# British Army plays Imperial March for King Abdullah **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 1, 2007, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-army-plays-imperial-march-for-king-abdullah/424907 "2007-11-01T19:09:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-army-plays-imperial-march-for-king-abdullah/424907/1 "2007-11-01T19:09:37Z")
[Link](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YD38SQ8srXw). I just about pissed myself laughing. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-army-plays-imperial-march-for-king-abdullah/424907/2 "2007-11-01T19:28:16Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz] I just about pissed myself laughing. [/QUOTE] So did I šŸ™‚ ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 7:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-army-plays-imperial-march-for-king-abdullah/424907/3 "2007-11-01T19:36:03Z")
[QUOTE=Quartz] [Link](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YD38SQ8srXw). I just about pissed myself laughing. [/QUOTE] Heh, I saw that on the news last night and I wondered if I was imagining things. Mind you, the only time Iā€™ve seen the Changing of the Guard the band played ā€œLive and Let Dieā€, gloriously. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-army-plays-imperial-march-for-king-abdullah/424907/4 "2007-11-01T19:44:40Z")
ā€œā€¦mired in con-TROV-uh-cyā€? ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-army-plays-imperial-march-for-king-abdullah/424907/5 "2007-11-01T19:48:07Z")
Was Brown behind it? ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-army-plays-imperial-march-for-king-abdullah/424907/6 "2007-11-01T19:52:08Z")
[QUOTE=Hal Briston] ā€œā€¦mired in con-TROV-uh-cyā€? [/QUOTE] Yep, you have to talk proper on our programmes. ---
**Author:** ![Hal\_Briston](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a9a28c/32.png) [@Hal\_Briston](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hal_Briston)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-army-plays-imperial-march-for-king-abdullah/424907/7 "2007-11-01T20:10:21Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] Yep, you have to talk proper on our programmes. [/QUOTE] Wowā€¦thatā€™sā€¦wow. Certainly a new one by me. My company has head offices here in New Jersey and another in London, and I talk with the folks over there on just about a daily basis. Iā€™m used to their speech patterns enough that I donā€™t even look at things like the way ā€œaluminiumā€ is spoken there as a mispronunciation anymore ā€“ itā€™s just a different way of saying it. But _that_? Wowā€¦that was out there. ---
**Author:** ![threemae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f9b8f/32.png) [@threemae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/threemae)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-army-plays-imperial-march-for-king-abdullah/424907/8 "2007-11-01T20:36:18Z")
Can anyone provide any insight into this? I mean, was it a joke? That particular song was composed specifically as a score for the film, correct? Itā€™s not like thereā€™s any other older if slightly more arcane historical precedence for playing it, is there? ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Tiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Mama\_Tiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Tiger)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-army-plays-imperial-march-for-king-abdullah/424907/9 "2007-11-01T20:40:00Z")
We often watch the BBA America evening news, and weā€™ve gotten used to con-TROV-er-sy, GLASS-ier, and assorted other lovely pronunciations. It definitely does take a bit of getting used to. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2007, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/british-army-plays-imperial-march-for-king-abdullah/424907/10 "2007-11-01T21:08:18Z")
[QUOTE=threemae] Can anyone provide any insight into this? I mean, was it a joke? That particular song was composed specifically as a score for the film, correct? Itā€™s not like thereā€™s any other older if slightly more arcane historical precedence for playing it, is there? [/QUOTE] I suspect itā€™s a bit of light-hearted (and perhaps slightly irresponsible) selective editing. Nothing in the clip shows him actually arriving to that music, it was probably being played as one of a number of warm-up pieces earlier on, in a ā€˜keep the crowd happyā€™ manner. And while the list of pieces to be played no doubt is checked over by someone fairly high up, ā€˜J. Williams - Imperial Marchā€™ doesnā€™t exactly highlight the irony. Rather like a story I heard from a vicar, of how it can be difficult to be sure that the music to be played at cremations (and other ceremonies) can be tricky. He learnt the hard way by not realising until too late the problem with the lyrics to Robbie Williamsā€™ Let Me Entertain Youā€¦_ā€˜Iā€™m a burning effigy, of everything I used to beā€™_ā€¦ :smack: [QUOTE=Hal Briston] Iā€™m used to their speech patterns enough that I donā€™t even look at things like the way ā€œaluminiumā€ is spoken there as a mispronunciation anymore ā€“ itā€™s just a different way of saying it. [/QUOTE] Going completely off-topic here, but if you didnā€™t already know it, thereā€™s a rather interesting history to the [aluminium/aluminum](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium#Etymology_and_nomenclature_history) divide.