"God Bless America"

[Dioltach]

One thing that annoys me about "God Save the Queen" is that it's played for the England rugby team. All the other countries have great, stirring anthems, and we get that dirge, and it's not even the English anthem! Why can't we have "Land of Hope and Glory" to get us going? I'd even settle for "Rule Brittannia", even though it's even less appropriate that GStQ.

 

[Orius]

About Scouting. I know that we got a goodly dose of info on proper displays of the flag, how do display/dispose of them, when and how to salute, etc., and I recall meeting my Canadian counterparts at the Cub Scout Olympics in Munich who pretty much got the same kind of indoctrination for their country's symbols...

And I know there are still a fair number of Scouts (active and former) out there.

Yeah, I was in Scouts too, and I knew a lot of that stuff. Some I forgot, but I still remember chunks of it. When I got to be one of the older scouts, the scoutmaster put me in charge of instructing the younger scouts because I knew the stuff well, and he probably saw me as being the most responsible older scout.

One thing that annoys me about "God Save the Queen" is that it's played for the England rugby team. All the other countries have great, stirring anthems, and we get that dirge, and it's not even the English anthem!

Are you including the American anthem there? Did you know that "The Star-Spangled Banner" started out as some British drinking song? Seriously. The music that is, not the lyrics.

 

[Derulbaskul]

(snip) but in all honesty our own National Anthem has always struck me as a boring, dirge-like offence to music and I wouldn't sing along with it if you paid me. (snip)

I'm an Aussie and I really enjoy God Save the Queen. It sounds magnificent in a rugby stadium... even if it means my team is copping a hiding. We replaced it with Advance Australia Fair; that really doesn't cut it as an anthem.

Unsurprisingly, Australians are a lot less formal about our traditions and about our flag. But, obviously, we have a different history and culture (some would say a lack thereof) plus an ingrained distaste and distrust for overt, state-enforced patriotism and formality. I suspect it's something inherited from our Irish forbears.

Singapore has some interesting rules relating to its flag: it may only be flown from private residences a certain number of days before National Day and on that day itself. As 90% of Singaporeans live in public housing apartments this is achieved by affixing the flag in the designated place on the outside of the concrete balcony that runs along the front of these apartments. You can be prosecuted and fined for flying it at other times.

 

[Dr. Harry]

See, this is one of those major differences between the UK and the USA.

I completely understand that Americans see it differently, but in all honesty our own National Anthem has always struck me as a boring, dirge-like offence to music and I wouldn't sing along with it if you paid me.

But if it means something to you (and for many people it does) then I'd never look down on anyone prepared to sing loudly and gustily (in tune is optional ) in public, so all power to you.

The Star Spangled Banner has an *excellent* trombone part, if you're playing first or second chair. Third chair gets an extended rising and descending scale.

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

The Star Spangled Banner has an *excellent* trombone part, if you're playing first or second chair. Third chair gets an extended rising and descending scale.

See, that's the kind of information I would never have known otherwise, and it made me grin.

Thank you, teh interwebz!

 

[jonesy]

funny thing.... peer pressure.....

Mmmm... peer. Oh, sorry.


Here we have the Maamme-laulu (the national anthem), and Finlandia (not the national anthem).

Guess which one gets more respect.

Finlandia is awesome. Maamme is (by comparison) stuffy and pretentious. There's been a (somewhat heated) discussion about making Finlandia the anthem instead. Just check out the two on Youtube and I guarantee you'll agree.


And don't you just love all the (look at me) parentheses. Good golly Miss Bracket, I'm in an odd mood today.

 

[Orius]

Some people want to change the American national anthem to "America the Beautiful". Some say that "The Star-Spangeld Banner" is bad because it glorifies war, though a more pragmatic view says it's damn hard to sing because it of the range of the notes (probably because of the melody's origin as a drinking song ). I doubt it'll change, because some Americans can get really out of sorts about these things.

 

[Thunderfoot]

I spent three years in Germany courtesy of Uncle Sam and noticed a few things during our ceremonies. First let me explain, ALL of our ceremonies were not only multi-service (we were a Military Intelligence unit so every service worked side by side), they were all multi-national; not only German, because we were, you know, in their country, but also Canadian, English, Australian, New Zealand and, on occasion French. In addition I was fortunate enough to participate in the Nijmegen 4-days marches which was represented by armed forces from all over Europe, North America and one team from Hong Kong (not part of China at the time.) and even one from Poland - now THERE was a story during the cold war, let me tell you.

What I noticed is the more warlike the culture, the more nationalistic the ceremony or observances thereof - Germany, the US, Poland, even Canada were a little more "regimented" for lack of a better word than say Holland, France or Italy.

England, Denmark, Finland, Hong Kong and Spain were much more.... focused.... not lackadaisical but not ultra nationalistic. Not sure why, not claiming it as hard science, just an observation. So maybe it has to do with how hard you pulled yourself up. I've said several times before that the US suffers from "teenager" syndrome on the International stage because in the historical scheme of things, that's exactly what we are - 200+ years sounds like a long time until you talk to someone from England, or France, or Italy, or Greece, or China....

Who knows, I will say as a former Soldier, it does cheese me off when people blatantly disrespect the the Flag or National Anthem, but more often than not, I think its merely a case of "ceremonial ignorance" I still remember learning the Pledge of Allegiance in school for the first couple of years before they stopped it; they taught us how to stand, what to say, how to act, and then, they stopped. It was after that I noticed people stopped paying attention, like I said, just ignorance not blatant disrespect. So I usually give some grace in these cases and then try to teach them the error of their ways later.


And on a related note, I sang the "Star Spangled Banner" acapella as a tryout my Freshman year to join the Madrigal Choir - in E, with the modulation on "free"... Needless to say, I made it.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I spent three years in Germany courtesy of Uncle Sam and noticed a few things during our ceremonies. First let me explain, ALL of our ceremonies were not only multi-service (we were a Military Intelligence unit so...

<snip>

...I sang the "Star Spangled Banner" acapella as a tryout my Freshman year to join the Madrigal Choir - in E, with the modulation on "free"... Needless to say, I made it.

Someone has a wealth of talents!

 

[El Mahdi]

...What I noticed is the more warlike the culture, the more nationalistic the ceremony or observances thereof - Germany, the US, Poland, even Canada were a little more "regimented" for lack of a better word than say Holland, France or Italy. ...

You aren't kidding! French airman wear shorts as part of their uniform while performing flightline maintenance, and some of their rations actually have wine in them (however, they are the best military rations I've ever eaten). And those Dutch, some actually have pony tails - in uniform!