Change the tune......liderally!!!

[zbd1960]

Elgar was not happy that his march Pomp and Circumstance #1 (there are 4) was appropriated for 'Land of Hope and Glory'. "Rule, Britannia" does not mean what most people think it means and it actually pre-dates the majority of the empire (written by Thomas Arne in the C18th c.1740). It also pre-dates Britain's naval supremacy - that lay with the Netherlands at that time. 'Jerusalem' is a poem by Blake with a mixed theme of social justice and religion. It was a response to the early years of the industrial revolution. Its 'dark satanic mills' was probably a reference to early flour mills e.g. in London. It was written around 1804 and so pre-dates considerably the 'dark satanic cotton mills' that people tend to assume it is referencing.  

 

The current National Anthem tune dates to the C18th (about 1745) and was the first one... there are several verses not generally sung due to their rather non-PC nature... The tune is used in the US as a hymn tune for some reason. Personally, I'm against the use of texts like Jerusalem because of its religious overtones since I think there should be no link between the state and religion (which for historical reasons is a bit tricky to achieve in the UK).       

[Cato]

'3 Lions' raised the bar for football songs, not because it's the best song ever, although I do like it, but because it was adopted by fans and has been an unofficial England anthem for the last 25 years.

 

I think that's why the FA stopped releasing England pop songs for the big tournaments. After '3 Lions' any song that wasn't being sung in the stands was deemed a flop

 

I imagine a new national anthem woukd be judged by the same criteria, if people aren't spontaneously singing it at events then it's not really working.

[Happy Jack]

5 hours ago, paul_5 said:

I suggest an instrumental is the way forward on this - none of those pesky forelock-tugging or jingoistic words to get in the way of a good melody.

 

All well and good, but I bet you the players still wouldn't be able to remember the words just before kick-off ...

 

[Happy Jack]

15 minutes ago, zbd1960 said:

... there are several verses not generally sung due to their rather non-PC nature... 

 

In these IndyRef 2 times, I bet there are some at Westminster who'd bring back at least one long-deleted verse:

 

Lord, grant that Marshal Wade,
May by thy mighty aid,
Victory bring.
May he sedition hush,
and like a torrent rush,
Rebellious Scots to crush,
God save the King.

[martthebass]

I'm a firm believer that 'Ilkley Moor Bar'tat' should be adopted....

[Mickyk]

Change it to the Pistols version....Very apt in this day n age as well.

 

 

[Nail Soup]

On 14/07/2022 at 19:21, Barking Spiders said:

That said, England international teams will soon need a new anthem anyway, when QEII passes on.

Not so sure that the queen's death is a reason to change it.... as far as I know then anthem lives on through the monarchs, with adjustments for gender.

I'd say that there are 4 other reasons to change it for England stuff:

1. It's not specifically the English Anthem, it's UK anthem and commonwealth too and so on.
2. The tune is a bit of a dirge.
3. the lyrics are a bit dodgy.
4. Too much centered around the institutions of royalty and church.

[Nail Soup]

I could go for Jerusalem though.

But how would it sound being sung by a bunch of people with no discernable vocal talent, like  at a football match? Here's the version by The Fall and Mark E Smith (also features the melody line played on bass):