# Best (and worst) national anthems **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 31, 2007, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-national-anthems/417678 "2007-08-31T22:01:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2007, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-national-anthems/417678/41 "2007-09-01T19:42:08Z")
Soviet / Russia’s tune is best, hands down. Here’s a version by the [Red Army Choir.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLi_m656tQQ) ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2007, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-national-anthems/417678/42 "2007-09-01T19:44:02Z")
My favourites: Russia Germany USA Italy I don’t like the French one at all. Not stately enough. OK, neither is Italy’s, but theirs is a better tune. I agree with with the general view that the British/Lichtensteiner anthem is a dirge. And I can’t stand the South African one, sorry. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2007, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-national-anthems/417678/43 "2007-09-01T19:58:09Z")
[QUOTE=Charlie Tan] Soviet / Russia’s tune is best, hands down. Here’s a version by the [Red Army Choir.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLi_m656tQQ) [/QUOTE] Stirring, to be sure, but I think all the bellowing drowns the actual tune, which is a killer. [Instrumental version](http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=4fRU_k4tjoU&mode=related&search=). ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2007, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-national-anthems/417678/44 "2007-09-01T20:08:46Z")
[QUOTE=Charlie Tan] Soviet / Russia’s tune is best, hands down. Here’s a version by the [Red Army Choir.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLi_m656tQQ) [/QUOTE] The tune is stirring, but the lyrics are so laughably ironic. They were before the fall, and they are even more so now. ---
**Author:** ![Gukumatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/74df32/32.png) [@Gukumatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gukumatz)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2007, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-national-anthems/417678/45 "2007-09-01T20:35:43Z")
Just throwing the [Norwegian National Anthem](http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=u2v53KV00B4&mode=related&search=) out there for the wolves. Curious to hear what you lot think of it. \*Yes, we love with fond devotion This our land that looms Rugged, storm-scarred o’er the ocean With her thousand homes. Love her, in our love recalling Those who gave us birth. And old tales which night, in falling, Brings as dreams to earth. Norsemen whatsoe’er thy station, Thank thy God whose power willed and wrought the land’s salvation In her darkest hour. All our mothers sought with weeping And our sires in fight, God has fashioned in His keeping Till we gained our right. Yes, we love with fond devotion This our land that looms Rugged, storm-scarred o’er the ocean With her thousand homes. And, as warrior sires have made her Wealth and fame increase, At the call we too will aid her Armed to guard her peace.\* ---
**Author:** ![kath94](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/67e7ee/32.png) [@kath94](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kath94)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2007, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-national-anthems/417678/46 "2007-09-01T21:08:04Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] It’s a semi-obscure, but not very, Muppet reference. [/QUOTE] I used to have The Muppet Movie soundtrack playing in my 1st-ever car, a 1970’s-something Opel. On 8-track. How pathetic is that? ---
**Author:** ![fortytwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f9ae1b/32.png) [@fortytwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fortytwo)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2007, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-national-anthems/417678/47 "2007-09-01T21:42:25Z")
[QUOTE=Slithy Tove] … Another example: although Wales isn’t exactly a nation, it still has an anthem,[The Land of my Fathers](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpYogExUngU) (again with the fathers. Doesn’t anyone’s mom count for anything?). But a lot of people either assume or wish the Welsh national anthem was [Men of Harlech](http://youtube.com/watch?v=YrZbUS0MaY4) [/QUOTE] If Wales isn’t _exactly_ a nation what is it? We have a national teams in sport, my passport says my nationality is Welsh, I’ve filled in countless forms with Wales as my nationality and had them accepted. I think the lyrics for most of the national anthems are rubbish but musically the Russian anthem is very stirring. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2007, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-national-anthems/417678/48 "2007-09-01T21:44:43Z")
Ummmmmmm…mine was a Dodge van, and it was on cassette, but I’m not one to cast stones here. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2007, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-national-anthems/417678/49 "2007-09-01T22:14:02Z")
[QUOTE=Vetch] If Wales isn’t _exactly_ a nation what is it? We have a national teams in sport, my passport says my nationality is Welsh, I’ve filled in countless forms with Wales as my nationality and had them accepted. [/QUOTE] Wales is a nation. I think what he meant is that it’s not really a country, or more precisely a state. Wales is a nation that’s a subpart of the state known as the United Kingdom. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2007, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-national-anthems/417678/50 "2007-09-01T22:23:39Z")
I just want to say what it is about the tune of the American national anthem that makes it sound so good, to me. At the risk of sounding pretentious, it’s the raised fourth on, for example, the “-ly” of “dawn’s ear-ly light”. A boring tune would have that note, and corresponding notes elsewhere, as a straight fourth, but here it’s raised, I suppose by a semitone. Anyway, that unexpected raised note is what makes the tune, for me. ---
