# Do you like your national anthem? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 27, 2018, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-your-national-anthem/813239 "2018-04-27T20:14:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2018, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-your-national-anthem/813239/41 "2018-04-28T21:25:22Z")
> [@PatrickLondon](#): > > If I were Welsh, I’d have no problem. [Great singalong tune](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XiSpdeVbbw), inspiring but inoffensive words about the language and the land. It is a cracking tune, as is “Flower of Scotland”. I love my rugby and I think England’s anthem is really shown up as pretty poor when up against Scotland, Wales, Italy and France (the Ireland anthem is pretty dire as well though). Thing is, as far as know there is nothing stopping any England team from just deciding to play something else. No-one would be too fussed I think. “Abide with me” is sung at the FA cup final as an unoffocial anthem (don’t know if GSTQ is sung as well) ---
**Author:** ![RobDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f07891/32.png) [@RobDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobDog)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2018, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-your-national-anthem/813239/42 "2018-04-28T21:39:46Z")
It’s even more of a cracking tune when sung by a full stadium… [Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau](https://youtu.be/AM4mIlYKG9s) ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2018, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-your-national-anthem/813239/43 "2018-04-28T22:40:47Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The American anthem is more martial than I’d prefer, but at least it was a defensive action in a defensive war that it’s glorifying. Only if you’re Canadian. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2018, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-your-national-anthem/813239/44 "2018-04-28T23:35:14Z")
> [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](#): > > The Star-Spangled Banner sounds terrible when sung by non-professionals, its lyrics are clunky, its melody is stolen, and it has a mad, deformed nephew of a racist third verse that we have to keep locked in the attic. No, I don’t believe I like it. Any of Albert Brooks’ suggestions would be an improvement. That third verse is NOT racist, and I get tired of saying so. When it says “no refuge can save, the hireling and slave” it is not talking about black slave in this country, it is talking about mercenary soldiers, like the Hessian Germans. ---
**Author:** ![The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a87d85/32.png) [@The\_King\_of\_Soup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_King_of_Soup)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2018, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-your-national-anthem/813239/45 "2018-04-29T00:15:41Z")
> [@Baker](#): > > That third verse is NOT racist, and I get tired of saying so. When it says “no refuge can save, the hireling and slave” it is not talking about black slave in this country, it is talking about mercenary soldiers, like the Hessian Germans. Sorry you were too tired to study the matter thoroughly. The “hireling and slave” refers very specifically to black American slaves freed by the British (how dare they) who joined the Royal Colonial Marines in exchange, a battalion of which had absolutely spanked and embarrassed the troops of (among others) one lieutenant Key at the battle of Bladensburg. No credible evidence that lieutenant Key ever saw a Hessian or any other “hireling” exists, and there’s little evidence that Britain used any mercenaries in North America (they were all busy fighting the French at the time). So Key threw in a reference to “hirelings”, likely just as an insult (because there were few or none around), but when he says “slaves,” he means exactly that: he wants to use their blood to wash away the invaders who freed them. So, you need no longer be tired of saying that: it ain’t nohow true. ---
**Author:** ![Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de053/32.png) [@Jackknifed\_Juggernaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackknifed_Juggernaut)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2018, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-your-national-anthem/813239/46 "2018-04-29T01:45:13Z")
As the OP, I just want to point out that I really wasn’t thinking about the actual lyrics when posing this question. I know the words to first verse, but don’t ever think of them in a literal sense. I agree that they are quite violent and point to a different time. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2018, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-your-national-anthem/813239/47 "2018-04-29T02:38:15Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The American anthem is more martial than I’d prefer, but at least it was a defensive action in a defensive war that it’s glorifying. And I don’t know any other national anthems well enough to compare. So when the US declares war on another country and invades possessions of that country with the expressed intention of annexing them, it’s a “defensive war”? The people being invaded might have a different view of it. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2018, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-your-national-anthem/813239/48 "2018-04-29T02:43:19Z")
> [@susan](#): > > I’d prefer “America the Beautiful” as an anthem. > [@AHunter3](#): > > Yeah, this. It’s a beautiful song that mostly celebrates good stuff. > [@Baker](#): > > That song sucks. Especially _“Thine alabaster cities gleam, undimmed by human tears.”_ > [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > _America The Beautiful_ praises the natural wonders of the part of North America that is the United States, and praises humility and togetherness. I’d just like to see this when the bigoted right-wingers realize that they’re choosing as their anthem a love poem by a woman college professor to her lesbian lover at a liberal eastern college! More than one meaning to that poetry. Like when she writes of _“purple mountain majesty above the fruited plain”_. A couple Beauties of Nature there. ---
**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2018, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-your-national-anthem/813239/49 "2018-04-29T02:47:33Z")
Only once do I recall being moved by the US national anthem. It was Ladies Night at Busch Stadium in St. Louis,with about 40,000 ladies in attendance. They all reverted back to little girls, and sang together just for the joy of it, as little girls do. It was awesome. It got even better in the seventh inning, when they did the same thing for “Meet me in St. Louis, Louie, meet me at the fair.” Sometimes national patriotism can’t touch local pride. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2018, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-your-national-anthem/813239/50 "2018-04-29T02:50:14Z")
