# God save the Queen....my arse! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 18, 2007, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-save-the-queen-my-arse/388462 "2007-01-18T16:43:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2007, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-save-the-queen-my-arse/388462/1 "2007-01-18T16:43:00Z")
This is the National Anthem of the UK. Why? Shouldn’t a national anthem be about the nation and not an individual? I can think of 2 better candidates. 1. Land of Hope and Glory 2. Jerusalem. My preference is for #1…how about my fellow Britons? ---
**Author:** ![One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/838e76/32.png) [@One\_And\_Only\_Wanderers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/One_And_Only_Wanderers)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2007, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-save-the-queen-my-arse/388462/2 "2007-01-18T16:50:38Z")
only problem you have with Jerusalem, is that it mentions “England”. Better wait for the dissolution of the Union before using that one 😉 ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2007, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-save-the-queen-my-arse/388462/3 "2007-01-18T16:52:44Z")
Well I guess we could always change it to “Britains green and pleasant land” ---
**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:** [January 18, 2007, 4:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-save-the-queen-my-arse/388462/4 "2007-01-18T16:53:47Z")
[QUOTE=One And Only Wanderers] only problem you have with Jerusalem, is that it mentions “England”. Better wait for the dissolution of the Union before using that one 😉 [/QUOTE] Another porblem is that it’s named after the capital city of a _completely different country_. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2007, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-save-the-queen-my-arse/388462/5 "2007-01-18T16:55:57Z")
How about the Diana version of _Candle in the Wind_? ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2007, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-save-the-queen-my-arse/388462/6 "2007-01-18T16:56:59Z")
Oops. Sorry. I thought this was Cafe Society. I selected the wrong drop-down item, apparently. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2007, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-save-the-queen-my-arse/388462/7 "2007-01-18T16:57:57Z")
[QUOTE=chowder] Well I guess we could always change it to “Britains green and pleasant land” [/QUOTE] Britains and NI green and pleasant land 😉 ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2007, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-save-the-queen-my-arse/388462/8 "2007-01-18T17:11:54Z")
[QUOTE=One And Only Wanderers] only problem you have with Jerusalem, is that it mentions “England”. Better wait for the dissolution of the Union before using that one 😉 [/QUOTE] Only a problem if you think Scotland counts as a ‘green and pleasant land’ 😃 ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2007, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-save-the-queen-my-arse/388462/9 "2007-01-18T17:12:56Z")
…and I should have added my serious point, which is that I’ve always preferred the idea of Land of Hope & Glory. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2007, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-save-the-queen-my-arse/388462/10 "2007-01-18T17:16:17Z")
Rule Britannia? ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_Kumquat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4491bb/32.png) [@Gary\_Kumquat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_Kumquat)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2007, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-save-the-queen-my-arse/388462/11 "2007-01-18T17:17:24Z")
[QUOTE=Alessan] Another porblem is that it’s named after the capital city of a _completely different country_. [/QUOTE] Going by the history of the empire, do you really think that would put us off at all? Hell, nabbing other peoples capitals is a tradition! Besides, it couldn’t make much more of a mess of thing to add another party to the list claiming Jerusalem as theirs. ---
**Author:** ![yojimbo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yojimbo/32/232_2.png) [@yojimbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yojimbo)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2007, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-save-the-queen-my-arse/388462/12 "2007-01-18T17:18:04Z")
I say it should be God Save the Queen. The Pistols version though. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2007, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-save-the-queen-my-arse/388462/13 "2007-01-18T17:20:35Z")
As I understand it, “Land of Hope and Glory” is the unofficial Tory anthem; “Jerusalem,” same thing for Labour. So neither fully represents the country as a whole, but only half the citizenry (ignoring Liberals, Nationalists, and misc. riffraff). You could make them co-anthems, depending on which party has formed the present Government. But the other half of the picture is what “God Save the Queen” actually does. Yep, it points to E2R, the Duchess of Edinburgh 😉 . But it does that not of her as a person, but of her as a living, breathing national symbol. In America, sovereignty is vested in “We the people,” and symbolized through our Constitution, our flag, etc. We pledge allegiance to the flag (and to the republic for which it stands…) not because we think that a striped rectangular swath of bunting has any deep spiritual significance in and of itself, but because it symbolizes, gives physical presence to, the loyalty we feel to the country we live in and love. Likewise, Brits are not paying their allegiance specifically to an 80-year-old grandmother with a fondness for horses and Corgis, but to “the Crown” – the system of government that makes her the public figure encapsuling what Parliament chooses to do, what the Ministries feel is proper, what the courts determine is legal, government by law… As such, she plays the same role as the American flag or Constitution, but with the extra added bonus of being a human being. The Constitution is words on paper; it means what five or more Supreme Court judges, or the deciderer, decide it says (see any of dozens of threads on Constitutional law here in GD). The Queen embodies the unwritten British Constitution, is there as a symbol of unchanging national purpose while Governments come and go, is the reservoir of emergency powers preventing a coup. We’ll salute our bunting and parchment, and invest it with symbolism. And you blokes will salute grandma, and invest her with the same symbolism. ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2007, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-save-the-queen-my-arse/388462/14 "2007-01-18T17:21:45Z")
Well, you’re not going to get people to change that easily. Perhaps the way to go is to keep the tune but supply new lyrics so that it’s obviously more of a _national_ anthem and not a tribute to a single individual. Something like … _My country, ‘tis of thee, Sweet land of royalty, Of thee I sing; Land where my fathers died, Land of the Tories’ pride, From every hillside Let freedom ring!_ 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2007, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-save-the-queen-my-arse/388462/15 "2007-01-18T17:24:52Z")
[QUOTE=yojimbo] Britains and NI green and pleasant land 😉 [/QUOTE] Does that make the Baronets of Ulster the real-life Knights Who Say NI? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2007, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-save-the-queen-my-arse/388462/16 "2007-01-18T17:45:05Z")
**Polycarp** As usual you put things in the right perspective with a reasoned sensible and totally articulate post. Bugger it then, Let’s keep God save 'er indoors…the Sex Pistols version :d ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2007, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-save-the-queen-my-arse/388462/17 "2007-01-18T18:07:09Z")
'[Beasts of England](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beasts_of_England) , beasts of Ireland, Beasts of every land and clime, Hearken to my joyful tidings Of the golden future time. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2007, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-save-the-queen-my-arse/388462/18 "2007-01-18T18:11:48Z")
**Polycarp** , strangely, the strongest image Jerusalem evokes is that of the Women’s Institute, traditionally a Tory stronghold. I personally love the song, and certainly feel it’s an appropiate anthem for England, even though it has religious overtones and about somewhere else, that has inflammatory connotations. It’s a noble sentiment. **Leaffan** , the country of Ireland is not within the UK, alas. I detest God Save the Queen for the UK - I go with Billy Connolly’s suggestion for the theme from The Archers. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2007, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-save-the-queen-my-arse/388462/19 "2007-01-18T18:15:14Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] **Leaffan** , the country of Ireland is not within the UK, alas. [/QUOTE] I know. I was born in Scotland. ---
**Author:** ![DoctorJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctorj/32/2904_2.png) [@DoctorJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DoctorJ)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2007, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-save-the-queen-my-arse/388462/20 "2007-01-18T18:17:05Z")
I’m pretty sure “God Save the Queen…My Arse!” finished second in the voting to “God Save the Queen”. Surprisingly close, though. 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/god-save-the-queen-my-arse/388462.md?page=2)