as head of state and conferring upon them the blessing of a religious deity. Other nations celebrate great wars, struggles for independence and the resourcefulness of their peoples.

I would get most of the major rugby playing nations and also Germany I think

Its always fun to get a translation of the words tho - IIRC the italian one is rather blood thirsty

Italy
<p class="paragraph-text">1. Brothers of Italy,
Italy has awakened;
Scipio's helmet
she has put on her head.
Where is the Victory?
Offer her the hair;
because slave of Rome
God created her.

Chorus:
Let us unite!
We are ready to die;
Italy called.</p>
<p class="paragraph-text">2. We have been for centuries
stamped on, and laughed at,
because we are not one people,
because we are divided.
Let's unite under
one flag, one dream;
To melt together
Already the time has come.</p>
<p class="paragraph-text">3. Let's unite, let's love;
The union and the love
Reveal to the people
God's ways.
We swear to liberate
the native soil:
United, for God,
Who can beat us?</p>
<p class="paragraph-text">4. From the Alps to Sicily,
Everywhere is Legnano;
Every man of Ferruccio
has the heart and the hand;
the children of Italy
are called Balilla;
The sound of every church bell
calling for evening prayers.</p>
<p class="paragraph-text">5. They are branches that bend
the sold swords;
Already the eagle of Austria
has lost its feathers.
the blood of Italy
and the Polish blood
Drank with Cossacks
But its heart was burnt.</p>

I think I can recognise the national anthems of:

American
UK
Italy
Malaysia

Can't remember any of the lyrics at all.

That's it really while the rest are not important countries LOL!

Can’t remember any of the lyrics at all.

Even football fans can remember the UK one!

Up there I think with Poopscoop's contribution

Eve football fans can remember the UK one!

Can only remember three words "God save the Queen/King" the rest nothing, for my home country it is even worst as I cannot even remember a single word.

The British one effectively has us lauding an unelected individual as head of state and conferring upon them the blessing of a religious deity.

Actually if you look at the words it's more to do with praising God than the monarch.

I like that second verse we're not allowed to sing anymore:
O Lord our God arise,
Scatter our enemies,
And make them fall!
Confound their politics,
Frustrate their knavish tricks,
On Thee our hopes we fix,
God save us all!

Knavish tricks - hehe.

A bit like the Italian in that respect.

We are all in agreement that ours is a bloody awful dirge though aren't we?

We need a new more upbeat, fun tune.

Any other Scots who think Flower of Scotland needs binned?

GSTQ isn't much better.

Imagine actually having an anthem that you could sing as enthusiastically as any Frenchman.

slowoldman - and the third ( no longer mentioned) verse

"Lord grant that Marshal Wade,

May by thy mighty aid,

Victory bring.

May he sedition hush,

And like a torrent rush

Rebellious Scots to crush,

God Save the King."

Any other Scots who think Flower of Scotland needs binned?

GSTQ isn’t much better.

Imagine actually having an anthem that you could sing as enthusiastically as any Frenchman.

Yes, yes and yes.

Flower of Scotland is just crap. Not that I think I could write better, but it really is a bit of a dirge.

Seeing/hearing the French national anthem being sung with vigour is quite a spectacle and shows what a proper national anthem should achieve, IMO.

I find Flower of Scotland powerful - but that is really due to the association with hearing it sung by a full ground at murrayfield

It is rather a dirge tho being ( I think) a lament and is only just saved from being too jingoistic by the line " those days are passed now, and in the past they must remain"

Its only what 60 years old or so as well IIRC.

Dunno what you would replace it with

The British one effectively has us lauding an unelected individual as head of state and conferring upon them the blessing of a religious deity.

Bill Bailey had a good sketch about that with various musical interludes and he asked much the same question - why would you use a dreadful dirge to call upon a non-specific deity to save an unelected sponger?

We need a new more upbeat, fun tune.

