Plus,there are a heap of verses, but your average Aussie knows only the first one - rather embarrassing.
Don’t feel too bad. During World War Two, there was an apocryphal story that you could catch German spies by asking them to recite the third verse of “The Star-Spangled Banner”. After all, no real American would ever be able to remember it.
I’m American, and I’m rather partial to the American national anthem. I can sing it, too, but sometimes I have to start over if I start off too high. Those of you who have been keeping up with my posts (yeah, right) know that I have reserved a special place in Hell for the French, but damn, their national anthem kicks ass! If I had to pick a favorite, that’d be it.
I’ve often associated certain songs with certain activities. I often find myself humming the American national anthem while taking a whiz, an activity I particularly enjoy. Turning on a light in a dark room tends to elicit the French national anthem from me, probably because of an old Monty Python’s Flying Circus skit (“And now, a man with a tape recorder up his nose.”) If some idiot is making an overly-passionate speech, the Battle Hymn of the Republic seems appropriate.
I’m pretty good at singing The Star-Spangled Banner and America the Beautiful with an echo effect, too. This used to lead to a friend of mine incessantly bugging me to “do the echo thing!” I always refused just to spite her. Heh…
Haven’t heard enough national anthems to really have a favorite.
Norway’s (one possible translation of the lyrics here) is okay, but it’s usually played tooooooo slooooowwwwwwwwly and ends up sounding like a dirge. At least it’s on a peaceful theme. There’s a much catchier, newer tune that is often played at suitably patriotic events, Norge i rødt, hvitt og blått (“Norway in red, white and blue”), which I think is much better. It’s got a snappy, singable tune and simple lyrics. Best of all, it was written as a kind of “neener neener” to the Nazis - “you can’t keep us down, you can ban our flag but you can’t crush our identity”. Instead we get Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson’s purple poetry.
I’m looking forward to singing a rousing rendition of God Save the Queen at the drag show on Saturday. 
Nah, this is what I like about it. The cultural aspect of our national anthem is that when it gets to the word “girt”, everyone has a giggle. Nobody knows it and no-one takes it seriously. There is no greater defence against tyrants than that. It’s so stupid, it’s lovely. No shit, I put my hand on my heart when the laugh comes.
My nomination is Sth Africa. I was watching the rugby the other night and that song with those languages and those harmonies sung by a Sth African rugby crowd (rugby was the sport of the Africaaners) still chokes me up every time.
God bless it…i absolutely adore the old Sovet anthem…i still remember the day i had to memorize it when i was in 1st grade in the great ol Mother Russia. It still brings shivers down my spine when i hear it…
On an old Commodore 64 olympic game program, the electronic version of the Japanese anthem was the prettiest of the available anthems (followed closely by the Soviet anthem.)
Of course, it probably sounds different when played by actual instruments.
“Amhrán na bhFiann”. You’re welcome And it is a lovely song.
I also remember liking the Slovak national anthem. It sounded like something out of Carmina Burana…
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash’d out their foul footsteps’ pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
Then again, I am a Commie Bastard. 
Lots of good ones mentioned (USA, Canada, Britain, France, USSR, Japan, Mexico) that I’ve heard, and several more probably that I haven’t. Let me add another to the pile: Nkosi Sikelel’ i Africa. It’s sort of been mentioned, since it was melded with South Africa’s snoozy apartheid-era anthem to make the modern version, but several African countries use the undiluted version. It’s a call and response hymn and it’s incredible. Puts most of the others instantly in the shadows.
I’d like to see a single global national anthem. That way, no matter which country you’re in, you’d know the words.
I propose that such an anthem be based on the tune of that old Toni Basil song, ‘Mickey’.
