# Non-USA national anthems **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 29, 2016, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-usa-national-anthems/773351 "2016-11-29T01:38:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ric62](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@ric62](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ric62)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-usa-national-anthems/773351/1 "2016-11-29T01:38:03Z")
Do other countries have musicians play there national anthem in ways other than how their anthem was written- such as the rock version, a pop version, folk version, where everyone plays it differently but few people have heard the original version? Do other countries play their anthem before sporting events, concerts, or big gatherings? And do other countries play the whole anthem instead of a short version? ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-usa-national-anthems/773351/2 "2016-11-29T02:18:09Z")
Advance Australia Fair is a functional enough dirge on the basis a country probably should have an anthem. Since it’s adaption in 1984 we still haven’t got over the inclusion of the word “girt” in the second couplet. Not being particularly inspirational, which suits us just fine, the only reason to use anything other than the official rendition is for comedic effect. Without question the best version of Advance Australia Fair is when sung to the tune of [Gilligan’s Island](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CffGsFbHdZQ) … with an honourable mention to Adam Hill’s version to [Working Class Man](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xiEycVMKoJo.). It is performed prior to international events, which is fair squeeze. It can also appear in the pre-game for domestic fixtures which is IMHO unfortunate and crowds are usually commendable in their reluctance to stand, only a proportion actually sing and standing with your hand over your heart marks you down as being a bit odd. Only the first verse is generally played, or known for that matter. A knowledge of the second verse would win you top marks as a Trivia question. The 3rd & fourth verse (though not official) are known only by those who can use Google. ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-usa-national-anthems/773351/3 "2016-11-29T02:23:35Z")
The Canadian one has been stretched, twisted and otherwise loved as well. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-usa-national-anthems/773351/4 "2016-11-29T03:05:22Z")
The US is probably more given to formal displays of overt patriotism than most other societies, and my guess is that this would apply to the anthem as well. In Ireland the anthem is played at state functions - I don’t mean any government function, but at significant state occasions, like the inauguration of the President - and usually at international sporting events (where the anthem of the visiting team will also be played) but that’s about it. I learnt it at school, but we never actually sang it at school, other than for the purpose of learning it. Australia, where I now live, seems to fall somewhere between the two. At my daughter’s (state) primary school, the anthem was sung at the weekly school assembly; at her (Catholic) high school this is not the case. The anthem is played at international sporting matches, but also at very significant domestic matches - for example it’s played at the AFL Finals series games, but not for the rest of the season. The question about alternative arrangements is interesting. The version played at AFL games (if there isn’t a live artiste) is a recording by Judith Durham, chiefly known as the lead vocalist of the folk group The Seekers, but it’s not remotely a folk arrangement. It’s a very conventional rendition backed by a military brass band. (I suggest the US should mark the election of Donald Trump by officially transposing The Star-Spangled Banner to a minor key.) ---
**Author:** ![D18](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/c57346/32.png) [@D18](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D18)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-usa-national-anthems/773351/5 "2016-11-29T03:06:57Z")
^Yes, in the 90s the government (whether provincial or federal, I don’t know) produced a CD of O Canada in multiple styles to liven things up at the beginning of the school day. The rap version was surprisingly good, IIRC. ETA - this was in reply to Grey’s post ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-usa-national-anthems/773351/6 "2016-11-29T04:03:16Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > The version … is a recording by Judith Durham, chiefly known as the lead vocalist of the folk group The Seekers, but it’s not remotely a folk arrangement. No. The quasi official national anthem diva is [Julie Anthony](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julie_Anthony_(singer)) rather than [Judith Durham](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_Durham). ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-usa-national-anthems/773351/7 "2016-11-29T06:39:14Z")