Aside from the fact the it's already been stripped of a couple of verses to reduce offence, GSTK still remains unfit for purpose for 2022. A leg trembler to both the monarchy and a singular Christian god knocks out more than 50% of the population that could sing with any sort of relevance. I just can't bring myself to sing it, or even just mouth along.

I would never sing GSTK  I would stand so as not to be offensive but sing it?  No way

Once with a bunch of Americans drinking they sung their national anthem and then asked the brits to sing ours ( this was decades ago before I returned to Scotland so no FOS).  We refused and they just could not comprehend this

slowoldman – and the third ( no longer mentioned) verse

Except every time the thing is talked about.

It's not no longer mentioned, it was never an official verse and to be honest no worse than the "anti-English" aspect of FoS.

Around 1745, anti-Jacobite sentiment was captured in a verse appended to the song, with a prayer for the success of Field Marshal George Wade's army then assembling at Newcastle. These words attained some short-term use, although they did not appear in the published version in the October 1745 Gentleman's Magazine. This verse was first documented as an occasional addition to the original anthem by Richard Clark in 1822,[42] and was also mentioned in a later article on the song, published by the Gentleman's Magazine in October 1836. Therein, it is presented as an "additional verse... though being of temporary application only... stored in the memory of an old friend... who was born in the very year 1745, and was thus the associate of those who heard it first sung", the lyrics given being:

Lord, grant that Marshal Wade,
May by thy mighty aid,
Victory bring.
May he sedition hush,
and like a torrent rush,
Rebellious Scots to crush,
God save the King.

The 1836 article and other sources make it clear that this verse was not used soon after 1745, and certainly before the song became accepted as the British national anthem in the 1780s and 1790s.

Those days are passed now
And in the past they must remain
But we can still rise now
And be the nation again
That stood against him
Proud Edward's army
And sent him homeward
Tae think again

It's just a load of nationalist drivel reflecting on 700 year old past glories.

@tjagain @slowoldman @squirrelking It’s not really a British / UK national anthem is it? More English / Monarchist / CoE.

I think one of the English national teams uses it at the moment - rugby or perhaps football?  Odd if it’s meant to be a British anthem, but then like I say it isn’t really so fair enough.

IMo the "Those days are passed now
And in the past they must remain" just about keeps it on the right side of jingoism

Most national anthems are somewhat nationalist / jingoistic tho not that that is any defense

IGN - yes its used as the English national anthem at rugby matches which is more than a bit odd

I'd like the English rugby anthem to be changed.  Perhaps "jerusalem"?

Both England rugby and football use GSTK. I think it should be Land if hope and glory. Or Jerusalem.

One thing that makes GSTK/Q so awful is that there's basically no intro before the words, so any group singing along when it's played by a band/orchestra/whatever usually starts late and tries to catch up which means everyone's singing slightly different bits at the same time.

Ooh, Tenpole Tudor would be a brilliant new anthem choice. I might start one of those parliamentary petitions..😁

an American friend of mine (who shall remain nameless in case they revoke her citizenship) told me that for many years as a child she often wondered what a "Dawnserly Light" was, but was too afraid to ask as everyone else just seemed to know and sang the line...

Flower of Scotland is the only “anthem” to make provision for people with tourettes.

NSFW:

Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau sang at full chat in a packed stadium never fails to raise the spirits.

“Dawnserly Light”

That reminds me of Billy Connolly (not referring to a national anthem but to a hymn)

"Gladly the Cross-eyed Bear".

I was out at a Mark Thomas gig last night (very,very good BTW) and part of his set was talking about scrapping National Anthems and making city anthems instead .At the break he challenged the Edinburgh crowd to come up with suggestions, we failed miserably,there must have been a lack of footie fans 😆 🤣

to the tune of "she'll be coming round the mountain"

" I'd rather be a jambo than a hun" etc  🙂

At the break he challenged the Edinburgh crowd to come up with suggestions, we failed miserably,there must have been a lack of footie fans

Oh god no, could you imagine the separatists all running about slevering Sunshine on Leith?

