# Is the melody of "La Marseillaise" the same as a British song? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 27, 2016, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-melody-of-la-marseillaise-the-same-as-a-british-song/761029 "2016-07-27T14:57:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-melody-of-la-marseillaise-the-same-as-a-british-song/761029/21 "2016-07-28T01:23:09Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > See, this is one of the cultural differences I have encountered on this board that sometimes baffle me. I can only speak from a German perspective, but I guess that it applies to most of Western Europe as well, that playing the Marsellaise instantly triggers images of moustached guys in striped sweaters with barets and baguettes under their arms, hot chicks, and wondering when the next revolution will start. Seriously, isn’t it a common Hollywood trope to introduce a French setting with playing little parts of the Marseillaise? Not really. The Marseillaise is too rousing and formal to use as a casual introduction, particularly it’s opening notes. For the stereotypical scene you describe- a guy with a thin mustache wearing a ‘mime’ shirt and a beret sipping wine in front of a cafe, just some generic French-sounding ‘squeezebox’ music will do. [The opening scene from \*Team America \*is a good example.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FyrNktD_PwA) Just the very first few seconds, then it turns into generic, dreamy, Hollywood music. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 5:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-melody-of-la-marseillaise-the-same-as-a-british-song/761029/22 "2016-07-28T05:20:16Z")
> [@Hail\_Ants](#): > > I also can’t speak for every American person, but we Americans are notoriously culturally isolationist. And some of us are a bit isolated from other Americans. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-melody-of-la-marseillaise-the-same-as-a-british-song/761029/23 "2016-07-28T05:33:04Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > See, this is one of the cultural differences I have encountered on this board that sometimes baffle me. I can only speak from a German perspective, but I guess that it applies to most of Western Europe as well, that playing the Marsellaise instantly triggers images of moustached guys in striped sweaters with barets and baguettes under their arms, hot chicks, and wondering when the next revolution will start. My mental image of the French is different, but other than that what he said. The _tricolor_ (yes, there are tons of other tricolored flags, but that’s the one we call the _tricolor_ unless we’re talking Spanish revolutions), preferably borne by La Révolution en demi-topless leading the masses, the Eiffel tower, the Arc de Triomphe (he _lost_ in Bailén\*, guys :p), cathedrals, foie-gras… - Bailén is listed among Napoleon’s wins on the Arc. We reserve the right to needle the neighbors about it. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-melody-of-la-marseillaise-the-same-as-a-british-song/761029/24 "2016-07-28T11:23:49Z")
Perhaps\* a propos \*(ha) of nothing: note that the Beatles’ version is altered from the original – the original’s first three notes are changed to just two, with a different rhythm and (for one of the notes) a different pitch. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-melody-of-la-marseillaise-the-same-as-a-british-song/761029/25 "2016-07-28T12:14:44Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > My mental image of the French is different, but other than that what he said. Just to be clear, when mentioning the French mime meme and the rest, that was tongue in cheek ;). I’ve been to France and have a more balanced view of the country and people. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2016, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-melody-of-la-marseillaise-the-same-as-a-british-song/761029/26 "2016-07-28T14:48:00Z")
Seriously, I challenge any of you to watch a few episodes of Impractical Jokers, then tell me this is the kind of joke they’d do. At the very least if they _did_ play the wrong music on purpose, they would have crowed about it 3 seconds later. ---
**Author:** ![Hail\_Ants](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dc4da7/32.png) [@Hail\_Ants](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hail_Ants)\ **Post date:** [July 30, 2016, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-melody-of-la-marseillaise-the-same-as-a-british-song/761029/27 "2016-07-30T00:57:17Z")
> [@Nava](#): > > My mental image of the French is different, but other than that what he said. The _tricolor_ (yes, there are tons of other tricolored flags, but that’s the one we call the _tricolor_ unless we’re talking Spanish revolutions) See, that’s another perfect example of how almost all us Americans think of ‘History’ as meaning American History, not World History. If you showed a tricolor to American grade school kids (and, sadly, older ones) few if any would recognize it as the flag of France. They would think it was some kind of Fourth of July decoration, with the colors backwards for some reason (i.e. blue, white & red). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-melody-of-la-marseillaise-the-same-as-a-british-song/761029.md?page=1)