"We’re number one /
This is the best place"
vs.
“Say… Do you smell something burning?”
Laurie Anderson’s reframing of generic anthems and the US anthem.
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Anthems of Soviet republics usually praised Russia, and I assume a mention of Lenin was a requirement. Here’s a bit from the anthem of Lithuanian SSR:
[quote]Lenin lit us the path to freedom,
The great Russian people helped in the struggle.
Stalin leads us to happiness and power,
The friendship of our nations is as firm as steel.[/quote]
(The mention of Stalin was replaced with “the Party” after Stalin’s death.)
When you go through the linked list, it becomes apparent that only the anthem of USSR as a whole could conceivable have had any sincerity behind it. All others sound like parodies that nevertheless had to be accepted by the censors because they ticked every item on the patriotism checklist, and if you rejected something for being too patriotic that might not have ended well for you.
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But why would they compare a proposal by some guys to actual anthems from other countries? I am sure in every country there is someone who would prefer a different anthem.
They mention both in the linked article, actually. I clicked on the map and it’s still pretty small…
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It’s not about a flower, it’s about a battle. So Scotland should be red. Wales should be blue and orange, because Land of my Fathers is about Wales and the Welsh language
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Now I’m trying to work out what The Internationale would be classed as.
Man, the Slovenian anthem is awesome! I can’t say I’m surprised it’s in the minority, though.
God’s blessing on all nations
Who long and work for that bright day
When o’er earth’s habitations
No war, no strife shall hold its sway
Who long to see
That all men free
No more shall foes, but neighbours be!
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I don’t know. I just referenced what @Nova linked. It does sound like there was public vote; whether this is something like “The Voice” or a state-sanctioned referendum, that’s unclear (as most wiki articles tend to be).
From the same article:
The Swiss Psalm was composed in 1841 by Alberich Zwyssig (1808–1854), with lyrics by Leonhard Widmer (1809–1867).[3] Since then it had been frequently suggested it be adopted as the official anthem, but the Swiss Federal Government had refused several times, wishing to let the people decide what they want to sing on political and military occasions.
Perhaps the author of the post took that as gospel?
I know that I do.
Only at sporting events where the organisers didn’t do their research properly.
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Saying it’s about the flag is pretty dopey. The flag is a metaphor here for survival of the country itself under possibly existential threat. The Constitution is only 23 years old, and here’s the most powerful nation on earth bombarding an American fortress only a few miles from the Capital that it had sacked and burned weeks earlier. Hardly “we like our pretty flag”.
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I’ve got a fondness for the proposed anthem of Macedonia by John Forster:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7xEgn0YKxY
Unfortunately, Macedonia doesn’t seem to have picked up on it. Pity. (Apropos of the article, he discusses a few anthems in the intro, including that of Senegal and Fiji.)
The way they are showing local officals announcing all the results turns this into bizarro Eurovision.
Gawd, that translation.
Tonight we man the “bearna baoil”[4]
[4] bearna baoil is Irish for “gap of danger.”
Then why didn’t you just translate it, ya doofus?
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AFAIK, the English lyrics are the original ones. Maybe it was to mess with monolingual English speakers?
You do sing the national anthem and I’ve worked out how to do it if you’re lost in the middle.
All that people care about is the look. So if you look and sound good -
Keep confirming and denying things.
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I completely forgotten that bit and we have the dvd. To be fair, I don’t think we watched it since 2006?
Wahey, go France! You don’t need any stupid lyrics messing up your awesome tune, although if you try hard enough you can sing along;
Although no matter how hard I try I can’t find a version of it on youtube that isn’t someone badly filming a telly. Find and watch Father Ted - A Christmassy Ted if you haven’t or have already seen it before. Here’s the Irish national anthem in better quality;
I’m assuming they took the UK as a whole. It’s always God Save The Queen for the Olympics, etc.
England and N. Ireland should have their own, separate anthems too but that’s another story.
That’s Spain, but I’ll let you off for the Father Ted clips 
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I just opened the image in a new tab and zoomed in. The image contains plenty of data when you zoom in.
