Well, I call bullshit on that! I am proud of my home and native land, and happy to wave the flag and sing the national anthem on suitable occasions, or even just for the pleasure of it.
I get the chance to do that, every now and then, when I go with Poor Len to a hockey game between teams from both sides of the World's Longest Undefended Border (TM). More than once, Len and I have debated which national anthem -- The Star-Spangled Banner or Ô Canada -- is best. We argue this as music-lovers, looking at as singability and "ear appeal", but also as patriots, thinking about the song's emotive qualities.
We allow, though, that even in these days of globalism triumphant, there are 100s of patriotic songs which rouse feelings of national pride (and sometimes anger and the urge to kill) in people from Albania to Zimbabwe. Even our own countries -- Poor Len's and Walt's [and Ed.'s! Ed.] -- have more than one such soul-stirring song. With that in mind, I present my highly subjective list of the Top Ten Patriotic Songs from around the world, with links to videos of each.
I must begin with a couple of honourable mentions. Many (perhaps most) of our American readers will be distressed to find The Star-Spangled Banner absent from the list. It is omitted because it memorializes a battle fought over 200 years ago [which most Americans probably can't name. Ed.] in the first war that the US of A didn't win. Worse, it's just not good music. It's difficult to sing, and the hack job done on it by "singers" at sports events isn't entirely their fault.
Nor is Dixie on the list. I love what that song stands for, but it's just a folk song -- a music-hall ballad in fact -- not the sort of martial music which makes you want to kill or be killed for the cause. (If you're not sure what I mean, check out No. 7 on my list.) And Dixie is just as hard to sing as The Star-Spangled Banner.
Some Canadians will be dismayed that I haven't included The Maple Leaf Forever. The music isn't particularly good, and the lyrics reference the same war as that mentioned in my note about The Star-Spangled Banner. The main problem with The Maple Leaf Forever, though, is that it appeals only to the British-Canadian monarchists -- the "Colonel Blimp" types who think the Union Jack should still be part of the Canadian flag. Poor Len wouldn't wave dat flag, and he wouldn't sing dat song either!
Now the list.
10. Die Stem - National Anthem of South Africa from 1947 to 1994. Mediocre music, but if you admire the pioneer spirit and the idea of other people leaving you alone to live your life as you please, you have to love this one.
9. Deutschland über alles - I know, I know. But it's good music, and the tune (code-named "Austria", but really Joseph Haydn's "Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser") is still to be found in both Catholic and Protestant hymnals. [A Nazi-era version of this has been removed from YouTube... consigned to the memory hole. Let that be a lesson. Ed.]
8. March of the Volunteers - the National Anthem of Communist China. It says "Qilai! Qilai! Qilai!" ("Arise! Arise! Arise!") You'd stand up ("volunteer") too, if you had a bayonet poking you in the back. Good music though. Short, too.
7. La Marseillaise - "Let the blood of foreigners overflow your gutters!" I love it. But as I said yesterday, such feelings are no longer PC in France. How about a barbershop quartet version?
6. God Bless America - There are lots of great American patriotic songs -- America the Beautiful, My Country `Tis Of Thee, Columbia Gem Of The Ocean -- but my favourite is this short, easy-to-sing Tin Pan Alley gem, as sung by Kate Smith.
5. Tomorrow Belongs To Me - Not a "real song", but composed for the musical Cabaret. If the Germans get over their guilt complex and start singing it for real, look out!
4. Land of Hope and Glory - The theme song for "Queen for a Day". [You're dating yourself. Ed.] OK, seriously... National anthems asking for God's blessing on a king or dictator are passé. What is wanted is a song praising one's country and people. Sir Edward Elgar's music and A.C. Benson's words are the de facto anthem of England (not Britain). Nana Mouskouri is my all-time favourite female vocalist.
3. Ô Canada - Good music, easy to sing, but the English lyrics keep changing for reasons of political correctness. The French lyrics, including the part about carrying the cross and the sword (!) are unchanged and great! The typically Canadian compromise at Montréal hockey games is to sing the first half in French and the the rest in English.
2. The Internationale - Not a national anthem, but an international anthem, that of Comintern, the Communist Party International. It has been used from time to time as an alternate anthem for the Soviet Union and Communist China. Excellent tune -- a real ear-worm -- and stirring words about standing up and throwing off your chains, yada yada yada. I like this performance by a Chinese army orchestra and chorus.
1. Lupang Hinirang - National Anthem of the Republic of the Philippines. Easy to sing, with lyrics in English and Spanish as well as Tagalog. I've chosen this version, with its capsule history of the Filipino struggle for independence, to show why I think it encapsulates everything that a patriotic song should be.
Dear readers... Wave whatever flag you like, sing whatever song you like, but, always and everywhere, stand up for your country!
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