The UK version is used sparingly and in a shortened version.
Thankfully. It is a depressing dirge. Still at least we don’t do what the USA does and invite our most elaborate singers to make it even worse by warbling all over the top of it and attempting to make it about them rather than the song itself.
Best anthems are France, Italy and Russia in that order. Don’t know about Italy, France tend not to flaunt their anthem too widely but are very dignified and respectful when they do. And I can’t see Putin being too enamored with anyone buggering around with theirs.
To be pedantic, there might have been six, or more or fewer, at the time of the Jacobite risings, and the verse in praise of Wade apparently disappeared from general use fairly quickly. There have been different sets of words over the years, and nowadays custom and practice sticks to the one, or occasionally (as with the Britten version) two. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_Save_the_Queen
I thought - but maybe I’m not up to speed on the latest developments - Russia still hadn’t got words to go with the tune, since they re-adopted the old Soviet one?
All a matter of taste, but I think Land of My Fathers is a fine old belter. The problem with national anthems is twofold - finding a tune that’s uplifting/inspiring AND not too demanding on people who don’t normally sing much and may not have much of a range, and finding words that also uplift and inspire without raising too many potential controversies. Elgar’s “big tune” from Jupiter would be fine, but it can be a bit of a stretch to sing since it ends towards a high note, and the words given to it (“I Vow To Thee My Country”) won’t please all tastes.
We’ve got masses of great tunes in the UK, but finding the right words is another matter (that’s why Land of Hope and Glory is out for me, and of course Parry’s Jerusalem is England-centred; the hymn-like tune from Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance No. 4 might do very well if anyone were to write some suitable words).
But if you’re looking for a song we can all sing about something that clearly unites us all, we might have to settle for this.
I’ve got a fondness myself for Purcell’s"trumpet: tune and air" or, of course the sublime “Nimrod”. The latter is utterly wonderful but perhaps suffers from being too closely associated with remembrance Sunday, plus it does need to be played in its entirety to gain the full effect, there simply is no logical stopping point along the way.
The Peruvian national anthem has an official score and it’s obligatory to sing in like that, in F, in all official ceremonies. Schools usually sing it in D and it’s common in the weekly school activities.
In sports in almost never sung, except for the official games of the football national team.
We don’t normally have a single singer for the anthem, it’s usually a choir or nobody at all. When it’s only one guy/gal then try to go strictly by the book. Every once in a while somenone tries the “melisma all over the place”, but it never works, especially since it’s played with a military band (or track).
Yes, there are lyrics to the new version. I’ve only heard the first verse, but it’s mostly about the natural beauty of Russia instead of Lenin, the Party, and killing Germans. Putin’s brand of Soviet Lite.
Back in the '90s, Russia used this tune by Glinka. Yeltsin’s government held a contest to see who could come up with the best lyrics for it, but they never got around to making any of them official. Pity; this one is **so **much better than “Soyuz nerushimyi.” I hope whoever succeeds Putin reinstates it.
Nothing can beat the second verse of the Ankh-Morpork Civic Anthem:
We bankrupt all invaders, we sell them souvenirs
We ner ner ner ner ner, hner ner hner by the ears
Er hner we ner ner ner ner ner
Ner ner her ner ner ner hner the ner
Er ner ner hner ner, nher hner ner ner (etc.)
Ner hner ner, your gleaming swords
We mortgaged to the hilt
It was written by a widely travelled vampire who noticed that in every country, all patriots know only the first verse of the national anthem and then mumble along and sing the bits they do remember very loudly to give the illusion they know it all. Thus inspired he decided to cut out the middleman, as it were, and write the version that would be sung by patriots regardless of the officially sanctioned version.
Still, we’re better now and yes, it is a terrific anthem and never better when sung before the rugby. I think “Flower of Scotland” is great too and both would be right up there.
