Land of dope and snoring

[undyingking]

If you're respectably at work or somewhere today rather than able to watch the TV at lunch like me, you may not be aware that a minor hoo-hah is afoot about England's anthem at the Commonwealth Games.

At previous such events, when an English competitor / team won gold, the medal ceremony was soundtracked by 'Land of Hope and Glory'. This time round though there was a public poll which prompted a change to use 'Jerusalem' instead.

Now it's actually happening though, people are complaining that they don't know the words and that it goes on too long.

I don't know about you, but I missed the poll at the time, so here I will in part recreate it and also add some extras.

[Poll #1627902]

I personally favour Jerusalem, because I think William Blake's poetry rather more inspiring than the bombastic hackwork that AC Benson churned out for Land of Hope and Glory. For one thing, the line about "Wider and still wider / Shall thy bounds be set" seems singularly inappropriate for a Commonwealth event involving countries who owe their existence to the belated retrenchment of those bounds. Also, it seems to me that piously hoping that God will make the nation mightier runs a poor second to strapping on one's bow of burning gold and setting out to achieve a better England directly by human effort.

(And LoHaG is the anthem of the Conservative Party, while Jerusalem was the anthem of the women's suffrage movement. There you go.)

I wonder though why 'I Vow to Thee, My Country' wasn't offered as an option? Maybe too slow…

Comments

[caffeine-fairy.livejournal.com]

Looks like I need another option of "I'm basically a happy person"...

[venta.livejournal.com]

I wonder though why 'I Vow to Thee, My Country' wasn't offered as an option?

Probably Holst is too perniciously foreign :)

Remember that you are an Englishman, and have consequently won first prize in the lottery of life

[gbsteve.livejournal.com]

I prefer Jerusalem and not just because it was featured in a Monty Python sketch but it is more Christian than LoHaG which is a downer for me.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Also a bonus for Jerusalem: it doesn't, as far as I'm aware, have any dirty words. I'm sure it soon would have if it were commonly used as a CWG anthem. I know at least one set of rude words to LoHaG (despite not actually knowing the proper ones).

[tylorva.livejournal.com]

I prefer LoHaG - it's faster and a much more upbeat sounding melody, which I think is more fitting for sporting events. Plus also less obviously Christian.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

Is a hymn really appropriate for a culturally diverse team? That would be my objection.
That said, "God save the Queen" isn't exactly secular, either and it's probably hard to find a Western anthem that doesn't reference Christianity in some way.

[mr-malk.livejournal.com]

I like Jerusalem. Full Stop. I love William Blake's work in general, and the tune that was added later manages to... well... hit just the right note, as it were.

Land of Hope and Glory has been far too tainted by Toriness for me ever to like it or acknowledge it as in any way representative of me. No more than I would expect a committed Tory to like the idea of The Red Flag being their national anthem.

Mind you, there is a part of me that considers my real national anthem to be Ilkley Moor Bar t'At!!

[bibliogirl.livejournal.com]

I Vow To Thee My Country would, I think, be harder to sing.

[chilledchimp.livejournal.com]

Apparently Holst was not happy about words being written to Jupiter. I wasn't either - I would have liked Jupiter played at my wedding but couldn't as it's the tune to a hymn, which isn't allowed at a civil ceremony (and people would have thought I was copying Princess Di.)

[vicarage.livejournal.com]

I'd suggest a Song of Patriotic Prejudice, I know all the words to that!

"The English, the English, the English are best, I wouldn't give tuppence for all of the rest"

...

"and they practice beforehand, which spoils the fun"

[ninthcouncil.livejournal.com]

Jerusalem > LoHag >> God Save The Queen. Jupiter / Thaxted is a top tune but the lyrics are redundant.

God Save The Queen is awful, though Flower of Scotland is worse, possibly the worst national anthem in the world, a tuneless dirge that goes on for ever. The Welsh kick us and the Scots into a cocked hat, though Land of My Fathers really has to be sung by 40,000 Welshmen in a rugby stadium to have its full effect.

The Russians beat everyone though.

[zenithed.livejournal.com]

We always used to sing Jerusalem on the last day of the school year, so it fills me with anticipation of skiving off at midday and spending the next few weeks playing computer games.

[crowleycrow.livejournal.com]

I never heard or heard of "I Vow to Thee my COuntry" before reading about the ants in T.H. White's Once and Future King" singigng "I Vow to Thee my Smell." I sort of guessed there would be an original but not what it was. A lot of my Anglo-American reading/growing was like that, getting the parody first.

[mrlloyd.livejournal.com]

I like Jerusalem. However I once read a suggestion that we should use Ian Dury and the Blockhead's 'Reasons to be Cheerful' as the national anthem, with the reasons themselves being frequently updated to reflect whatever great things are going on in the country at the time.

[mrsdanvers63.livejournal.com]

"Reasons to be Cheerful" would be excellent, but would need an update to remove the Americana and European references.

"Land of Dope and Tory" and Jerusalem are stirring, which I think is what you need in a national anthem; think of "The Marseillaise" - originally specifically titled as a war-song it's very blood-thirsty,( War song for the army of the Rhine), but England doesnt do stirring we do fawning.

GSTQ always conjures up the very rude playground joke and the Pistols.