# The basic gist of your national anthem **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 28, 2010, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-basic-gist-of-your-national-anthem/530716 "2010-02-28T02:34:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-basic-gist-of-your-national-anthem/530716/1 "2010-02-28T02:34:14Z")
[In this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=553680), I described the Polish national anthem as having the basic gist of ‘Poland don’t start no shit, and Poland don’t take no shit.’ That made me think about national anthems in general. They typically have very beautiful and inspiring lyrics, but when you really get down to it, what are they saying? The Star-Spangled Banner, for example, seems to be saying, _Dude, please tell me that our flag is still there. I wanna live as a revolutionary, not be executed as a rebel, for reals._ You don’t have to limit yourself to \*your \*national anthem either, any national anthem is fine. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-basic-gist-of-your-national-anthem/530716/2 "2010-02-28T03:05:02Z")
The gist of the British National Anthem: Verse 1 - the current monarch is the single most important being in the Universe, except for God. Verse 2,3,4 - we hate the Scots. ---
**Author:** ![trupa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@trupa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/trupa)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-basic-gist-of-your-national-anthem/530716/3 "2010-02-28T03:32:11Z")
(English version) Canada, it’s where we live and we really like it. God, watch out for it, and we’ll watch out for it too. (French version) Canada, you can really fight & kick ass, but you’re a good Christian too. My favourite, La Marseillaise (France) Grab your weapons and slaughter the tainted enemies invading us. They’re coming to kill our women & kids. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-basic-gist-of-your-national-anthem/530716/4 "2010-02-28T03:51:16Z")
[Cracked.com](http://Cracked.com) did [an excellent article on national anthems](http://www.cracked.com/article_16735_6-national-anthems-that-will-make-you-tremble-with-fear.html) a couple of years ago. ---
**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:** [February 28, 2010, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-basic-gist-of-your-national-anthem/530716/5 "2010-02-28T04:04:10Z")
Rejoice for Australia is geographically really good. Work hard. ---
**Author:** ![Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Superfluous\_Parentheses](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superfluous_Parentheses)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-basic-gist-of-your-national-anthem/530716/6 "2010-02-28T04:05:17Z")
The Dutch anthem is basically “we’re of proud German blood, and we love the king of Spain”. Yes, really. ---
**Author:** ![Mississippienne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d2c977/32.png) [@Mississippienne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mississippienne)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-basic-gist-of-your-national-anthem/530716/7 "2010-02-28T04:36:27Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > [Cracked.com](http://Cracked.com) did [an excellent article on national anthems](http://www.cracked.com/article_16735_6-national-anthems-that-will-make-you-tremble-with-fear.html) a couple of years ago. I love the translated lyrics from the Romanian national anthem someone posted in the comments. Basically, I love that it’s Queen’s “Princes of the Universe”, only about Romanians instead of Immortals: \*Here we are! Born to be kings! We’re the princes of the universe! Here we belong! Fighting to survive in a war with the darkest powers! And here we are we’re the princes of the universe! Here we belong Fighting for survival! We’ve come to be the rulers of you all! I am immortal! I have inside me blood of kings! I have no rival! No man can be my equal! \* ---
**Author:** ![Rala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@Rala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rala)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-basic-gist-of-your-national-anthem/530716/8 "2010-02-28T04:37:00Z")
“Advance Australia Fair” is pretty much “This is a beautiful country and we’re all very happy to be here.” It’s a good message, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Randy\_Seltzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ee7513/32.png) [@Randy\_Seltzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randy_Seltzer)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-basic-gist-of-your-national-anthem/530716/9 "2010-02-28T04:40:56Z")
> [@Mississippienne](#): > > The Star-Spangled Banner, for example, seems to be saying, _Dude, please tell me that our flag is still there. I wanna live as a revolutionary, not be executed as a rebel, for reals._ The first verse of the SSB – the chunk that everybody knows, and that’s sung at football games – is one long question. There’s only one bit of ending punctuation in the whole thing, and it’s the question mark at the end. I’d say it could be summarized thus: _Shit – where’s the flag??_ ---
