Posted on 07/24/2019 9:18:08 AM PDT by CondoleezzaProtege
Why is it Wales and Scotland, who share our monarch, both have stirring national songs while England plough on with our homage to Queen Elizabeth II? It's hardly the most uplifting and melodic of tunes...Compare it to France - whose tune La Marseillaise commences at 100mph without slowing down before it's defiant ending...Queen Elizabeth is our monarch, and quite rightly we sing for her. As we did for King George in the anthem's original adaption God save great George our king.
If we got rid of God Save the Queen, what would we sing?
When England compete in the Commonwealth Games, they sing the poem Jerusalem, it's regarded in many circles as the unofficial anthem of England. As well as its use at the Commonwealth Games, cricket fans following the country's fortunes sing it with gusto before play - however, the team still sing GSTQ.
"And did those feet in ancient time, Walk upon England's mountains green?"
It meanders through three verses before the final section that boasts the dramatic end...
"Till we have built Jerusalem, In England's green and pleasant Land."
What about any other options? The patriotic song 'Land of Hope and Glory' is a contender.
'Rule, Britannia!' Now this is a song that could rival Brazil or Italy for its upbeat tempo. It screams out patriotism and defiance.
(Excerpt) Read more at coventrytelegraph.net ...
I agree that "Jerusalem" would be unacceptable because of its socialist utopian overtones. Besides, the title refers to a city 2,500 miles away from England.
A possible candidate might be "All My Homeland," a paean to English industry, culture, heritage and natural beauty. Unfortunately, the tune has not come to Youtube although it can be downloaded from pay sites.
Nice try, the Battle of Dunkirk was the defense and evacuation to Britain of British and other Allied forces in Europe from 26 May to 4 June 1940.
The Battle of France basically ended a month later, June 25. The tea drinking surrender monkeys fled the northern flank weeks earlier and left the French exposed. It -was- sensible as they needed to preserve something to defend the home islands with.
But yes, they did run away and leave the French high and dry.
Not a Brit was still there when France fell.
This was followed by an even bigger Brit surrender in Singapore where they flipped the classic defender/attacker odds and surrendered to a Jap force one third their size.
RE Singapore:
Yes, I knew about Singapore.
“But yes, they did run away and leave the French high and dry.”
So it’s the British’ fault for the French failing to defend their own country, and then actively collaborate with the Nazis? How so?
I know that a lot of the European countries had active Nazi movements within them, and some of them fielded SS units as well; but the French army was larger than the Germans in the mid-late 30s when the Gremans marched into the Rhineland; and could have done serious damage to the Germans had they decided to aggressively fight back.
Through the storms shone the light of freedom
And the great Lenin led the way.
Stalin has raised us to serve the masses,
Inspired us to labor and to achieve heroic deeds.
Glory to our free fatherland!
The friendship of the people people is the stronghold of hope.
Flag of the Soviets! Flag of the people!
Carry it from one victory to another!
Good version. I love ELP’s Jerusalem https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9TbiIEpZJ8
The new lyrics are much better, though, even mentions “God”.....
Russia — our sacred State,
Russia — our beloved country.
A mighty will, a great glory —
Is your legacy for all time!
Chorus:
Be glorious, our free Homeland,
Fraternal peoples, a union for the ages,
Common wisdom handed down by our forbears
Be glorious, our country! We pride ourselves in you.
From the southern seas to the arctic circle
our forests and fields spread before you
You are unique in the world, you are without compare
The land of my birth protected by God.
Chorus...
Open spaces for dreams and for living
Are opened for us by the coming years
Our strength is given to us by faith in our Homeland
Thus it was, so it is and always will be!
Chorus...
Not sure what Labor’s “New Jerusalem” has to do with William Blake’s.
That’s a bit of a revisionist take. Blake was a Romantic, and their view of the industrialization that was going on was in direct opposition to their interest in/love of/preference for the power of nature to bring about a transcendent experience (with Nature’s God).
Maréchal, nous voilà! (Marshal, we are here!)--André Dassary (1941)
My vote is for the song “wacky sax” from The Benny Hill Show.
CC
Scotland the Brave is not the official national anthem but I love it.
The Marseillaise sounds great but it takes a great singer to sing it. The words are awful tho.
The German one, at least I think Deutschland Uber Alles is still their anthem is also great.
For words Jerusalem is the best of all. Overall maybe the best too.
Oh Canada is also very good.
Star Spangled Banner is maybe the best especally the words.
Flower of Scotland has great words too.
Same “creator:” socialist leveling.
I like the Greek anthem, although I only get to hear it during the Olympic Opening Ceremonies.
The idea that untamed Nature was edenic is a childish dream. Nature, while not inherently cruel, is supremely indifferent. Only civilization protects us from its vicissitudes.
Rejecting industrialization in favor of Roussean “savage” purity would result in an earthly hell, not paradise.
It's exactly what the Khmer Rouge did, they moved everyone to the countryside to farm the land, that is, those they didn't kill.
Damn. If I can’t have your kids,
at least sign me up for your newsletter.
#awesome
The only reason the British had to flee to Dunkirk was because the French army collapsed and left the BEF’s right flank exposed. No much you can do in that circumstance.
Benny Hill adopted “Yakety Sax” by Boots Randolph as his theme song, for its rollicking tempo.
Just like the Monty Python team adopted Sousa’s “Liberty Bell March” for their animated intros.
Blake was not of their camp. He was more a mystic and a romantic (which can be criticized, too, but they're not socialism). His "'til we have built Jerusalem" was no more built on a Socialist blueprint than America's "alabaster cities [which] gleam,undimmed by human tears."
He was repelled by the godless materialism of his time. This was real, jackbooted oppression of the poor, deprived of land and a living, family, God and all. This was no propagandist's fantasy.
The economic crimes which accompanied this phase of British capital accumulation and "development" --- that crimes that "put them on the map," if you will --- were crimes that were identified in the Bible --- as Blake was aware---as calling out to God for vengeance:
Exodus 22:21
[The Lord says]Ye shall not hurt the widow and the fatherless: If you do hurt them, they will cry unto me, and I will hear them cry, and my fury shall take indignation, and I will strike thee down with the sword.
I think it is fair to say that there was a bit of naïveté with regard to Romantic poets as they saw the spread of industrialization and how it literally changed the landscape of society. In their view, though, the idea of an “earthly hell” (as you’ve said) manifested itself more readily in encroaching industrialization and its accompanying materialism, than in the “savage purity” of striving to be in tune with nature.
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