For instance, us Aussies can sing:
“Australia, you’re so fine
You’re so fine you blow my mind -
Australia! <clap clap clap> Australia! <clap clap!>”
Great for countries like Australia where the National Anthem is not enforced in schools. Could get a bit messy when you have a country with about eight syllables in its name …
“Ethiopia, you’re so fine …”
This is true. Especially if you get Kylie to perform it again. Can you send her to my house, please? And can you get her to wear that li’l dress she had on at the End Ceremony of the Olympics? Please?
oops, my bad.
I should’ve clarified.
And it would make sense that they were American used.
But the other two make sense, right?
ai, goo!
slowly shrinks away
The USSR national anthem is the best of course.
First post, woot!
Vex
I’d like to second the vote for Nkosi Sikelel’ i Africa, which is beautiful. (We’ve actually done this in choir before – it feels great to sing, too.)
Oh, and the Marseillaise, of course. dons Liberty cap and waves tricolor
btw, it’s also one of the gorier national anthems…the lyrics:
Allons enfants de la Patrie!
Le jour de gloire est arrivé.
Contre nous de la tyrannie,
L’étendard sanglant est levé,
L’étendard sanglant est levé!
Entendez-vous dans nos campagnes
Mugir ces feroces soldats?
Ils viennent jusque dans nos bras
Égorger vos fils, vos compagnes!
Aux armes, citoyens!
Formez vos battailons!
Marchons, marchons,
Qu’un sang impur abreuve nos sillons!
and my attempt to translate:
On, children of the fatherland!
The day of glory has arrived.
Against us tyranny’s bleeding standard is raised.
Do you hear in our countryside
The roaring of these fierce soldiers?
They are coming even into our arms
To cut the throats of your sons and mistresses!
To arms, citizens!
Form your battalions!
Let us march
Until impure blood soaks our fields!
Pleasant, huh? But it’s damn stirring when you sing it…
I’ve never been much of a fan of the Star-Spangled Banner. Its unwieldy melody is far too difficult for most people - even professionals - to sing. But I swear, as long as I live, that I will never forget hearing Whitney Houston sing it before the Super Bowl in 1990. It sent shivers up my spine and left me absolutely speechless for far longer than most people thought possible. I had never before been so impressed by our national anthem, and I don’t expect ever to again. (Nor I suppose, do I ever again expect to be so impressed with Whitney…) To this day it remains the only time that I’ve ever actually been inspired by a national anthem. And I suppose that’s actually the point, isn’t it?
A-flat. I promise it works. Pop music is voiced low, so most people can handle an a-flat below middle c (“say” and “stripes.”) As for the high e-flat (“red glare” and “Freeeeeee!”,) well, it’s not that high. Gird your loins, clench your ass, and let it rip. G will work too, although a low g is pushing it for some.
See, Star Spangled Banner lets the singers (sopranos, anyway) show off. We can jump to the high tonic during “Land of the Free-eee!” A high A-flat. A high C, if we’re feeling saucy (and the band is playing in C.) Can’t do that with America the Beautiful or God Bless America. This Land is Your Land, is right out.
It’s still not that much fun for those of us in the alto section, though… 
BTW, I use the handle Iolanthe on a different message board – it was a bit disorienting to see your post! I can’t quite shake the feeling that I am, in fact, talking to myself… 
Japan, not Holland, has the oldest national anthem by far. Japan’s goes back about 2000 years.
I’ve used Encarta to listen to MIDIs of just about all the national anthems in the world. Most of them suck, musically, falling into one of 2 categories: tinny military marches or dreary solemn hymns.
My favorite in the whole world is Azerbaijan’s. It has the coolest melody of all. It really sounds like a piece of music! I’m also very fond of Bangladesh’s. It sounds like a nice little folk song with a soothing melody and rhythm, and the song is by one of the world’s greatest poets, Rabindranath Tagore. Laos has another really good folk song tune.
The Slovak one sounds like Carmina Burana? Cool! I’ll have to czech, excuse me, check that one out.
Here are MIDI files of lots of different countries, in case anyone wants to hear some of the above, or others which you’ve never heard.
[sub]Not necessarily the most sparkling rendition of each[/sub]