**Author:** ![wolfman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a8b319/32.png) [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-basic-gist-of-your-national-anthem/530716/10 "2010-02-28T05:09:03Z")
> [@Mississippienne](#): > > The Star-Spangled Banner, for example, seems to be saying, _Dude, please tell me that our flag is still there. I wanna live as a revolutionary, not be executed as a rebel, for reals._ > > . Well the Third verse gets a bit into slaughter and death in a passive voice mobster kind of way. That the flag will be waving over certain things that may happen, we’re just sayin’ ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-basic-gist-of-your-national-anthem/530716/11 "2010-02-28T06:56:03Z")
Israel: “Us Jews really really want a country.” ---
**Author:** ![flodnak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/838e76/32.png) [@flodnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flodnak)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-basic-gist-of-your-national-anthem/530716/12 "2010-02-28T08:05:05Z")
Norway: Verse 1: This is a rugged country, but it’s ours and we love it. Verses 7 and 8: And we’ll fight to defend it. Verses in between: Memorize this as a handy cheat-sheet for your next history test. This probably explains why nobody ever sings verses 2 through 6. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-basic-gist-of-your-national-anthem/530716/13 "2010-02-28T08:06:00Z")
> [@Randy\_Seltzer](#): > > The first verse of the SSB – the chunk that everybody knows, and that’s sung at football games – is one long question. There’s only one bit of ending punctuation in the whole thing, and it’s the question mark at the end. I’d say it could be summarized thus: > > _Shit – where’s the flag??_ Well, perhaps, but these days I tend to think of it as a rhetorical question. In which case, the basic gist of the U.S. national anthem is: _C’mon, gimme your best shot._ ---
**Author:** ![Grumman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/43a26b/32.png) [@Grumman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumman)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 8:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-basic-gist-of-your-national-anthem/530716/14 "2010-02-28T08:13:51Z")
> [@Rala](#): > > “Advance Australia Fair” is pretty much “This is a beautiful country and we’re all very happy to be here.” It’s a good message, I think. That’s the current version. Looking at the original 4th verse, I’d sum it up as “But don’t mess with us, or we’ll kick your ass so hard they’ll hear it in Britain.” ---
**Author:** ![Mosier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ea924/32.png) [@Mosier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mosier)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-basic-gist-of-your-national-anthem/530716/15 "2010-02-28T08:39:03Z")
I think the gist of the star spangled banner is “our spirit cannot be broken.” The flag is a symbol of the rebellion, which if you haven’t heard we’re pretty proud of. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-basic-gist-of-your-national-anthem/530716/16 "2010-02-28T08:42:33Z")
Despite the complete lack of lyrics of our national anthem (and of several of our regional anthems), the majority of Spaniards are not mute. Promise. ---
**Author:** ![Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f08c70/32.png) [@Crowbar\_of\_Irony\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crowbar_of_Irony_3)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-basic-gist-of-your-national-anthem/530716/17 "2010-02-28T08:45:22Z")
Singapore’s one basically means “onward to excellence…” with the implication we should do it as one people. Of course, whether this means unity in spirit, or quashing all dissenssions, depends on the person’s personal experiences with the dominating government. ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 8:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-basic-gist-of-your-national-anthem/530716/18 "2010-02-28T08:49:15Z")
The New Zealand one seems to be saying “God, if anyone tries to take this country from us, help us!” ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 8:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-basic-gist-of-your-national-anthem/530716/19 "2010-02-28T08:58:20Z")
> [@sandra\_nz](#): > > The New Zealand one seems to be saying “God, if anyone tries to take this country from us, help us!” I thought it was “We _Like_ being part of the British Empire!” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Dervorin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Dervorin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dervorin)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2010, 9:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-basic-gist-of-your-national-anthem/530716/20 "2010-02-28T09:05:54Z")
The Indian national anthem more or less boils down to: Hey, unnamed person (who is probably God), you’re pretty well-liked around here, and I will list all the provinces that you’re liked in, with some geographical features thereof. Keep up the good work! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-basic-gist-of-your-national-anthem/530716.md?page=2)