I think Rule Britannia would be better than God Save The Queen, but it would probably be seen as being a bit pathetic to change the anthem to that now, since Britain certainly does not rule the waves.
I don't really care about Jerusalem being a Christian song, but since it's a song about England, sung chiefly in England it's really not appropriate for the whole UK!
A very good point. Also, I'm not sure a national anthem largely comprised of questions that invite the response "No, no, no, no" is a great idea unless you're even less keen on the idea of nation states than I am.
God save the Queen! Otherwise you won't have a backup and could lose the data.
Also, we should sing the second verse more often, particularly in sporting contexts:
Oh Lord our God arise, Scatter her enemies, And make them fall! Confound their politics, Frustrate their knavish tricks, On Thee our hopes we fix, God save us all
I love the knavish tricks bit and making 'enemies' rhyme with 'arise'.
(Seriously, I think we're stuck with God Save The Queen until we have got rid of the monarchy.)
I hate the Archers, it's the one bit of radio 4 I will consistently turn off, but the theme tune as an anthem *without* words kind of appeals.
"Here's our new national anthem" "Oh cool. Ah, I know that tune from somewhere. What are the words?" "We didn't write any words. We used to have words in the old one and it only led to trouble"
An anthem without words would also be very good news for people who suffer John Redwood's problem of being caught out not knowing them :)
It'd also be kind of amusing when it was played at Olympic medal ceremonies and the cameras zoomed in respectfully on the gold-medal-winning Brit only to find that their lips were forming 'Doo do-doo do-doo do-doo, doo do-doo do-dooo dooo'.
I have an Irish passport (and I was born and there and my family are all Irish), but since I have an English accent many Irish people would call me a Plastic Paddy if I claimed to be Irish. I haven't met any British people who've had a problem with me calling myself British, so I'll do that!
I think of Jerusalem as the English national anthem so wouldn't want to change to that (unless and until Wales, Yorkshire, Cornwall and Scotland leave the union; not sure about Northern Ireland as the politics of that is a whole other kaboodle)
Comments 21
Reply
Reply
Reply
God save the Queen! Otherwise you won't have a backup and could lose the data.
Also, we should sing the second verse more often, particularly in sporting contexts:
Oh Lord our God arise,
Scatter her enemies,
And make them fall!
Confound their politics,
Frustrate their knavish tricks,
On Thee our hopes we fix,
God save us all
I love the knavish tricks bit and making 'enemies' rhyme with 'arise'.
(Seriously, I think we're stuck with God Save The Queen until we have got rid of the monarchy.)
Reply
Reply
(The comment has been removed)
Reply
"Here's our new national anthem"
"Oh cool. Ah, I know that tune from somewhere. What are the words?"
"We didn't write any words. We used to have words in the old one and it only led to trouble"
An anthem without words would also be very good news for people who suffer John Redwood's problem of being caught out not knowing them :)
Reply
Reply
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vh-wEXvdW8
where we're competing as GB we may have to skip the verses that are rude about the Scots and Welsh.
Besides, aren't you Irish?
Reply
Reply
Reply
Leave a comment