Is singing your national anthem badly a disservice to it?

[Wadders]

Thats why I love our UK national anthem.

It's as if it was designed to be sung by drunken football fans .... who don't know the words.

Which works for me when i'm pissed and watching an England match, I can sing along.

The sad part is we have a boring as fuck national anthem. I prefer Rule Britannia.

Our national anthem is also the only one I know to contain racism. It wins for that reason alone.

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.

Nah, Flower of Scotland, the Scot's anthem has plenty about bashing English and King Edward and "sending them homeward, to think again". We may not actually be able to invade eachother any more, but by God we'll still insult them in our anthems.

Thats why I love our UK national anthem.

It's as if it was designed to be sung by drunken football fans .... who don't know the words.

Which works for me when i'm pissed and watching an England match, I can sing along.

The sad part is we have a boring as fuck national anthem. I prefer Rule Britannia.

Yeah, it's practically a dirge, which suits both drunken supporters, and half-assed players who can mumble the words with minimum effort or passion, and get away with it.

Loath as I am to compliment rugby, our England football team could learn a lot from the Italian national rugby team. Fuck me, do they belt their anthem out. Not that it does them any favours on the pitch though...

I think for England we should have our own national anthem, Jerusalem would be great seeing as it's specifically about England, not great Britain. All the other GB countries get their own anthem, why not us :-(

 

[Colour Scientist]

The Irish national anthem is in Irish so a lot of people know the syllable sounds but not the actual words. A lot of people end up mumbling the last few lines because they're not entirely sure what they are.

 

[Strazdas]

i think football games are disservice to national anthem. but thats just me. and capcha does not agree: "no way".

 

[suitepee7]

i genuinely don't care about my national anthem (UK). it's not very interesting, i don't know the words, and i don't know when i would ever sing it. i'd say it would be more of a disservice to sing it without any enthusiasm, if you're trying then it may sound horrible, but at least you tried to make it otherwise.

 

[MrBenSampson]

What bothers me are singers at sporting events who put their own spin on the anthem, and ruin the whole thing.

 

[Crises^]

I would have to say no as our one is rediculasly hard as the Mojority of Ireland can't even speak Gaelic properly, here is our anthem have fun trying to pronounce half of it.

Seo dhibh a cháirde duan Óglaigh,
Cathréimeach briomhar ceolmhar,
Ár dtinte cnámh go buacach táid,
'S an spéir go min réaltogach
Is fonnmhar faobhrach sinn chun gleo
'S go tiúnmhar glé roimh thíocht do'n ló
Fé chiúnas chaomh na hoiche ar seol:
Seo libh canaídh Amhrán na bhFiann
Curfá
Sinne Firnna Fáil
A tá fé gheall ag Éirinn,
buion dár slua
Thar toinn do ráinig chugainn,
Fé mhóid bheith saor.
Sean tír ár sinsir feasta
Ní fhagfar fé'n tiorán ná fé'n tráil
Anocht a théam sa bhearna bhaoil,
Le gean ar Ghaeil chun báis nó saoil
Le guna screach fé lámhach na bpiléar
Seo libh canaídh Amhrán na bhFiann.
Cois bánta réidhe, ar árdaibh sléibhe,
Ba bhuachach ár sinsir romhainn,
Ag lámhach go tréan fé'n sár-bhrat séin
Tá thuas sa ghaoith go seolta
Ba dhúchas riamh d'ár gcine cháidh
Gan iompáil siar ó imirt áir,
'S ag siúl mar iad i gcoinne námhad
Seo libh, canaídh Amhrán na bhFiann
Curfá

A bhuíon nách fann d'fhuil Ghaeil is Gall,
Sin breacadh lae na saoirse,
Ta scéimhle 's scanradh i gcroíthe namhad,
Roimh ranna laochra ár dtire.
Ár dtinte is tréith gan spréach anois,
Sin luisne ghlé san spéir anoir,
'S an bíobha i raon na bpiléar agaibh:
Seo libh, canaídh Amhrán na bh Fiann.

 

[Angie7F]

Well, in japan we are not allowed to sing our anthem or put up our flag without being criticized as right wing.
I think the anthem itself is simple and nice. But I have no idea what it means, nor do I know the words to it.
On the other hand, I can still sing the Aussie anthem pretty accurately.

 

[Rastien]

I'm apathetic toward national pride even for an englishman so don't really give a crap if the national anthem is sung badly. If you wanna sing it awesome go ahead rip it apart and make it sound terrible if you have pride in your nation go for it show it.

 

[The Artificially Prolonged]

I refuse to sing my national anthem.
It's not that I oppose the values presented in the song, but I strongly oppose the nationalism that it implies.

This. I don't like patriotic and nationalistic displays, especially at sporting events where I just want to watch the game. So I don't care if someone does justice to my country's anthem, besides I never bothered to learn the words to myself either.

 

[Buzz Killington_v1legacy]

While we're on the subject, here's one of my favorite renditions of the American anthem from 1984 (because I am OLD)--it's short, sweet, to the point, and crammed with a cappella harmony:

 

[Palademon]

There's a way to sing God Save The Queen WELL?

YOU'RE MAKING IT UP!

Just listening to the change in tone in the the victorious and glorious parts of the first verse is horrific when attempted by the common man.

 

[xplosive59]

The only God Save the Queen I sing is this...

 

[Rose and Thorn]

After *having* to sing it every day in school for 8 odd years I am officially sick and tired of the Canadian national anthem. I yawn everytime it comes on because I recall those terribly sleepy mornings.

I also don't really like the Canadian Anthem, I prefer UK and America over it.

 

[Mr.Squishy]

I suppose it depends?
But since we're talking about national anthems, I like Norway's national anthem. It's just about how nice the country is to live in, and is both beautiful and chill.

 

[Haukur Isleifsson]

We Icelanders have one of these anthems that it's near impossible for inexperienced singers to do properly. So I can't really make the connection that singing it badly is somehow bad.

 

[Squilookle]

Oh please... I'm surprised anyone still uses those antiquated relics of bygone nationalistic days.

By the way, Waltzing Matilda doesn't work- sure more Aussies may know it that the anthem itself, but it doesn't say anything about the actual country- it's just the story of a thief who gets caught just before murdering a sheep for dinner, who then drowns himself to escape the law...

Hmm maybe it does say something about us afterall...

Still, I prefer that 'We are Australian' song as an anthem- you know, the 'we are one/but we are many/and from all the lands on Earth we come' song. Has a feel to it that makes you all fuzzy inside.

 

[BarbaricGoose]

National anthems are pretty mediocre. It's not possible to perform them well without changing them. You can call me unpatriotic, but I'm from the US, and my ears start bleeding every time I have to listen to our anthem.

Gotta give it to Russia's national anthem, though. THAT is anthem!

 

[Distance_warrior]

I think the Australian anthem actually sounds better when its belted out badly by a hoard of off-key off-tempo louts. I think it is more in tune with our national psyche that way.