# Most beautiful national anthem - Israel's Hatikvah? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 3, 2007, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-beautiful-national-anthem-israels-hatikvah/421348 "2007-10-03T03:50:24Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2007, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-beautiful-national-anthem-israels-hatikvah/421348/21 "2007-10-05T14:33:28Z")
I hate to say it, 1st because it’s fictional & 2nd because of what the state is, BUT “Oceania, 'Tis For Thee” from the 1985 film of Orwell’s 1984 is absolutely lovely! ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2007, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-beautiful-national-anthem-israels-hatikvah/421348/22 "2007-10-05T14:42:16Z")
[QUOTE=Elenfair] ``` My hen laid a haddock, one hand oiled a flea, Glad farts and centurions threw dogs in the sea, I could stew a hare here and brandish Dan's flan, Don's ruddy bog's blocked up with sand. Dad! Dad! Why don't you oil Auntie Glad? Can whores appear in beer bottle pies, O butter the hens as they fly! ``` [/QUOTE] That’s going to be hard to beat. ---
**Author:** ![Windwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/5e9695/32.png) [@Windwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Windwalker)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2007, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-beautiful-national-anthem-israels-hatikvah/421348/23 "2007-10-05T15:45:32Z")
[QUOTE=panache45] I’ve heard people say that it’s depressing, simply because it’s in a minor key. But it’s not depressing, it’s moving . . . and totally appropriate for a country that was born out of such pain and hope. [/QUOTE] I like how in contrast to the USA or France’s anthems (which are rousing, spirited, and bloodlusty- perfect for a military march), Hatikvah instead sets a slow, determined pace, hinting at a grief-filled past while still keeping its eyes firmly planted on a hopeful future. It emphasizes perseverence over quick glory, and the melody matches that sentiment. Finlandia sounds really nice-- is there a lyrical version as well? ---
**Author:** ![auRa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c4cdca/32.png) [@auRa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/auRa)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2007, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-beautiful-national-anthem-israels-hatikvah/421348/24 "2007-10-05T17:26:34Z")
[QUOTE=Windwalker] Finlandia sounds really nice-- is there a lyrical version as well? [/QUOTE] [Here you go](http://youtube.com/watch?v=_eTIa1KSkeI). ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2007, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-beautiful-national-anthem-israels-hatikvah/421348/25 "2007-10-05T17:51:45Z")
I’m voting for the African anthem. I thinks it’s awesomely beautiful. In the film of Paul Simons Graceland concert the entire stadium sings it at the end. Very moving. ---
**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:** [October 5, 2007, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-beautiful-national-anthem-israels-hatikvah/421348/26 "2007-10-05T19:02:19Z")
Can’t speak to the tune of _Hatikvah_, but on some level it fails as a “national” anthem. Israel likes to contend it’s a pluralistic democracy, but the lyrics are anything but pluralistic: _As long as deep in the heart, The soul of a Jew yearns, And forward to the East To Zion, an eye looks Our hope will not be lost, The hope of two thousand years, To be a free nation in our land, The land of Zion and Jerusalem._ How must Arab Israelis – who represent, after all, a fifth of the population – feel about singing that as their “national” anthem? This is a problem generally with national anthems, I find, which is that sometimes history has moved on and left the anthem out of touch with current reality. The _Marseillaise_ is a great tune, but the words are staggeringly inappropriate for today. “Let the blood of the impure bathe our tracks”? Please. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-beautiful-national-anthem-israels-hatikvah/421348.md?page=1)