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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To think our national anthem is shit

124 replies

Menarefrommarsitwouldseem · 31/03/2018 22:51

Just watching the Anthony Joshua fight and he's fighting someone from New Zealand.
Their national anthem is mightily long. However, ours is just awful imo
I'm neither a royalist nor anti. Indifferent.

I just think our national anthem could be so much better!

OP posts:

TheCatFromOuterSpace · 01/04/2018 10:08

I like Jerusalem.
Or just use the sex pistols version of GSTQ

DGRossetti · 01/04/2018 10:10

The UK doesn't have an official national anthem ... GSTQ is simply a tradition favoured by the monarch.

If Charles decides he wants something different, he just has to say.

On the basis he presented a (very good) documentary on Parry a few years back, I'd hope he'd suggest "Jerusalem" be used ...

SundayGirls · 01/04/2018 10:12

I think it's the best National Anthem out there. Dignified, great chord progression, has gravitas and is short and to the point.

A lot of other national anthems are twiddly, forgettable and indistinguishable from each other.

HoppingPavlova · 01/04/2018 10:23

I detest our national anthem, Advance Australia Fair. Seriously everyone starts to yawn after the first three lines and has trouble remembering the rest. It apparently has multiple verses, no one knows them without Google and even then they dull, pretty sure it was originally a poem that was then put to some music to become the anthem.

The popular choice if it came to a vote would be Waltzing Matilda. However my personal hope would be Down Under by Men at Work, I imagine it being played when an Australian wins and the entire stadium sings along and bops around.

TidyDancer · 01/04/2018 11:19

I much prefer Jerusalem to GSTQ but I don't hate the latter. It's the best of the British national anthems but that's not really saying much. And I say this as someone who is a mixture of nationalities. Flower of Scotland is awful imo, the welsh one is slightly better.

Viviennemary · 01/04/2018 11:22

Ours is totally cringeworthy. All about the royals. It should be about the country and its people. Not about that dimwitted entitled bunch.

Toadinthehole · 01/04/2018 23:28

@paniconthestreetsofdreams (and others)

What is your source for alleging that the above verse is part of GSTQ?

There's another verse in support of Bonnie Prince Charlie. Are you going to allege that's part of GSTQ simply because it's also set to the same tune?

Jerusalem is part of a poem called Milton by William Blake, and it's about how we have failed to build a decent society in England and should do so. I've never understood why it appears in Hymns Ancient and Modern because it's capable of being read as anti-religious.

mirime · 01/04/2018 23:43

Another vote for the Welsh national anthem here. GSTQ is not my national anthem and is awful.

HaroldsSoCalledBluetits · 02/04/2018 00:12

God save the Queen is boring but land of hope and glory is jingoistic imperialist bullshit. Jerusalem is kind of twisted and often misunderstood - I think it would be funny if it was the national anthem.

eridanus · 02/04/2018 00:17

The english anthem, it's just a little depressing and very regular in it's arrangement. I love the irish one, it builds to a lift. I also love the russian one, it's so intense. The french one is good, and inspirationa;l compared to the english one. I am obviously only talking about tunes here, not affiliations.

Toadinthehole · 02/04/2018 19:44

No reply re the anti-Scottish verse in GSTQ then.

I think the Wiki article on GSTQ has it right:

The 1836 article and other sources make it clear that this verse was not used soon after 1745, and certainly before the song became accepted as the British national anthem in the 1780s and 1790s.

The point is that GSTQ wasn't written as the National Anthem. In fact it's author is unknown. It was a popular song that over time passed into official usage, and as such had various verses that fell in and out of use. There's no evidence at all that the verse about Marshal Wade has ever been sung on any sort of official occasion.

This stuff matters because people vote to create independent countries on the basis of this sort of rubbish. Like the bloke I remember from university in Scotland who was offended by Labour's red rose, thinking it Anglo-centric, whereas the truth is that it's not an English symbol at all. Or all the crap spouted by Salmond et al during the 2014 referendum which was every bit as bad as anything Johnson came out with.

Toadinthehole · 02/04/2018 19:59

...during the Brexit referendum.

ManicUnicorn · 02/04/2018 20:06

I'm so glad I'm Welsh because we have a passionate, rousing national anthem. The British one however, is total shit. Uninspired, royalist dirge and I actually like the Queen.

SomeKnobend · 02/04/2018 20:20

Can we ditch God save the queen/king and have Rule Britannia instead? A much more rousing tune, and it's about Britain, not just whoever the king or queen is at the time.

TERFousBreakdown · 02/04/2018 20:28

GSTQ is ghastly, but the lyrics have great humouristic value once you're baked enough (not speaking from experience, not me, never). The bits about the almighty basically taking the monarch's side in political conflicts is utterly insane and almost as hilarious.

Don't really care about what the anthem is, though, as I find all things patriotic a bit silly in general.

WheresTheHooferDoofer · 02/04/2018 21:05

I think GSTQ should be reserved for royal occasions.

I feel a National Anthem should focus on the country and it's people. Jerusalem could work for an English anthem.

I'm not sure what I'd pick for a GB anthem. Land of Hope and Glory seems a bit too jingoistic, and at times Rule Britainnia does too. Not sure about I Vow To Thee My Country.

hairycoo · 02/04/2018 22:05

how coincidental im reading this thread with billy connelly on the telly on itv4 and the very skit about the national anthem comes on!

42andcounting · 02/04/2018 22:07

We don't sing the good verses enough -

One realm of races four/ Blest more and ever more /God save our land/ Home of the brave and free/ Set in the silver sea/ True nurse of chivalry/ God save our land.

Of many a race and birth/ From utmost ends of earth/ God save us all./ Bid strife and hatred cease,/ Bid hope and joy increase/ Spread universal peace/ God save us all.

tortelliniforever · 02/04/2018 22:07

I think it's a bit slow and downbeat. I love the Italian one but not the words. My 8 year old is learning it at school at the moment and I am a bit at hearing him sing that he is ready to die!

EatenEasterChocsAlready · 02/04/2018 22:09

Why can't Jerusalem happen it's perfect! Who cares who adopted it.. It's a rousing, stunning lyrics... Current anthem is beyond awful.

TheJoyOfSox · 02/04/2018 22:13

Can we have Three Lions (footballs coming home) for England’s national anthem?

S0upertrooper · 02/04/2018 22:49

I'm Scottish and love Flower of Scotland. I also love hearing the Welsh sing theirs at the rugby. When Scotland and Wales play against each other there is so much camaraderie as the fans sing each others anthems. Canny whack it!

londonmummy1966 · 03/04/2018 15:50

Another smug Welshie here - I just love mine!

I've always thought that Handel's Hallelujah Chorus would make a rousing national anthem every time we won a sporting event..............

DairyisClosed · 03/04/2018 15:52

Aren't they all?

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