American…I like our national anthem just fine, but I love American The Beautiful. I would gladly swap. What I hate more than pretty much anything is God Bless America, and I’m really sick of my local AAA baseball team treating it like a second national anthem by instructing everyone to rise, remove their caps and place their hands over their hearts. ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2018, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-your-national-anthem/813239/51 "2018-04-29T03:01:44Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > I’m Israeli, and I actually like my anthem, although it’s not really designed to be “liked”. It’s a lot more emotional and downbeat than most other anthems. I’m American, and I prefer “Hatikva” to “The Star-Spangled Banner”. It’s much easier to sing, for one. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2018, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-your-national-anthem/813239/52 "2018-04-29T06:42:35Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > not to the best of my knowledge, it is certainly a favourite patriotic song and probably has an unofficial standing with the population but nothing official as far as I know. We don’t actually have an “official” national anthem. It’s just custom and practice. The trouble with Land of Hope and Glory is the words (too imperialistic), and with I Vow to Thee My Country (the usual words to Holst’s Jupiter) is both words (for a lot of people - war again) and melody (goes too high for a lot of people’s singing range, especially at the end - I’m reminded of Mel Brooks’s riff on the number of heart attacks caused by people starting off “Dancing in the Dark” too high). ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2018, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-your-national-anthem/813239/53 "2018-04-29T10:17:08Z")
I live in Thailand where we have _two_ anthems: one for country, one for King. Both are excellent anthems melody-wise, but the lyrics are rather exaggerated. (The English anthem asks the Deity to help Her Majesty; the Thai Royal Anthem makes our King seem like a God!) The National Anthem is played at 8 AM and 6 PM. Stand still when you hear it! It’s quite rare to see Thai cops chase a vehicle, but I once saw a Thai cop mount his motorcycle to pursue a driver who, not having his radio on to hear the anthem, got confused and passed a police station at 6PM rather than stopping. I’m not a big fan of “José, can you see?” I’d be happy if “This Land is Your Land” were the U.S.A. anthem. I think my favorite anthems are La Marseillaise and the Soviet/Russia anthem. ---
**Author:** ![GoodOmens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@GoodOmens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GoodOmens)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2018, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-your-national-anthem/813239/54 "2018-04-29T10:47:18Z")
> [@susan](#): > > I’d prefer “America the Beautiful” as an anthem. Agreed. Especially, perhaps only, when sung by Ray Charles. ---
**Author:** ![Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b2d939/32.png) [@Go\_Arachnid\_Laser\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Go_Arachnid_Laser_1)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2018, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-your-national-anthem/813239/55 "2018-04-29T10:51:46Z")
Spaniard here. Although there’s been a nationalistic push lately to give lyrics to [the anthem](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tsFQTgphS0), mostly so it can be sung \*in masse \*before sport events, I kinda like it the way it is. Lyriclessness gives it a bit of class. Personally, if I were to change it, I’d go for Isaac Albeniz’ [Asturias](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDAHl54V0CU). It’s a bit more badass. I’m also Catalan. A bit ambivalent with the regional anthem, since it’s melodically quite nice, but the lyrics are literally about [murdering enemies with a sickle](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6aU7HVR6YX0&t=8s). No kidding. I would also change it for [something nicer and instrumental](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKoX01170l0), me. ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2018, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-your-national-anthem/813239/56 "2018-04-29T14:22:35Z")
I’ve never quite understood why people think the Star-Spangled Banner is so hard to sing. Maybe I’ve just got the right range. ---
**Author:** ![chaika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chaika/32/405_2.png) [@chaika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaika)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2018, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-your-national-anthem/813239/57 "2018-04-29T14:41:27Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > I’m not a big fan of “José, can you see?” I’d be happy if “This Land is Your Land” were the U.S.A. anthem Me too. Though I doubt the powers that be would approve of a song by Woody Guthrie, since they probably still view him as a dirty red commie. The parody of the SSB I like best is “Oh, say can you see any bedbugs on me? If you do, take a few and I’ll fry them for you.” I also like Ramona Quimby’s mishearing of the lyrics as “the dawnzer lee light” and her conclusion that “dawnzer” must be another word for lamp. ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2018, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-your-national-anthem/813239/58 "2018-04-29T15:01:15Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > I’m in the UK, so god no. Ours is a dirge. We aren’t short of British composers with suitable pieces. Any section from Elgar’s "[pomp and circumstance"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q0PHWKRFgZ0) would be better, Or Purcell’s “[trumpet Tune and Air](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JuHtLxxuJsY)” Or Holst’s [Jupiter](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koNxs54pSMI)( and it would be put to popular vote when I become benevolent dictator. Being such though, I would of course fix the vote to ensure it aligned with my favourite.) > > I much prefer the Italian, Scottish, Russian, French and German in that order. The USA one is fine but the words are dreadful and it is murdered every time someone tries to “sing” it. But the inspiring lyrics\*: nerr nerr ner nurrr ner ner… doesn’t that _stir_ something in you? If we’re going to go a bit more upbeat, how about ‘Rule Brittania’? The verses are a bit much, granted, but if it’s a national anthem, that’s OK, it just gives people time to finish their pint before the chorus starts. \*as typically sung ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2018, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-your-national-anthem/813239/59 "2018-04-29T20:36:26Z")
I like the USA anthem but not the pretexts under which its played or sung much of the time. ---
**Author:** ![Dr\_Paprika](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr_paprika/32/3042_2.png) [@Dr\_Paprika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr_Paprika)\ **Post date:** [April 29, 2018, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-your-national-anthem/813239/60 "2018-04-29T20:39:11Z")
I like the Canadian national anthem. It sounds good in both English and French and the “sports game” mashup melange. Been a long time since I played Summer Games on my Atari. But I seem to recall the best anthem was from the country of Epyx. Anthems can be pompous and overdone. Canada is not jingoistic, and this is good. I’m not sure I’ve heard all four verses of the anthem played, ever. I don’t think many people know the subsequent verses of Oh Canada, in either language. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-your-national-anthem/813239.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-like-your-national-anthem/813239.md?page=4)