Forum menu
Does anyone actuall...
 

[Closed] Does anyone actually like the English/British national anthem?

Posts: 0
Free Member
 

Well i never!

So what was the previous Scottish anthem - was there one???


 
Posted : 04/03/2010 10:11 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

GStQ is still the offical anthem in Scotland. Scotland the Brave was used at the Commonwealth Games though.


 
Posted : 04/03/2010 10:12 pm
Posts: 34533
Full Member
 

national anthem is dire
jeruselem is a better tune but its got a load of jesus loving nonsense lyrics


 
Posted : 04/03/2010 10:20 pm
Posts: 7278
Free Member
 

muddydwarf - For Rugby, God Save the Queen was used, in other sports such as the Commonwealth Games and I believe some soccer tournaments, Scotland the Brave was used


 
Posted : 04/03/2010 10:22 pm
Posts: 2622
Full Member
 

I have no strong feelings about the national anthem. I certainly don't find it stirring.

I'd like some (any, but if it was the UK that'd be fun) country to replace their national anthem with [url=

Simply replace it's lyric with the name of the country. It's upbeat and fun and even the most boneheaded of sportsmen would have difficulty forgetting the lyrics. 🙂


 
Posted : 04/03/2010 10:33 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

DIT: and the three lions is the best badge and the union jack is the best flag (after st.georges cross of course)

Union flag please!


 
Posted : 04/03/2010 10:34 pm
Posts: 91168
Free Member
 

The 3 Lions are actually Welsh

And lions are actually from.. Africa or Asia. Right 🙂 FWIW the Scottish thistle is part of an important national story, and the Welsh dragon is also from a legend of national defence except that it refers to the original British against the invading Saxons 🙂

Welsh Anthem:


Mae hen wlad fy nhadau yn annwyl i mi,
Gwlad beirdd a chantorion, enwogion o fri;
Ei gwrol ryfelwyr, gwladgarwyr tra mâd,
Dros ryddid collasant eu gwaed.

(Cytgan - Chorus)

Gwlad, gwlad, pleidiol wyf i'm gwlad.
Tra môr yn fur i'r bur hoff bau,
O bydded i'r hen iaith barhau.

Translated not quite literally:


The land of my fathers is dear unto me,
Old land where the minstrels are honoured and free:
Its warring defenders, so gallant and brave,
For freedom their life's blood they gave

Land!,Land!,True I am to my land!
While seas secure,
this land so pure,
o may our old language endure


 
Posted : 04/03/2010 10:38 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

Vindaloo Vindaloo Vindalooo nah nah nah nah nah nah VINDALOO! Nuff said.


 
Posted : 04/03/2010 11:01 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

Er, the Three Lions are actually lepoards!

Yeah i know, but they are Heraldic beasts and no-one back then had really seen a lepoard so thats what they came up with! Originally they came over with William the Bastard as a duo but became three with the reign of Henry II in 1154.

Remember they were not a National Badge but the personal coat of arms of the King, and each Monarch since has had a different coat of arms.


 
Posted : 04/03/2010 11:21 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

According to the Observers book of Heraldry page 64 they are lions passant anciently known as leopards a name in use until the 19th century.Some people still speak wrongly of leopards of England,but it does no great harm as it is an ancient expression


 
Posted : 04/03/2010 11:34 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

I love British national anthem because it's, well, [i]so[/i] British.

Although I think the lyrics should be changed slightly to, "God bless the Queen".

On account that Mrs. Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg doesn't need 'saving' from anyone.

'Cause she got the best soldiers in the world to look after and take care of her...........and Gawd bless'em too.


 
Posted : 04/03/2010 11:37 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 


 
Posted : 04/03/2010 11:43 pm
Posts: 34533
Full Member
 

well if we are being picky
st edmund is the real patron saint of england

the normans ousted him and replaced him with george (who was either palestinian, greek, georgian or albanian)
as part of our colonisation


 
Posted : 04/03/2010 11:44 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

This thread is all the history we skived at school!


 
Posted : 04/03/2010 11:47 pm
Posts: 7128
Free Member
 

It should be Blake's 'Jerusalem', particularly since its Swedenborgian undertones offend the Church of England....I only found out about this after they strongly dissuaded me from having it sung at my wedding claiming that it was better suied to the WI etc etc. Great man, great anthem.