Attempts at giving the Spanish anthem official lyrics have fizzeld; unofficial lyrics tend to be humorous rather than patriotic. Nevertheless, it’s more likely to get sung by someone suffering from low blood content in his alcohol stream at ungodly a.m. than to be played by anybody other than official bands (military or civilian, but official). ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 7:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-usa-national-anthems/773351/8 "2016-11-29T07:16:06Z")
Queen used to end their concerts with their own version of “God Save the Queen”. The German metal band Sodom worked their national anthem into [one of their songs.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxb1p-lEqJE&t=197) (Oddly, they typically omit that part when playing live.) I think the problem may be that most national anthems are stuffy & boring – not based on drinking songs, like the American anthem is. ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-usa-national-anthems/773351/9 "2016-11-29T07:56:28Z")
I like T.H. White’s version of God Save The King; _God save King Pendragon, May his reign long drag on, God save the King. Send him most gorious, Great and uproarious, Horrible and hoarious, God save our King._ Almost as bloodthirsty as the original. ---
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-usa-national-anthems/773351/10 "2016-11-29T07:57:02Z")
> [@ric62](#): > > where everyone plays it differently but few people have heard the original version? I don’t understand this bit of the OP. Some countries have adopted old-established folk tunes, but off hand I can’t think of any where the origins aren’t reasonably familiar to a fair range of people, even if they aren’t always officially taught or explained somewhere if you want to find out about it. Nor can I think of one where there isn’t a standard (whether by custom or legislation) sort of arrangement that is usually played on the appropriate occasions. Certainly God Save the Queen’s been around in other countries as well as the UK for a long time, and turns up as an incidental tune in various classical music variations and arrangements, as well as having been through a number of different semi-official versions used by different organisations for different purposes. There’s the usual military band version that is most commonly heard, but there’s also the Benjamin Britten arrangement made (I think) for the consecration of a cathedral, and now used by the BBC at the Last Night of the Proms concert for the last few years (it’s a clever twist, having the usual first verse sung quietly by a choir, with the less usual second verse given the full fanfare treatment and sung by the audience). And Brian May played an “after Jimi Hendrix” rock version on the roof of Buckingham Palace for the Golden Jubilee. One difference we have in the UK is that we don’t have legislative rules about these things. It’s all a matter of custom and practice. Yes, the national anthem is played before international sporting fixtures, but when we have national teams from the different parts of the UK playing each other, they use national songs representing them, and those change over time: Wales always has Land of My Fathers (one of the best national songs anywhere, IMO), Scotland used to have Scotland the Brave but now seems to prefer Flower of Scotland, England sometimes uses God Save the Queen, and sometimes the Parry setting of Jerusalem (some clown wanted to get Parliament to make all the England sporting federations use it, but I think that proposal died the death). Northern Ireland is a fraught case, perhaps: they play as a separate international team for soccer, but a united Ireland team for rugby - I don’t know what the soccer team do, but the rugby team (even those from the North) line up under the national anthem of the Republic. Once upon a time, starting I think with the First World War, it was customary for almost any major gathering (concerts, theatre plays and so on) to either start or end with the National Anthem, but that died out in the 1960s or thereabouts. It was a standing - and familiar - joke that at the end of the evening in the cinema, when a film clip of the monarch came up with the national anthem, an increasing number of people would be pushing, shoving and doing the steeplechase to get out before the pubs closed or they missed their bus, while some stalwart patriots would be blocking everyone’s way by standing to attention: [comic case in point (and this is set during WW2)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=68fsutiG9L0#t=104) ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-usa-national-anthems/773351/11 "2016-11-29T08:48:35Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > (I suggest the US should mark the election of Donald Trump by officially transposing The Star-Spangled Banner to a minor key.) It’s been done [http://twentytwowords.com/the-haunting-effects-of-a-minor-key-on-the-u-s-national-anthem/](http://twentytwowords.com/the-haunting-effects-of-a-minor-key-on-the-u-s-national-anthem/). I prefer it. ---
