I am very patriotic, I love our country and our Royal Family and all our wonderful history which is the envy of many countries, but our national anthem is not the greatest. Having experienced it at The Royal Tournament with the Queen in attendance and with the longest, loudest drum introduction I ever heard, it can be brilliant but too often it is outdone at sporting occasions by far more rousing, passionate efforts from various opposition teams. It started in what was then the Five Nations when first Scotland opted to have Flower of Scotland rather than share GSTQ with England and then Wales followed. Jerusalem is certainly a stirring one but is it truly representative of today's England? Personally I think the French N.A is the best, but then you only get something as passionate as that in a Republic and I don't want to pay that price.
A National Anthem should celebrate the nation, its people, culture and achievements. Sadly GSTQ is not about the British people and totally neglects our achievements in science, sport, arts and humanitarianism. It does not celebrate or even acknowledge noble ideals like liberty, democracy, the rule of law and equality and instead propagates the idea that wealth, privilege and inherited status is something to be celebrated and cherished.
My suggestion is that the NA becomes a Royal Anthem to be played when Brenda is in attendance somewhere - a bit like the flying of the Royal Standard, which is otherwise never used. All the Royal fanboys can sing this to their heart's content - and perhaps even bother to learn the second and third verses that no one seems to knows the words to.
I've no idea who Nimrod was. I just think the music is very stirring. Aside from the music the only time I've heard the name Nimrod was referring to the early warning aircraft.
Perhaps someone could write some modern day lyrics to that tune taking in some of the points that BFR raised that are missing from the current ditty.
The original Nimrod was Mesopotamian, I think he was responsible for building the tower of Babel.
Interesting that- thanks.
Elgar's Nimrod is a musical "representation" of a German friend of his called Augustus Jaeger who worked for Novello's.
Stig- if you're interested, Elgar set the Nimrod/Enigma tune to text in his later work "the music makers", but it sounds more about the "tortured" as opposed to "triumphant" English soul.
A National Anthem should celebrate the nation, its people, culture and achievements. Sadly GSTQ is not about the British people and totally neglects our achievements in science, sport, arts and humanitarianism. It does not celebrate or even acknowledge noble ideals like liberty, democracy, the rule of law and equality and instead propagates the idea that wealth, privilege and inherited status is something to be celebrated and cherished.
Blimey, if we had it your way we'd be pushing Bat Out Of Hell for duration.
A National Anthem should celebrate the nation, its people, culture and achievements. Sadly GSTQ is not about the British people and totally neglects our achievements in science, sport, arts and humanitarianism. It does not celebrate or even acknowledge noble ideals like liberty, democracy, the rule of law and equality and instead propagates the idea that wealth, privilege and inherited status is something to be celebrated and cherished.
My suggestion is that the NA becomes a Royal Anthem to be played when Brenda is in attendance somewhere - a bit like the flying of the Royal Standard, which is otherwise never used. All the Royal fanboys can sing this to their heart's content - and perhaps even bother to learn the second and third verses that no one seems to knows the words to.
We can then adopt a proper National Anthem.
Good ideas. To précis .. a National Anthem should be about the country and the people, not about one individual 'royal'. The whole concept of royalty in this day and age is ridiculous.
A National Anthem should celebrate the nation, its people, culture and achievements. Sadly GSTQ is not about the British people and totally neglects our achievements in science, sport, arts and humanitarianism. It does not celebrate or even acknowledge noble ideals like liberty, democracy, the rule of law and equality and instead propagates the idea that wealth, privilege and inherited status is something to be celebrated and cherished.
My suggestion is that the NA becomes a Royal Anthem to be played when Brenda is in attendance somewhere - a bit like the flying of the Royal Standard, which is otherwise never used. All the Royal fanboys can sing this to their heart's content - and perhaps even bother to learn the second and third verses that no one seems to knows the words to.
We can then adopt a proper National Anthem.
Good ideas. To précis .. a National Anthem should be about the country and the people, not about one individual 'royal'. The whole concept of royalty in this day and age is ridiculous.
A National Anthem should celebrate the nation, its people, culture and achievements. Sadly GSTQ is not about the British people and totally neglects our achievements in science, sport, arts and humanitarianism. It does not celebrate or even acknowledge noble ideals like liberty, democracy, the rule of law and equality and instead propagates the idea that wealth, privilege and inherited status is something to be celebrated and cherished.
My suggestion is that the NA becomes a Royal Anthem to be played when Brenda is in attendance somewhere - a bit like the flying of the Royal Standard, which is otherwise never used. All the Royal fanboys can sing this to their heart's content - and perhaps even bother to learn the second and third verses that no one seems to knows the words to.
We can then adopt a proper National Anthem.
Good ideas. To précis .. a National Anthem should be about the country and the people, not about one individual 'royal'. The whole concept of royalty in this day and age is ridiculous.
So the English National Anthem should be a song for us all to sing about our achievements in art, science, democracy etc as it doesn't represent England today.
Let's go the whole hog and have it written by a Somalian and make sure it heralds our multi-culturalism. We must also comprise it of 27 different languages to properly represent our generosity to the rest of the world.
We should then all sing it with our pants down and facing East.
Comments
Having experienced it at The Royal Tournament with the Queen in attendance and with the longest, loudest drum introduction I ever heard, it can be brilliant but too often it is outdone at sporting occasions by far more rousing, passionate efforts from various opposition teams.
It started in what was then the Five Nations when first Scotland opted to have Flower of Scotland rather than share GSTQ with England and then Wales followed.
Jerusalem is certainly a stirring one but is it truly representative of today's England?
Personally I think the French N.A is the best, but then you only get something as passionate as that in a Republic and I don't want to pay that price.
My suggestion is that the NA becomes a Royal Anthem to be played when Brenda is in attendance somewhere - a bit like the flying of the Royal Standard, which is otherwise never used. All the Royal fanboys can sing this to their heart's content - and perhaps even bother to learn the second and third verses that no one seems to knows the words to.
We can then adopt a proper National Anthem.
I'd go for NImrod if it was my choice.
Perhaps someone could write some modern day lyrics to that tune taking in some of the points that BFR raised that are missing from the current ditty.
interestingly does that me it should never be challenged or improved upon or only changed presumably when lizzie abdicates?
GSTQ
Elgar's Nimrod is a musical "representation" of a German friend of his called Augustus Jaeger who worked for Novello's.
Stig- if you're interested, Elgar set the Nimrod/Enigma tune to text in his later work "the music makers", but it sounds more about the "tortured" as opposed to "triumphant" English soul.
The whole concept of royalty in this day and age is ridiculous.
Let's go the whole hog and have it written by a Somalian and make sure it heralds our multi-culturalism. We must also comprise it of 27 different languages to properly represent our generosity to the rest of the world.
We should then all sing it with our pants down and facing East.
GSTQ