**Author:** ![Beware\_of\_Doug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/278dde/32.png) [@Beware\_of\_Doug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beware_of_Doug)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2007, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-national-anthems/417678/51 "2007-09-01T22:30:36Z")
[QUOTE=RickJay] Wales is a nation. I think what he meant is that it’s not really a country, or more precisely a state. Wales is a nation that’s a subpart of the state known as the United Kingdom. [/QUOTE] One historian has commented that the Welsh, “apart from their language, lacked practically every attribute of a nation except for the perverse and persistent belief that they were one.” ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2007, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-national-anthems/417678/52 "2007-09-01T23:25:43Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] The tune is stirring, but the lyrics are so laughably ironic. They were before the fall, and they are even more so now. [/QUOTE] Actually, they weren’t ironic before the fall. They might be perceived that way now. If you grew up during the Cold War, you know that that there was a real fear that we might all die in a nuclear holocaust. I had nightmares for weeks after watching the movie version of On The Beach. I can think of a number of adjectives to attach to the Soviet national anthem, pre '89 - petulant, delusional, histrionic - but ironic isn’t one of them. And I still think it’s a beautiful tune. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2007, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-national-anthems/417678/53 "2007-09-01T23:36:31Z")
“Freeborn republics” - In a forced collective called the USSR “Sing to the Motherland, home of the free” - In one of the most repressive socities on the planet “To a righteous cause he raised up the peoples” - Righteous? Somebody needs a dictionary After the fall the irony piles on irony, but these phrases were a joke years before the fall. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2007, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-national-anthems/417678/54 "2007-09-01T23:59:11Z")
They were a joke, but they weren’t _ironic_. They were were just untruths knowingly uttered by the regime of that time, i.e. common or garden lies. They may seem ironic now, given what subsequently happened, but they weren’t ironic then. They were merely untrue. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2007, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-national-anthems/417678/55 "2007-09-02T00:40:06Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] “Freeborn republics” - In a forced collective called the USSR “Sing to the Motherland, home of the free” - In one of the most repressive socities on the planet “To a righteous cause he raised up the peoples” - Righteous? Somebody needs a dictionary After the fall the irony piles on irony, but these phrases were a joke years before the fall. [/QUOTE] Right, but a joke is not the same as irony. When the Bush regime lies about how great it is, it’s not irony; it’s just lying. Nor were those lyrics irony. Propaganda? Self-delusion? Lying? You could make a case for any and all of them, but i don’t think irony is a good description. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2007, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-national-anthems/417678/56 "2007-09-02T00:46:31Z")
I bow to those with better word choice. Ironic later, a joke before. ---
**Author:** ![bathsheba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@bathsheba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bathsheba)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2007, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-national-anthems/417678/57 "2007-09-02T01:40:00Z")
Advance Australia Fair is a bit of a dirge but I’ve always liked the words (though not us much as the Danish anthem’s!). Australians all let us rejoice, For we are young and free; With golden soil and wealth for toil, Our home is girt by sea; Our land abounds in Nature’s gifts Of beauty rich and rare; In history’s page, let every stage Advance Australia fair! In joyful strains then let us sing, “Advance Australia fair!” Beneath our radiant southern Cross, We’ll toil with hearts and hands; To make this Commonwealth of ours Renowned of all the lands; For those who’ve come across the seas We’ve boundless plains to share; With courage let us all combine To advance Australia fair. In joyful strains then let us sing “Advance Australia fair!” What’s not to love about being “girt by sea”? And can we not make the haka an official anthem and crown it winner? Oooom chaka chaka chaka ooooooooom!! ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2007, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-national-anthems/417678/58 "2007-09-02T16:48:51Z")
Allons enfants de la Patrie Arise, children of the fatherland Le jour de gloire est arrivé! The day of glory has arrived! Contre nous de la tyrannie Against us, the tyranny’s L’étendard sanglant est levé. Bloody banner is raised. L’étendard sanglant est levé. Bloody banner is raised. Entendez-vous dans les campagnes Do you hear in the fields Mugir ces féroces soldats ? The howling of these savage soldiers? Ils viennent jusque dans vos bras They are coming into your midst Égorger vos fils et vos compagnes ! To cut the throats of your sons, your wives! Aux armes, citoyens ! To arms, citizens! Formez vos bataillons ! Form your battalions! Marchons, marchons ! Let us march, let us march! Qu’un sang impur May tainted blood Abreuve nos sillons ! Water our fields! ---
**Author:** ![DSYoungEsq](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c6cbf5/32.png) [@DSYoungEsq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DSYoungEsq)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2007, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-national-anthems/417678/59 "2007-09-02T16:54:14Z")
```auto Allons enfants de la Patrie Arise, children of the fatherland Le jour de gloire est arrivé! The day of glory has arrived! Contre nous de la tyrannie Against us, the tyranny's L'étendard sanglant est levé. Bloody banner is raised. L'étendard sanglant est levé. Bloody banner is raised. Entendez-vous dans les campagnes Do you hear in the fields Mugir ces féroces soldats ? The howling of these savage soldiers? Ils viennent jusque dans vos bras They are coming into your midst Égorger vos fils et vos compagnes ! To cut the throats of your sons, your wives! Aux armes, citoyens ! To arms, citizens! Formez vos bataillons ! Form your battalions! Marchons, marchons ! Let us march, let us march! Qu'un sang impur May tainted blood Abreuve nos sillons ! Water our fields! ``` I hate it when the stupid system times out on you in the middle of edits. Wish they’d Freaking FIX the damn thing. :mad: ---
**Author:** ![fortytwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f9ae1b/32.png) [@fortytwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fortytwo)\ **Post date:** [September 2, 2007, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-national-anthems/417678/60 "2007-09-02T18:28:58Z")
[QUOTE=RickJay] Wales is a nation. I think what he meant is that it’s not really a country, or more precisely a state. Wales is a nation that’s a subpart of the state known as the United Kingdom. [/QUOTE] So are England and Scotland countries? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-national-anthems/417678.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-and-worst-national-anthems/417678.md?page=4)