 
Posted : 04/03/2010 11:47 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

Can I nominate the [url=

tune from the Flumps[/url]. During medal ceremonies our conquering champions would remain stoic and respectful until the very last bar where they'd do a cheeky little jump and kick their heals.


 
Posted : 04/03/2010 11:58 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

if we are being picky

st edmund is the real patron saint of england

the normans ousted him and replaced him with george

Which as far as I can figure out, means he is no longer the patron saint of England.


 
Posted : 05/03/2010 12:02 am
Posts: 34533
Full Member
 

well seeing as im an aetheist like most people in this country saints are all pretty irrelevant


 
Posted : 05/03/2010 12:11 am
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

......saints are all pretty irrelevant

Tell me your godless republican heart wasn't touched by Saint Diana..............you sneering commie traitor 😐


 
Posted : 05/03/2010 12:41 am
Posts: 31075
Free Member
 

Look at Ireland. They had a great, stirring anthem in The Soldier's Song. But because some folk pretended to be "offended" by it they changed to the utterly bland Ireland's Call. Well as a fellow Celt, Ireland's Call offends me by being so totally inoffensive.

just to clarify, we still have Amhrann na bhFiann as our anthem. Ireland's Call is only used for rugby internationals because you get the odd loyalist from the north playing. And actually, it's grown on me over time..."the four proud provinces of Ireland"...possibly pisses loyalists off a little bit anyway, seeing as Ulster is bigger than NI.


 
Posted : 05/03/2010 1:58 am
Posts: 19543
Free Member
 

WTF! Is it broken? 👿


 
Posted : 05/03/2010 2:01 am
Posts: 7278
Free Member
 

DD - The odd loyalist? Blimey, that is bit a demeaning to a group that includes the great Willie John McBride.


 
Posted : 05/03/2010 2:07 am
 hels
Posts: 971
Free Member
 

No.

GSTQ - awful

Flower of Scotland - worse

But does make me laugh when the French slow them down anad play them like a dirge at rugby games.

Best anthem ever was Waltzing Matilda, I think they had to change it because they couldn't remember all the words. Oh Canada ! has it's merits too. New Zealand now has 2 minutes of mumbling while people can't sing the Maori words in the first verse.


 
Posted : 05/03/2010 6:48 am
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

.I only found out about this after they strongly dissuaded me from having it sung at my wedding claiming that it was better suied to the WI etc etc

Yes, I have encountered this recently, with exactly the same put-down as to why we shouldn't have it at our wedding. I'm tempted to be insistent now...


 
Posted : 05/03/2010 8:36 am
Posts: 19914
Free Member
 

Which as far as I can figure out, means he is no longer the patron saint of England.

Depends on your point of view. 🙂 To me, England and the English evolved from the Saxons, not the Normans. Sure, a lot of the aristocacy were French but we speak a language, and live in a society evolved directly from Anglo-Saxon, not French. William the Bastard and his cronies mean zilch to me. I'm English 🙂


 
Posted : 05/03/2010 9:19 am
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

Flower of Scotland is fairly slow anyway - its a lament IIRC. the french have been known to slow it further. |its a bit of a dreadful dirge but it caught the public imagination.

PP - the Saxons - you mean that bunch of German invaders?


 
Posted : 05/03/2010 9:54 am
Posts: 31075
Free Member
 

Mefty, I'm not saying I wouldn't have them in the team. But it has been funny over the years watching (some of the particularly orange ones of) them having to stand for Amhrann na bhFiann...pure devilment on my part, nothing serious. I do love my anthem though.


 
Posted : 05/03/2010 10:09 am
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

My mate had Jerusalem at his wedding. Que us 8 serving and retired squaddies and the groom and best man belting it out at the top of our voices and a rather embarrased looking bride and congregation.


 
Posted : 05/03/2010 10:13 am
Posts: 91168
Free Member
 

England and the English evolved from the Saxons

Well.. the English are evolved from the Saxons and Normans. One of the Norman (plantagenet?) guys decided he really admired the Saxons so led a big 'English' romatic revivalist movement which brought Saxons and Normans together as English. I think it was Edward III.

If you're going to split hairs about English/Normans then you might as well start banging on about Britons/Saxons/Vikings or any of the other immigrant/invading/conquering peoples.


