To think our UK national anthem sounds boring

[MissionItsPossible]

Not boring per se, but singers like Beyoncé and Lady Gaga manage to overdo it make theirs sound dramatic and uprising but ours seems dull and slow in comparison and can't imagine someone singing it at an event and making it sound good and inspiring that would have people applauding afterwards. Or is it just me

I can't stand God Save the Queen and thankfully have never had to sing it in my life. For some unfathomable reason they don't really go in for it at Catholic schools in Glasgow

I can get quite teary at La Marseillaise and the Star Spangled Banner, though...

The verse about the Scots is not an original part of the anthem, and the history of the anthem has a range of alternative verses.

However, I don't like it because yes, it is a dirge. Flower of Scotland can also be a dirge - I think it sounds good sung by a slightly drunk crowd, but on the pipes it can easily slow down a fraction and be dirge-like.

I can think of quite a few other countries that have better national anthems, and agree with all the people highlighting France.

I hate the dirge-likeGSTQ too, but remember the shock when I went to a concert in the US and they appeared to be singing it It was actually the lyrics below, written by Samuel Smith in 1831 and sung to the same tune ...

My country, ’tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing;
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrims’ pride,
From ev’ry mountainside
Let freedom ring!

US anthem always strikes me as quite difficult to sing,

I like God Save The Queen.
Confound their politics, indeed.

Land of Hope and Glory sucks.

People don't really sing along with SSB, just mouth along with it, but it's still an incredible anthem.

Whitney Houston's performance of SSB at Super Bowl XXV will never be touched. And it's far more powerful than any performance of GSTQ could ever be, even if you can't exactly sing along with it!

GSTQ is a dirge.
I much prefer our Welsh anthem. Particularly at home rugby internationals when played at the proper speed and with the crowd singing hard.

Showing my age here, I used to love the East German (DDR) anthem back in the day. I think it translates as 'risen from ashes' or something similar. Cracking good tune, recognises Germany's difficult recent past, and expresses hope for the future. Pity we never get to hear it any more.

ExplodedCloud, do you remember the Six Nations a few years back, when England thought they had the Grand Slam in the bag? I knew just from how our anthem rang across that stadium that we were going to kick some arse that day .

I agree it's a dirge. But I find L of Hope and G and even worse Rule Britannia a bit anachronistic/jingoistic for this day and age.

Was that one of the glorious 'right we've got you singing, you're in time, now we'll stop playing and you can take it from here' moments? When the hair stands right up on your neck?

Ours is just rubbish all round. If you're atheist and republican it's especially meaningless.

Here's that moment, hairs truly on edge .

It's awful, all right. The tune is terrible, and the first line irritates my republican atheist sensibilities from the get go (never mind the closing "long to reign over us" )

The Star Spangled Banner was clearly written by someone who didn't expect it to be sung much - it's really hard!

I will never have any reason to sing GSTQ and I am very thankful for that. The Welsh anthem is one of the best in my opinion - it's so rousing and proud. Every time I hear it at Internationals , it brings a tear to my eye. The Welsh also have the best flag as well - but that's another thread.

I don't kwow what you are all complaining about. At least you can sing it, that goes a long way in an anthem.

You should try the Spanish one, there are no words. I mean that literally, no lyrics (I believe it's one of only two national anthems to have no words).

Apparently Beethoven liked the tune well enough to write a piano fantasia based on it. And it sounds better with the American words. It needs to be played and sung properly without the foot- dragging that plagues most renditions.

If you think it's bad, try the Italian national anthem. Talk about dull and pedestrian and tum-ti-tum. This was the country that produced Verdi and Puccini FFS! Oh, and I can't listen to Arise Australia Fair without thinking of the Monty Python 'Dear God please don't eat us' version.

I agree. English national anthem should be this one...

awesome

As a Scot, I am proud to eschew the national anthem and embrace flower of Scotland, which I always find very moving (though my dp finds this amusing so maybe you have to be Scottish - the reason it sounds terrible in bagpipes is that they have to play the last four notes in a major key when it should be minor thus losing the entire elegiac feel).

La Marseilles on the other hand always makes me cry too on Casablanca - love that scene.

My country, ’tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing;
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrims’ pride,
From ev’ry mountainside
Let freedom ring!

I didn't know about that song and just went on YouTube and saw Kelly clarkson do a performance of it. I think it shows that as it's the same tune it's the lyrics and content more than anything. You can get that passionate about a country and its origins and where it is now but nobody is going to sing like that about a king or queen IMO

Our anthem is a dirge , I like the Italian national anthem .