National Anthem - Offensive?

[pequod]

Bristol University students making a good point, or are we prepared to defend it?

God Save The King! Ooh err...

https://www.gbnews.com/news/national-anthem-scrapp...

I wonder what others here in NP&E would consider a better song to sing as our NA, or maybe this is an outdated tradition which all countries should drop, as it simply demonstrates an us versus them attitude?

Over to you...

[tangerine_sedge]

That whole story is a manufactured confectionary dseigned to appeal to GBNews/Daily Express consuming types. Is this what counts as news nowadays?

[Sporky]

It's offensively ploddy and maudlin at the very least.

[frisbee]

We should invade Italy or France and claim their national anthems.

[juice]

Offensive to whom ?

Anyway I don't care. Bristol University disappeared up it's own arse years ago however my biggest issue with them is that they have priced local residents out of rental accommodation due to competition

https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/un...

I'm going off on a tangent here and freely admit not being indigenous to Bristol but I do understand the dynamic going on in the city where the uni and the council are not necessarily working together but there is a sniff of common goals where the status quo suits everyone. See Temple Gate Quarter.

[bitchstewie]

Who cares what Bristol Uni play at a graduation ceremony?

Do other universities play the national anthem?

Is it mandatory?

[williamp]

Not sure why a graduation ceremony needs any national anthem. It seems an odd choice to me in the first place.

[BIRMA]

At rugby Internationals all of the other countries anthems are full of gusto, ours is a dreary mumble.

[Evanivitch]

juice said:

Offensive to whom ?

Republicans?

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Not offensive, but it's exclusionary and it's dirge.

A song about someone who doesn't exist saving someone who shouldn't exist.

[Red9zero]

pequod said:

Bristol...

I am trying to look surprised and failing miserably.

[juice]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Not offensive, but it's exclusionary and it's dirge.

A song about someone who doesn't exist saving someone who shouldn't exist.

Exclusionary ? Please explain workings.

[S600BSB]

Not offensive, just a bit rubbish.

[Derek Smith]

BIRMA said:

At rugby Internationals all of the other countries anthems are full of gusto, ours is a dreary mumble.

How about 'Advance Australia Fair'? They had nothing to restrict them, and that's what they came up with.

I think the anthem is an anachronism. We should have something brighter, happier and lighter. Rebellious Scots to crush might well have been in order at the beginning of the 19thC, but it's a bit off now.

It's fluff. It's played at sporting events. On occasions such as F1, the team can self-identify as a particular nationality without any changes. Modern I know, but sort of negates what an anthem is supposed to be.

Even the second-placed anthem is a bit out of place in the current situation.

Let's have a bit of lively folk music, something from Steeleye Span's catalogue. A jig would be best as our rugby players, pulled in from around the world, would not have to make out they knew the words. Or could speak English.


Edited to add:

Something like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDzdTl8Ykmc

Or, if that's too much of a dirge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjLi-e9ZFzs

Edited by Derek Smith on Friday 8th December 20:14

[Lotusgone]

What do you do if you're patriotic but don't believe in a god?

[Sporky]

Lotusgone said:

What do you do if you're patriotic but don't believe in a god?

Hum Nimrod.

Just as ploddy, nearly as dull, no words.

[super7]

We should have Jerusalem for our anthem… not blowing wind up some so called kings arse!

I don't stand for it or sing it…..

[pequod]

Derek Smith said:

How about 'Advance Australia Fair'? They had nothing to restrict them, and that's what they came up with.

I think the anthem is an anachronism. We should have something brighter, happier and lighter. Rebellious Scots to crush might well have been in order at the beginning of the 19thC, but it's a bit off now.

It's fluff. It's played at sporting events. On occasions such as F1, the team can self-identify as a particular nationality without any changes. Modern I know, but sort of negates what an anthem is supposed to be.

Even the second-placed anthem is a bit out of place in the current situation.

Let's have a bit of lively folk music, something from Steeleye Span's catalogue. A jig would be best as our rugby players, pulled in from around the world, would not have to make out they knew the words. Or could speak English.


Edited to add:

Something like: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDzdTl8Ykmc

Or, if that's too much of a dirge https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjLi-e9ZFzs

Edited by Derek Smith on Friday 8th December 20:14

Like your thinking there Derek, why have words which could be construed as offensive?

Interesting bit of trivia, the first recorded NA was Wilhelmus van Nassouwe, written down in 1574, and was the anthem of The Netherlands.

[ridds]

If people have no issue with Germany's National Anthem, then ours is fine.

[2xChevrons]

super7 said:

We should have Jerusalem for our anthem… not blowing wind up some so called kings arse!

I don't stand for it or sing it…..

Yeah, I very much like Jerusalem as an anthem. It's just a shame that it's very explicitly (and irrecovably) about England specifically.

Otherwise, musically it's a magnificent piece of composition, harmonically interesting and retains its majesty in a variety of arrangements. It's also distinctly British in musical style, smack from the peak of the British Musical Renaissance. The only issue is that its range of pitch is quite wide for easy singing by crowds...but that's nothing some enthusiasm can't overcome.

Lyrically, it evokes England's mystic past and its countryside in the first verse, and is a series of exhortations to build a better place in the second.

Yes, the first verse is all about Christian myth and Jesus walking around Somerset, but those images are posed as questions. Even if your personal answer to "And did the countenance divine shine forth upon our clouded hills?" is "No, that's ludicrous and I don't believe in sky-fairies" that doesn't negate the call to national effort and betterment in the second, whether your 'Jerusalem' is literally heaven on Earth or purely metaphorical.

Just such a shame that it's a song that excludes three quarters of the home nations.