 
Posted : 05/03/2010 10:58 am
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

it think we can safely say Wales has the best anthem and flag for that matter 😉

mind you the italian and french ones are good too (anthems not flags)


 
Posted : 05/03/2010 11:04 am
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

While we're at it, it seems that the use of the word "celt" in reference to any british people (scots, welsh, cornish etc) is factually incorrect

http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/2006/10/mythsofbritishancestry/

http://www.webmesh.co.uk/nice/newhistory.htm


 
Posted : 05/03/2010 11:42 am
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

backhander, there was a group of Indo-European peoples with a similar shared culture and similar languages. They all had individual names for themselves, but because they had a taboo against wtiting, their own names have been lost, and the term 'celt' was used by later /or other cultures to descibe them ( like the way the name 'Crow' is used to describe the Absaroka people)
I suspect you knew that but were just stirring.


 
Posted : 05/03/2010 12:00 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

No, there was a post in the past by someone far more educated than me.
The term celt was invented by the greeks i think for peoples who lived away from the coast.
The term celts when used towards the british people didn't occur until the 18th century and was apparently started by a notoriously poor welsh scholar.
this is all from memory but the gist is correct.


 
Posted : 05/03/2010 12:04 pm
 hels
Posts: 971
Free Member
 

Interesting west kipper. How do we know they had a taboo against writing, did somebody else write that down for them ?


 
Posted : 05/03/2010 12:05 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

Aye, those Italian leather-skirt wearing skinheads fae Rome :-)(I've forgotten what they're called) did have writing, and made detailed, but biased accounts
Back on topic though; I still reckon we should look at The Sex Pistols GSTQ as the national anthem- can you imagine how brilliant a whole stadium of people all singing "...AND WE MEAN IT, MA A A M MM!" would be?
...Enough to make even me feel British! 😯


 
Posted : 05/03/2010 12:09 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

There is something very stirring about Flower of Scotland, I love it. But then I like laments and pipes.

Even as an atheist I find GSTQ fairly inoffensive.

Nowt compares to the Italian national anthem for me though, often whistling it for days after I hear it.


 
Posted : 05/03/2010 12:21 pm
Posts: 368
Free Member
 

Perhaps we should have a National Anthem like Spain with no official words to upset people.

They tried to add words to it last year and guess what...they managed to upset just about everyone so no one uses them now!

I think it looks better before a football match if the players are singing though, otherwise they just stand there looking a bit nervous.


 
Posted : 05/03/2010 12:25 pm
Posts: 91168
Free Member
 

An anthem should be a stirring, rousing banner waving top-of-lungs belter that everyone loves to sing and cheer for. So on that basis, it's basically only Wales and France that qualify. The US one could qualify but they take it too seriously and stand there solemnly with hands on hearts whilst someone else sings it through a mic.

Last November I did a fun run in the Mid-West. It was quite a big one, few thousand runners, but before the race as people were milling about they had two local high school girls come out all dressed up (and freezing) and they gave it there all through the PA. Everyone stopped and stood reverentially still and quiet with hands on hearts. It was really weird.


 
Posted : 05/03/2010 1:25 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

Bit boring the Brit anthem but better than some out there.

I like the music but the song words are crap-God save the people more like!


 
Posted : 05/03/2010 5:09 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

yeah, st,george wasnt he palastinian or somefink ?


 
Posted : 05/03/2010 10:42 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

GSTQ is a crap national anthem. I hate the queen bit and the god bit. It's like a bloody funeral dirge. All these things have been said before many times.

However as an expat brit it makes me miss home whenever I hear it, brings a lump to my throat and makes the hairs on the back of my neck standup with pride at being English and British. For that reason alone it should not be changed.


 
Posted : 06/03/2010 12:38 am
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

But I do find it tingly when I hear the musci like on Footy world cup or F1 etc.

(Waves flag)


 
Posted : 06/03/2010 1:25 am
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

The Pistols did an ok version!!


 
Posted : 06/03/2010 1:31 am
Posts: 12
Free Member
 

There are people that should swing in the Tower for views expressed on here 😆 👿


 
Posted : 06/03/2010 1:33 am
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

You mean swing like a real hepcat daddy-O?


 
Posted : 06/03/2010 3:51 pm
Page 2 / 3