# Does every national anthem sound the same? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 7, 2012, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-national-anthem-sound-the-same/618070 "2012-04-07T10:01:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2012, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-national-anthem-sound-the-same/618070/21 "2012-04-08T22:02:35Z")
I’d volunteer that [Hatikva](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEHGNXjzmGM) and the [anthem of Qing/Imperial China](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWUuqGhWleQ&feature=related) don’t sound much alike each other, or anything else. 😃 'course, there’s also the [EU Anthem](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhU0UDCAWJs), though it’s kinda cheating. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2012, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-national-anthem-sound-the-same/618070/22 "2012-04-08T22:42:57Z")
> [@grude](#): > > So like does every national anthem sound alike unless you have a degree in musicology or something? No not really, I can individually identify and distinguish the American, British, French, German, Russian, and Korean national anthems. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2012, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-national-anthem-sound-the-same/618070/23 "2012-04-08T23:21:29Z")
Hatikva is haunting and beautiful and sounds nothing like Star Spangled Banner, O Canada, etc. I might not be able to name each anthem, but they certainly don’t all sound the same. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2012, 12:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-national-anthem-sound-the-same/618070/24 "2012-04-09T00:40:03Z")
South Africa’s has a gospelly quality, and the USA has a crazy old drinking song, but yeah, those are exceptional. It does seem like there are a fair number of marches. The Soviet one was a damn good march, but yeah, a lot of marches. (Warning: I only listen to national anthems when something like one of these threads comes up, or at the Olympics, and there may an overrepresentation of vaguely dirgy marches at the latter for some reason.) ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2012, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-national-anthem-sound-the-same/618070/25 "2012-04-09T00:47:30Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > I’d volunteer that [Hatikva](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEHGNXjzmGM) and the [anthem of Qing/Imperial China](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWUuqGhWleQ&feature=related) don’t sound much alike each other, or anything else. 😃 Yet they are both a mite spooky and dirgeful. ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2012, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-national-anthem-sound-the-same/618070/26 "2012-04-09T00:51:16Z")
> [@Ranchoth](#): > > 'course, there’s also the [EU Anthem](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uhU0UDCAWJs), though it’s kinda cheating. 😉 Ah, Beethoven’s _Ode to Joy_. It’s a recommendation to the EU’s deliberative process that on choosing an anthem they went with one of the greatest and most beloved proto-Romantic pieces, rather than just hiring someone to write a march. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2012, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-national-anthem-sound-the-same/618070/27 "2012-04-09T05:14:40Z")
> [@foolsguinea](#): > > Yet they are both a mite spooky and dirgeful. Near in mind that the Israeli anthem was written in 1888, and was adapted as the anthem of the Zionist Movement in 1897, 51 years before Israel was founded. An upbeat, triumphant march would have been a tad unrealistic. The tune, incidentally, was adapted from an old Italian folk song. ---
**Author:** ![Desert\_Nomad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desert_nomad/32/177_2.png) [@Desert\_Nomad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Desert_Nomad)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2012, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-national-anthem-sound-the-same/618070/28 "2012-04-09T05:43:22Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > … and it sounds a LOT like La Marseillaise. > > If you listen to, say, Greece’s national anthem, it doesn’t sound Greek. It’s just a general martial-sounding song. They could trade it to Germany for the tune to “Deutschland Uber Alles” and it wouldn’t make any difference. Listen to the Japanese Anthem on YouTube… very Japanese and different. ---
**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 9, 2012, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-national-anthem-sound-the-same/618070/29 "2012-04-09T10:04:56Z")
The National Anthem of Kazakhstan was [in the news](http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-17491344) recently. ---
**Author:** ![Icerigger](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icerigger/32/432_2.png) [@Icerigger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icerigger)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2012, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-national-anthem-sound-the-same/618070/30 "2012-04-09T10:04:58Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > All anthems are not equal: Google the Russian national anthem. No other anthem comes close in terms of stirring refrain. I even bought the 12" single when I visited the USSR. Beware, It make you want to join The Party. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/f2-zzmCmMVI/hqdefault.jpg "Hymn of the Soviet Union") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f2-zzmCmMVI) ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2012, 10:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-national-anthem-sound-the-same/618070/31 "2012-04-09T10:26:16Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > The tune, incidentally, was adapted from an old Italian folk song. I didn’t know that, and when I listened to it (for the umpteenth time last night), for the first time ever I thought that it sounded like something from The Godfather! :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2012, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-national-anthem-sound-the-same/618070/32 "2012-04-09T11:11:04Z")
The same song was used as the basis of a [very famous piece of classical music](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wwd51vB7Uow)by Bedřich Smetana. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-every-national-anthem-sound-the-same/618070.md?page=1)