(3rd?) National Anthems Thread

I like the French, Scottish (Flower of Scotland) and Welsh anthems. The English/British one sucks in a very strong fashion.

 

South Korea, Italy, Germany, Canada, Turkey, and Russia have the best anthems. Korea's sounds really good when you have a military band playing it. The U.S. has a good anthem if you have a military band playing it without the words.

I will also have to say North Korea has a nice sounding anthem too.

 

France's national anthem is the best. It's even good enough for a few bars to be sampled in the 1812 Overture by Tch...(can't spell his name).

The US anthem is not that good. In fact it used to be an old English drinking song. It was supposed to be funny because it is sung in different keys and very few people can sing it properly.

 

I like the French and Chinese national anthems. Both are powerful anthems. The US and Canadian anthems are about the two worst I know, with the British just a little bit better than their North American counterparts. I also like the Mexican national anthem (though I can't understand more than a few words of it.)

 

Is this a musical opinion, or just a bit of the standard run of hypocritical apocraphy?

My understanding (from a bit of hurried research, and actually playing the #@%&ing piece on a musical instrument) is that it's dead simple, in C, with a few accidentals thrown in to confuse the musically pretentious.

Let's face it, if I can grab a guitar, and figure it out from memory, then it ain't difficult.

Difficult to sing, now that's a different story. It's traditionally played in a key that's notoriously difficult for amateurs to cover. Middle C is called Middle C for a reason. It's smack in the middle of the vocal range. The SSB is largely sung an octave above middle C. The upper reaches are difficult for anyone lower than second alto/tenor to reach.

Some of the note runs are also a little counter intuitive to the untrained ear--they stay put when they're supposed to go up, for lack of a better description. That leads to amateurs hitting semi-tones to compensate, and really sounding awful.

If it's any consolation, I've sung it properly once. And I've been to a lot of DCU games where I mangled it pretty completely. Only in the stands of course.

But that's not because the one verse we sing is in two different keys--it's that the key it's in is a little uncomfortable for normal folks.

 

Ok, Ok. I admit it. I've got insomnia, and I've nothing better to do at the moment.

Turns out that the composer of the tune is John Stafford Smith. Any competent internet researcher can find out about him. Was the melody Francis Scott Key copped for the Star Spangled Banner a drinking song? Only in the strictest sense. Smith was a writer of glees--multipart acapella arrangements.

The critical text can be found here: http://shopping.yahoo.com/shop?d=product&id=1927521576&clink=dmmu.artist&a=b

Oddly enough, among musical circles, he is called the first English musicologist--suggesting his skills lay closer to archiving and research than song-writing.

Run a search on the man if you care to. It's all there.

Point is that the tune to the Star Spangled Banner was not just any drinking song along the lines of "Sally":

 

the welsh national anthem, (land of my fathers). the finest, without question.

 

England doesn't have a national anthem

We're stuck using that British dirge

 

My favourite's Germanys closely followed by Russia BTW

 

Any news on that petition for "Cigarettes and Alcohol" to be officially adopted?

 

I'm with Billy Connolly: it should be the theme tune from the Archer's.

And my vote goes to Russia.

 

LOL

 

I like "Waltzing Matilda," Australia's (unofficial, I think) anthem.
Any song with the word "billabong" in it is cool.

 

I like the former russian one, that one was realy powerful. Now I pretty much the french one and the one from austria and spain and I think our german one is not too bad either (besides being terribly german )

 

I'll give $10 to the first country to adopt "Highway To Hell" as their national anthem and plays it for one year at all official ceremonies and sporting events in which they participate.

 

I thought England used "Land of Hope and Glory"

If they want an anthem, while it is not politically correct in the modern hip "Cool Britania" of Tony Blair, I like Jerusalem (which I think is one of the most inspiring patriotic songs ever written, and I am not even English but citizenship, birth or family background).

I also like "I Pledge to thee my Country"

 

Top ones are:

CCCP Hymn
Deutschland Uber Alles
Die Fahne Hoch (to the dismay of many Germans, this song still deserves credit)
China's March of the Volunteers

 

my favorites,

fast tunes,
france (can never forget the scene in casablanca)
china
brazil

slower tunes,
germany,
south korea

 

You want a dirge? Check out the Hungarian national anthem ...

(my crude translation)
"God bless the Hungarians
with kindness and bounty.
Extend your protecting hand
should enemies rise up against us.
Misfortune has long befallen us
Bring us a happy year.
This people has atoned for its sins
past and future."

... sung at half the pace of "God save the Queen" I kid you not.

I can't imagine singing that at the beginning of a soccer game and not losing 6-0.

 

Nope England is stuck using GSTQ. GSTQ isn't even about the country, it's about paying homage to some privelaged bint.

I like Jerusalem but it's a bit outdated and it doesn't paint a particuarly positive image of England.

Land of Hope and Glory is a British 'anthem' and is too Imperial for my liking.

I want a new one composed

 

When did they introduce that national anthem and did it coincide with the demise of the great Hungarian national teams?

 

I kind of like the idea of not resting until you build a better country.