Singing the national anthem

[Bengalzona]

(10-05-2016, 11:09 AM)Truck_1_0_1_ Wrote: Thanks for that, 'zona; did not know about your guys' anthem, that was very informative!

I know most of the Bengals don't sing it, but Andy always does.

At every Jays game, I respectfully stay quiet during the American anthem, but I lip-synch the Canadian anthem (and basically tear up every time); you want to talk about uncatchy, dated songs, THAT is considered to be one of the crappiest anthems, according to people I've talked to (I don't think so, but others do). Have to say though, during the WBC game between Canada and the States, though I wasn't in my seat yet, the energy and awesomeness of all the Canadians singing... just amazing.

You wanna hear awesome anthem singing from the crowd? Hard to beat Romania, they're nuts.

I know a lot of Americans who think the Canadian national anthem is really cool. Of course, they only know the first two words of the lyrics... LOL! ("Oh, Canada!....hum...hum...hum...hum...hum...hummmmm!). Even then, it is a pretty cool anthem.

In general, I like all of the Western European anthems. You hear them and instantly identify with the country. All of them are pretty singable. I think the French ("La Marseillaise") is my favorite.

The British anthem ("God Save the Queen") is a bit misunderstood by Americans. We see it as a song about a queen, a person. But my understanding, and correct me if I'm wrong, is that the monarchy in England is not about individuals or positions. Rather the monarchy is a symbol of the health and welfare of the nation.

BTW- The words to the modern German anthem are NOT "Deutschland, Deutschland, über alles". They were from the original first stanza which was outlawed after WWII. Germans can be a bit touchy about that!

The "Hatikva" in Israel is a really soulful and emotional anthem.

A friend of mine described the Japanese anthem ("Kimigayo") as "one of the most subtly powerful songs ever". Being American, we are generally not good with subtleties. The lyrics are from a poem over 1000 years old.

These anthems are memorable because you can sing along with them. As a result, the melodies don't get twisted into some unrecognizable mass of arpeggios by some personal glory seeking diva every time they are played.