Unofficial national anthems - add to the list.

Cafe Society
1

National anthems are a much discussed subject here - but not often talked about is the custom of unofficial national anthems. Yet these may be better known than the official ones, or stand in in circumstances where the official one may be inappropriate.

Another use is for nations that have limited to no independence, as a patriotic gesture. And some songs are so ingrained into a country’s culture that they are humorously referred to as unofficial national anthems.

I think this phenomenon is pretty well understood, and a discussion would be fun. I’ll kick off the list with these:

UK - the theme from The Archers.
Scotland - Flower of Scotland
Australia - Waltzing Matilda
Canada - Theme from “Hockey Night”
USA - America the Beautiful, God Bless America, and Take Me Out to the Ballgame.

2

You must be kidding! Try Land of Hope and Glory or Rule, Britannia.

3

For England(not the UK) I’d think Jerusalem would be brill.

At all large sporting events the Irish are always singing The Fields of Athenry

4

How cool would it be for Jamaica to have One Love

5

“…it’s coming home, it’s coming home, it’s coming, football’s coming home”. Since 1996 that is the unofficial English national anthem, for football at least.

6

Austria - The Blue Danube.

7

You certain it aint “Vindaloo” :stuck_out_tongue:

8

I think I heard somewhere that the Finlandia Hymn, adapted from the Sibelius tone poem, is an unofficial anthem of Finland.

9

I think Billy Connolly suggested this tune as a joke. For one thing, it has no words. :eek:
As Quartz said, ‘Rule Britannia’ or ‘Land of Hope and Glory’ are much better candidates. They are both sung rousingly on the Last Night of the Proms.

10

Yeah, until you have to sing it at a match in Israel.

Then it would be just weird.

I think we should adopt Henry Wood’s Fantasia on British Sea Songs (modified to include *Ar Hyd y Nos, The Skye Boat Song and Londonderry Air *inplace of Ye Spanish Ladies) as the UK’s unofficial anthem. It’s a bit long though, but it ends on Rule, Britannia

Ar Hyd y Nos is an awesome song when sung by a Welsh choir.

11

The theme song to “Hockey Night in Canada” doesn’t have any words either, but it’s the no-questions-asked answer to this thread for Canada. It even sounds like an anthem.

I guess you could make up words for it but it’s more fun if you just yell out the sounds. “Bup-a-dumt-da-dumt, bup-a-dumt-da-dumt, bup-a-dumt-da-dumt-BUP! Dah dah dah dah dah DAHHHHHHHHHHHH! Dah dah dah dah dah DAH-DAHHHHHHHHHH! Dah dah dah dah dah DAAAAAAAAAAA da-dah-dah! DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA da-dah-dah, DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!”

12

For England it should be “This is England” by the Clash. Just kidding. Mostly.

And of course, who can forget our newest unofficial anthem: “America: FUCK YEAH!”

13

Mexico:
El Rey
Mexico Lindo Y Querido

14

“America: Fuck Yeah!”

15

While the first two are obviously patriotic songs, and many believe that “America, the Beautiful” should be our National Anthem, I had always understood the Official Unoffical Anthem to be “Yankee Doodle”.

16

Clearly, the English national anthem should be A Song of Patriotic Prejudice by Michael Flanders and Donald Swann.

It begins with typical English understatement… “The English, The English, The English are best. I wouldn’t give tuppence for all of the rest.”

17

Wales: Men of Harlech? Of course not being Welsh, I am talking through my hat.

18

Some parts of the former Confederacy would still opt for “Dixie”. Which was unofficial even when there was a Confederacy; the official Confederate anthem was “Bonnie Blue Flag”.

19

The the movie The Dish, Australian school kids play the Hawaii-5-O theme in place of the Star Spangled Banner.

20

I’ve always been partial to House Of Pain’s Jump Around as Ireland’s new anthem. The Proclaimers’ 500 miles runs a close second to The Fields Of Athenry as the undeclared national anthem. :smiley: