Soviet / Russia’s tune is best, hands down. Here’s a version by the Red Army Choir.
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.
Stirring, to be sure, but I think all the bellowing drowns the actual tune, which is a killer. Instrumental version.
The tune is stirring, but the lyrics are so laughably ironic. They were before the fall, and they are even more so now.
Just throwing the Norwegian National Anthem 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.*
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?
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.
Ummmmmmm…mine was a Dodge van, and it was on cassette, but I’m not one to cast stones here. 
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.
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.
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.”
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.
“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.
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.
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.
I bow to those with better word choice. Ironic later, a joke before.
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!!
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!
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:
So are England and Scotland countries?