” I’d rather be a jambo than a hun” etc

I thought Jambos were east coast huns? (IKFAAF)

could be - the whole sectarian thing confuses me 🙂

I don’t think anybody knows all the words to any National Anthem do they? Aren’t they like Auld Lang Syne whereby everyone knows the first bit and then just mumbles or does a hammered Jim Morrison impersonation for the rest?

My mum used to confirm the suggestion about the French anthem in Casablanca being moving when the film was released She first saw the film as 16 yr old schoolgirl at an airbase cinema in Lewis during WW2. Now Stornaway Airport.

don’t think anybody knows all the words to any National Anthem do they

I know most of Hen Wlad fy Nhadau and I’m not even Welsh. Although it’s a tune you tend to hear in other contexts whereas GSTK is just cringeworthy (as are most anthems imo). O bydded yr hen iaith barhau!

I don’t think anybody knows all the words to any National Anthem do they?

Flower of Scotland I do.  One of my brains strange quirks.  songs get stuck in my head

Unfortunately the best national anthem is the Russian one, at least as far as the tune goes. They took up the old Soviet anthem's tune with some new lyrics a few years after the dissolution of the USSR.
The USA's is pretty decent too imo. GSTK is abysmal

Having just moved to France and realising that I didn’t know the Marseillaise I have been busy learning it.

It’s a bit blood thirsty: To arms, citizens! Form our battalions. Soak the furrows of our land with the blood of our impure enemies. March on! March on! etc

On the upside, it is not about saving some bumbling (or worse) monarch, it’s about protecting citizens. I quite like living in a republic.

Ireland did have a great anthem but they ditched it for that terrible bland anodyne effort.

Not sure what you mean there as Amhrán na bhFiann is some hundred years old. If you mean Ireland's Call, yeah I don't like it.

Italian is my favourite. France's is good too.

Not sure what you mean there as Amhrán na bhFiann is some hundred years old. If you mean Ireland’s Call, yeah I don’t like it.

To clarify, what I meant was that Amhrán na bhFiann (the Soldier's Song) was a great rousing anthem that must have had the Irish rugby team (other sports are available) very fired up. The new one is insipid and dull. Don't get me wrong, I know that so many things in Ireland have symbolic meaning and can be seen as one thing to one side and one to another, but I've always loved that rugby brings both parts of the island together, and politics/religion aside, that was a cracking tune.

They still sing Amhrán na bhFiann (as well as Ireland’s Call) when playing in Dublin. Rugby in Ulster was traditionally played more by the Protestant community. To be honest, expecting them to stand and sing “The Soldiers’ Song” was taking the mick a bit. Ireland’s Call is the anthem when playing away. Only for rugby though. Amhrán na bhFiann remains the anthem for all other occasions. I started out disliking Ireland’s Call but am quite fond of it now - I think the many years of seeing the Green Machine players choke up when they sing it has probably helped. And it has a key change! All good songs should have a key change. 😀

I know most of Hen Wlad fy Nhadau

quite simply the greatest National anthem ever. Also the best flag ever, as obviously in a game of top trumps flags a dragon would beat everything

Can we not just go with Radiohead? Everyone's standing patiently on the pitch, Alfie Boe's doing the wailing, 3 minutes in and the brass band's losing their shit...

squirrelking
Free Member

Oh god no, could you imagine the separatists all running about slevering Sunshine on Leith?

Ah, it's a bloody tune though. I'm nominally a hearts fan, my dad was hearts daft and so's my brother and Charlie was a right shit when he was married to a mate of mine but we'll still all belt out the yeah yeah yeah yeaaahs.

But yeah, divisive. How about something that really ties into the beating heart of Edinburgh, something inseperable, that we can all sing along to... altogether now "Drive boy dive boy dirty numb angel boy in the doorway boy she was a lipstick boy..."

I think they should all be more like Brazil’s.

Great tune. Inspiring lyrics.

England might better suit the Benny Hill tune at the moment.