**Author:** ![clairobscur](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/839c29/32.png) [@clairobscur](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/clairobscur)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-usa-national-anthems/773351/12 "2016-11-29T08:55:16Z")
The French anthem is played at official events, political rallies and international sport events. Not for other gatherings. I guess that many alternate versions have been done, but the only well known one I’m aware of is the reggae version by Serge Gainsbourg. I don’t think the whole anthem is ever played or sung in usual circumstances. A shortened version is the one used, most often only the first stanza, sometimes the first and the sixth. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 9:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-usa-national-anthems/773351/13 "2016-11-29T09:23:15Z")
Very few Americans have heard anybody sing the second verse (or stanza, or whatever it is) of The Star Spangled Banner. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-usa-national-anthems/773351/14 "2016-11-29T09:27:14Z")
My brother learned the words to “To Anacreon in Heaven,” just so he can sing them when everyone else is singing “The Star-Spangled Banner.” When is kind of a dumb title next to “HaTikvah,” or “G-d Save the Queen,” or even “The State Anthem of the Russian Federation.” ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 9:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-usa-national-anthems/773351/15 "2016-11-29T09:28:36Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > My brother learned the words to “To Anacreon in Heaven,” just so he can sing them when everyone else is singing “The Star-Spangled Banner.” When is kind of a dumb title next to “HaTikvah,” or “G-d Save the Queen,” or even “The State Anthem of the Russian Federation.” You know, I’ve seen the words to Anacreon, but I couldn’t actually see how they fit into the tune. I think modifications were made. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-usa-national-anthems/773351/16 "2016-11-29T09:34:19Z")
> [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](#): > > You know, I’ve seen the words to Anacreon, but I couldn’t actually see how they fit into the tune. I think modifications were made. I think there a repeat of some line, but my brother makes it fit. He was pretty determined. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-usa-national-anthems/773351/17 "2016-11-29T09:51:19Z")
> [@penultima\_thule](#): > > Since it’s adaption in 1984 we still haven’t got over the inclusion of the word “girt” in the second couplet. I prefer to mondegreen it into giving the country an official nickname: Dirt-by-Sea. Anyway, the German metal version of the German national anthem **buddha\_david** mentioned is the closest other countries come to having a Hendrix rendition of their national anthem. (The Sex Pistols’ version of “God Save The Queen” only shares the title, so it doesn’t count.) ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 10:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-usa-national-anthems/773351/18 "2016-11-29T10:08:57Z")
> [@](#): > > To Anacreon in Heav’n, where he sat in full Glee, > A few Sons of Harmony sent a Petition, > That he their Inspirer and Patron would be; > When this answer arriv’d from the Jolly Old Grecian > "Voice, Fiddle, and Flute, > "no longer be mute, > "I’ll lend you my Name and inspire you to boot, > "And, besides I’ll instruct you, like me, to intwine > “The Myrtle of Venus with Bacchus’s Vine.” Apparently the original words for the tune of The Star Spangled Banner. Written for a gentleman’s drinking club on 18th century London. > **[The Star-Spangled Banner](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Star-Spangled_Banner)** > > "The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written by American lawyer Francis Scott Key on September 14, 1814, after he witnessed the bombardment of Fort McHenry by the British Royal Navy during the Battle of Baltimore in the War of 1812. Key was inspired by the large U.S. flag, with 15 stars and 15 stripes, known as the Star-Spangled Banner, flying triumphantly above the fort after the battle. > The poem w... ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-usa-national-anthems/773351/19 "2016-11-29T12:22:41Z")
Asimov once wrote a mystery story where a German spy is caught by the fact that he knew all three verses of the Star-Spangled Banner. No true American would know them, only someone who was studying too hard on how to look American. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2016, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-usa-national-anthems/773351/20 "2016-11-29T12:38:19Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Asimov once wrote a mystery story where a German spy is caught by the fact that he knew all three verses of the Star-Spangled Banner. No true American would know them, only someone who was studying too hard on how to look American. That would certainly work with the British national anthem. Apparently 68% of Britons know at least the first verse by heart, but hardly any, including me, could go much further. I suspect that few people even realise that there are six verses. It’s the last verse that is the most controversial for obvious reasons: “_Lord grant that Marshal Wade May by thy mighty aid Victory bring May he sedition hush And like a torrent rush Rebellious Scots to crush God save the King_” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/non-usa-national-anthems/773351.md?page=2)