I know the words to the old Soviet anthem, but was never invited to Red Square to perform it. 
A Times article of 16 January 2008 began as follows:
As revolutions go, the one conducted by Captain Valentine Strasser in Sierra Leone in 1992 was pretty damn funky. After he seized control from the 23-year dictatorship of the All People Congress led by Major General Joseph Momoh, Strasser intended to make the disco classic Ain’t No Stopping Us Now by McFadden and Whitehead the new national anthem.
I spent some time trying to confirm the veracity of this information, even going so far as to pose the question on this very message board. Strasser’s regime lasted just shy of 4 years, which is plenty of time to implement the most radical of national anthem policies in my opinion, and I’m still curious to know whether Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now ever made anthem status in Sierra Leone for however brief a period.
Anyway, for the past 18 months I’ve found myself singing Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now at odd intervals, especially when Sierra Leone pops up in conversation.
I learned the Star Spangled Banner when I was a child just by going to so many Blue Jay games and feel comfortable singing it now in my adopted homeland.
I know (at least some of) the words to Ha’Tikva, The Star Spangled Banner, La Marseillese and [del]America The Beautiful[/del] God Save The Queen, and will sing any of these given half a chance 
I am actually a citizen of only two of these countries.
I will also be willing to learn and sing any other anthems if the chance arises, if it’s any good as a song 
Every place I have lived, I have learned the National Anthem.
I sing that anthem for every event- unless they are playing against Canada.
In that case I sing my National Anthem on the top of my lungs and drown out the designated singer as has been shown at every event where Canada is prominent in world finals.
I think we are one of the few nations whose fans can out-sing the “celebrity” assigned to do the honours.
I think several examples have been recorded where the 'celebrity" has given over the singing to the fans.
As a Briton, I can’t say I have any problem with this. Singing another country’s anthem, when there are natives of that nation in the audience, would be a kind of gesture of welcome and friendship. Singing our own national anthem, in a situation when custom didn’t actually call for it, would seem bizarrely jingoistic and exclusionary.
It has to be said that we don’t seem to have quite the same relationship with our anthem as, for instance, Americans. It’s widely regarded as a pretty dreary piece of music, and the lyrics don’t particularly represent us as a nation in any significant way. As Captain Awesome mentioned, “Jerusalem” can bring grown men to tears – “God Save The Queen” just gets mumbled through and over with.
I don’t really hold much emotional attachment to the national anthem and, frankly, national identity in general, so singing/not singing my own/other countries national anthems doesn’t bother me in the least.
To the last two posters -
Suck it up.
If your citizens cannot raise a shout - too bad.
We Canadians can, and we can deliver our Anthem with the greatest gusto in the world!!!
Canucks rule!!!
That’s sort of what I’m talking about, yeah.
pssst… My Country, 'Tis of Thee…
I’ve sung other countries’ national anthems before and had no real problems doing it, but it’s not something I make a point of doing. Last time I did so was some Scando fest up in New Jersey for the Swedish national anthem a couple of years ago. Although I would have been just as comfortable keeping my mouth shut through all of ‘em, Star-Spangled Banner included. "Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution", indeed!
Singing the Internationale in as many languages as I can learn it in, however…
For added fun, I think folks should be aware that the words to both SSB and the old Soviet national anthem (now recycled by Putin) fit quite nicely in the old Irish Washerwoman dance tune.
Wow! Somebody who actually likes it?? Personally I think it is a dirge. BTW I live in the UK.
As a Celt, I think our anthems are far superior. Perhaps England could change to Jerusalem?
I like other countries’ national anthems, and could probably mumble through a few of them. And it’s not as though I wouldn’t stand up for them. I have certainly stood up for the Indian anthem.
However, it was the kid who was born in London doing it, and particularly making his schoolmates do it, that skeeved me out. Like someone else mentioned, if they had been celebrating a “world” day or maybe Indian Independence Day it would have bothered me less but the fact that it was just a random occurence…
Being respectful of other countries’ anthems is absolutely the right choice! But there’s just something about doing it in school for no apparent reason that bothers me. It would have bothered me less if, say, they had put on an Indian play like the Ram-Lila (story of Ram) or something.
:smack:
Yeah, I meant “America,” not “America The Beautiful.” I am forever mixing up the two…
Would I sing another’s? No. I don’t know the words. But then again I don’t know the words to the SSB, which I also don’t sing. Ours or another’s, I’ll just stand and wait for it to be over.
Do they bother me? Not really. Maybe if they took more than a few minutes.
Yeah, it’s when yahoos at a sporting event boo the anthem of a rival country that I get ticked. By all means, boo the team, root like hell for your own side - but booing the anthem shows a total lack of class. My two cents.
The only words I know to a foreign national anthem are Allan Sherman’s "You Went the Wrong Way Old King Louie,’ which starts with this corruption of La Marseillaise:
Louis the Sixteenth was the King of France in 1789.
He was worse than Louis the Fifteenth.
He was worse than Louis the Fourteenth.
He was worse than Louis the Thirteenth.
He was the worst since Louis the First.
I guess in a similar vein, I’ve sung the tune to “God Save the Queen” using the words to “My Country 'Tis of Thee.”
In grade school we used to sing “Waltzing Matilda,” which is a great song. I always thought it was the national anthem of Australia until about five minutes ago when I looked it up–it’s sometimes called the unofficial anthem. Maybe I just missed this distinction as a child, but I suspect it was just another bit of misinformation fed to us–30+ years later I’m still rooting out the falsehoods.
We also sang the state song of Illinois (or so we were told) and I still remember a verse of that.
Obviously, I haven’t seen the Bollywood movie in question, so I can’t comment on the specifics. I’ll stay hypothetical.
Would it bother me if a Mexican-born kid at a school here in Austin sang the Mexican national anthem at a school event? Not necessariy. What are the circumstances? Is it some kind of “heritage day” where all kids are sharing songs or foods from their ancestral homelands? If so, I don’t see a problem.
Or, if there were some kind of school talent show, and a Mexican-born kid chose to sing the Mexican national anthem, that wouldn’t automatically bother me. I remember singing some old Irish nationalsit songs at school as a kid, and this isn’t so different.
I’d only be bothered if there were an element of defiance involved, if the kid chose to sing a foreign anthem at, say, a 4th of July pageant, or if he/she broke into a foreign anthem during a show at which he/she was SUPPOSED to be singing “The Star Spangled Banner” or “God Bless America,” then I’d be furious.
Makes you want to sing right along.
No, and that was the problem. IIRC, It was just some sort of singing thing. Like the school choir. And they were supposed to sing something totally different, and just as a surprise to this one kid’s mom, they sang Jana Gana Mana.
Now the other part of this, which I left out, was that the movie was already pretty anti-NRIs (non resident Indians) and anti-foreigners. Meaning, there were plenty of comments made about how this really isn’t our home, and how we should go home, and I kept thinking - it is the kid’s home! And to top it all off, the youngest sister of the wife had her personality totally changed by living abroad. She dressed totally slutty, and really turned into a total bitch.
So the anthem was just one more indication of not loving your adopted country.
Wow - it’s a dirge (I’m British). The Star Spangled Banner is much more uplifting but I wouldn’t sing it. Apart from the fact it is unsingable for ordinary mortals, it would represent some form of allegiance to a foreign country, so I just stand respectfully.