The English national anthem

[RoosTah]

Hello to my English friends here.

So I was having a chat with a friend of mine who hails from your isles recently about how awful a lot of national anthems are. He said he thought Australia's was pretty uninspiring, but argued there are certainly worse examples, and immediately directed him to "God save the Queen". I mean really, how temporally dislocated, uninspiring and unrepresentative can you honestly get? God save the Queen? Well what about all the bloody people?

It was at this point Tom (my English friend) made the rather (and unbeknown to me) point that, actually, 'God save the Queen/King' is the UK's anthem, but England itself doesn't have one. He said this is one of the reasons why songs like 'Swing Low' (an American song) have become attached to English national sides; they need something to identify them from the other home nations (who all have their own anthems) for whom the dreary old 'God save the Queen/King' also applies when under the UK banner.

So why doesn't England have it's own song? And if you were to elect an existing song to be your anthem, what would it be?

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Not sure why we don't have an official anthem - maybe because England is the "head" of the UK so the uk anthem = ours automatically.
I'm in the minority that actually likes GSTQ, so I'd nominate (/keep) that.

 

[RoosTah]

Really? You like GSTQ? I often wondered if English people actually liked it, so there you go. What exactly do you like about it, if you don't mind my asking? I've always felt it was actually a pretty horrible set of lyrics for anyone but the royals to be honest... I mean, you're asking God for help - an omnipotent and omniscient creature - surely you can extend the request to include a few bits to improve the lot of the general populous as well. By today's standard's it's almost like having a song "God protect the wealth and health of the 0.01%" (the multi-billionaires) but making no mention of anyone else.

 

[ratsapprentice]

I don't mind GSTQ it's a bit dull maybe, but it's not awful.

Whenever this gets brought up the most popular selection seems to be Jerusalem.

I can't ever see it happening though, there has been public support for the change from various MP's from all parties including David Cameron.
But it still hasn't happened.

Just to add:

I find it hard to reconcile with any religious lyrics, especially ones that are essentially, foreign culturally. (The Abrahamic religions)
But I accept that the national anthem inevitably will be, and crack on with it.
Which is difficult as a vehement anti-theist.

 

[Peat]

Its alright. Fun to shout along to if you're in the right mood. People can go on about whether its relevant, but its more relevant than Swing Low, that's for sure.

This topic - not to have a go or anything - comes up about every 18 months or so. Most people will be in favour of one. The vote will be split over Jerusalem and Land of Hope and Glory. Jerusalem will probably edge it. There will be a few other votes for a couple of others. There's a pretty good possible shout which I'm forgetting. Maybe. Oh yes. I Vow To Thee My Country. Nah. Not a shouty song. Beautiful, but not shouty.

I am in favour of Jerusalem. A) I like it more than the others b) Its more English c) I prefer the sentiment d) Eat a wang if you disagree.

The last was added just to make this version of the thread a little different.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Its alright. Fun to shout along to if you're in the right mood. People can go on about whether its relevant, but its more relevant than Swing Low, that's for sure.

Aye.
It's all tradition and nostalgia etc.
Like James Bond: "For king and country".

 

[tenpm]

I quite like God Save the Queen and Advance Australia Fair. But then again, I'm Japanese. Our anthem is horribly slow and its lyrics are a slightly more boring version of GSTQ, so my standards are pretty low.

 

[William18]

I like Jerusalem and also I Vow to Thee my Country. They would be better than GSTQ, IMO.

 

[TRF_Cymro]

I like Jerusalem and also I Vow to Thee my Country. They would be better than GSTQ, IMO.

Jerusalem is what the England Cricket team have adopted as their anthem.

 

[Getofmeland]

Jerusalem is one of my favourite hymns and I will be having it at my wedding next year... Its very uplifting

 

[Feicarsinn]

Is there anything to be said for Parklife?

 

[g6mcg]

Is there anything to be said for Parklife?

If Phil Daniels would replace the usual lead singers, yes!

 

[TRF_Olyy]

The only logical answer:

 

[j'nuh]

Put some arrangement on this, job's a good'un.

 

[Ospreylian]

I would love to see the English team (and crowd) belting this out before a match:

 

[Bluemoon]

for whom the dreary old 'God save the Queen/King' also applies when under the UK banner.

So why doesn't England have it's own song? And if you were to elect an existing song to be your anthem, what would it be?

You raise a good point, but although 'officially' God Save the Queen is the anthem of the UK, it is no more an anthem of the others countries in the UK than it is to you in the commonwealth. I think England are probably aware of this and really do see God Save the Queen as their anthem and their identity. It's always interesting at the olympics, because often you'll find British sportspersons such as Andy Murray (Scottish) and Jade Jones (Welsh) did not sing God Save the Queen (or looked in pain when doing so) when receiving a gold medal.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

We should've hung, drawn and quartered the traitorous b*****ds!

 

[Packman]

Let the Ramones write your national anthem.

I've come up with a very English national anthem entitled "Everyone loves Winston."

He's short, He's round, He rolled along the ground
Winston Churchill, Winston Churchill.
He's short, He's round, He rolled along the ground
Winston Churchill, Winston Churchill.

Everyone loves him, we even love his cigars
Small children could use his trousers as a tent.
Everyone loves his crinkly face, We love his funny walk
Floorboards creaked wherever he went. (Wherever he weeeeent.)

That's as far as I've got. Mind you one of the best things about GSTQ is that its over in less than a minute.
The Ramones would approve. They'd go, "Heeeeey man... F***ing A." They won't approve of the Argentinian national anthem. As fine a song as it is, it's not punk. It also discriminates against school children with attention deficit disorder. "Heeeeey man... Whoa... this song is like.... looooong! try this one....... LOBOTOMYLOBOTOMYLOBOTOMYLOBOTOMYOU. Yeeeeeah..."