Time to change the national anthem?

[Gravity Aided]

of course, gravity might have it on his Eric Coates greatest hits album but seemed to big a cooncidence.

Good album, that. Sleepy Lagoon!
Actually, I think it was on an album with some Richard Addinsel and Malcolm Arnold

 

[Gravity Aided]

As I am in the States, and our NPR was in news mode at the time. Although I'm informed Ernest Fararrs' English Pastoral Impressions will be played in a few minutes.

 

[perplexed]

This is what we need...

 

[raleighnut]

This is what we need...

For a Queen track this'd be better
"Oh rock of ages do not crumble"



View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdUKi3_QntE&feature=player_detailpage

 

[John the Monkey]

My most serious suggestion yet;


View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0LeL9BUPtA

 

[NorthernDave]

Jerusalem. Stirring stuff.

I'm with Drago on this one. Stirring stuff, short and to the point.

And this version just about sums up the current situation nicely...

 

[Tin Pot]

It has to be something by the Stones...

Gimme Shelter.

 

[RichardB]

The problem with the UK anthem is that it's a dirge!

It's only a dirge if you play it at half speed, as we do. The tune is in fact a dance (galliard) from the 16C and if you hum it at double the speed with emphasis on the first and fourth beats of the bar, it's actually quite a lively little number:

Ta ta ta taaa ta-ta
Ta ta ta taaa ta-ta
Ta ta ta taaa
Tiddle-tiddle ...
I quite like it played like that.

Having said that, and as a Yorkshireman living in Wales, the best of all the anthems has to be Mae hen wlad fy nhadau. It's all about pride in a beautiful country and its language and poetry, nothing about being subservient to the rich and powerful, and the only military references are of defence, not conquest. And it has a grand tune, with plenty of easily-sung but dramatic passages. Even though I am not Welsh, it gets me every time.

For the UK, Land Of Hope And Glory, every time.

 

[Gravity Aided]

Big Brother could watch this...

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F43DqnMoWi0
No, he couldn't. He's still at work.
(and he'd probably stand up, put his hand over his heart, and sing along.)

 

[RichardB]

[QUOTE 4012755, member: 259"]Like for everything but Land Of Hope And Glory. A boring dirge.[/QUOTE]
Nah, it's great! Depends how it is played, of course, but the tune has a reasonable range, a good shape from beginning to end of the verse, and a nice climactic conclusion. I find it quite stirring when it's played well on the last night of the Proms. But I wouldn't go to prison over it; there are plenty of excellent tunes that don't glorify privilege or celebrate conquest.

 

[Gravity Aided]

Speaking of Elgar, could always go with Pomp and Circumstance #5, a little music hall, a little nobility, and some sentimentality all in one.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCWRWwSOg0w

 

[Gravity Aided]

Or Pomp and Circumstance #6, as completed by Anthony Payne from Elgar's sketches. He was working on this in 1934.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bv9fFk1miuY

Perhaps not.
Reference to Imperial March, now and again.

 

[Penmere]

We have our own down here

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0I9_mTX0lg

 

[CharlesF]

Can we have Tubthumping by Chumbawamba?
It describes us perfectly. We won't be kept down, and we do like a drink. A whisky drink, then a vodka drink...

The best suggestion, no further debate needed

 

[Profpointy]

THe best anthem out there is trans-national:

Freude schöner Götterfunken
Tochter aus Elysium,
Wir betreten feuertrunken,
Himmlische, dein Heiligtum!
Deine Zauber binden wieder
Was die Mode streng geteilt;
Alle Menschen werden Brüder,
Wo dein sanfter Flügel weilt.

(of course, officially as an anthem it has no words.)

The second best anthem also has no words:

I know the first one just from the words, and must have four or five versions on cd - the best being Furtwangler Berlin Phil from 1945 live, but didn't.know the 2nd was Charpentier - maybe another purchase