What should be the national anthem of England?
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View Poll Results: Anthem of England?
God Save the Queen 30 26.55% Jerusalem 42 37.17% Swing Low Sweet Chariot 4 3.54% I vow to thee my country 11 9.73% Land of Hope and Glory 26 23.01%
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Re: What should be the national anthem of England?Quite agree. That's exactly why WE, the English (and, to some extent, British) abolished slavery. It is for all the other non-English homo sapiens to answer for their failings in this matter.(Original post by TheGreatReformer)
"We"? You certainly didn't do anything.
Do you mean the Empire enforced the abolishment worldwide? In any case, the Imperial ancestors of the Isles should never have taken part in such primitive and barbaric acts in the first instance.
They should have done the clever and superior thing and left the entire continent to its own doings. Instead, they were primitive and inferior and kept slaves - what intelligent Homo Sapiens keeps slaves??
Considering the vital significance of history to our culture and the hugely important parts religion and the monarchy have played in that history, yes. Atheists and republicans are deviants from the essential essence of what it is to be English.(Original post by derangedyoshi)
So an atheist or a republican is a "cultural deviant"?
However, as far as the anthem goes, we could do worse than to use the second verse of GSTQ:
O Lord our God arise
Scatter her enemies
And make them fall
Confound their politics
Frustrate their knavish tricks
On Thee our hopes we fix
God save us all
Just to keep everybody happy, the first and last lines could be replaced.
Maybe England, England arise and England o'er all
It wouldn't do any harm, however, to replace the tune with something a bit more upbeat and stirring.Last edited by kingsholmmad; 01-04-2012 at 17:31. -
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Re: What should be the national anthem of England?This is conceded.(Original post by kingsholmmad)
Quite agree. That's exactly why WE, the English (and, to some extent, British) abolished slavery. It is for all the other non-English homo sapiens to answer for their failings in this matter.
However, its abolishment does not negate the fact that the Imperial ancestors of the Isles did indeed extensively partake in the said barbaric acts. There are a number of opinions that the slave trades conducted by the Empire were only halted and finally abolished due to it becoming 'uneconomical'.
In any case, as soon as the Empire joined in with the slavery of the Africans, all 'superiority' vanished and history should view them as primitive and barbaric. There were, however, many clever men during the times of the Empire and the slave trade who voiced their aversion to such 'barbaric acts' (indeed, many at that time called slavery 'barbaric' regardless of the enslaved!). It is also interesting to study the reasons that were used to justify the slavery of the Black Man by the Empire and regardless of the 'inferiority' argument, many had the stupidity (and the audacity) to rationalise through the use of Biblical examples! -
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Re: What should be the national anthem of England?I suspect you are one of those people who look at the appalling barbarism of slavery in isolation and refuse to take into account the undeniable and essential factors that contributed to its existence. It may even be possible that you choose to ignore the existence of slavery long before and long after Britain's involvement.(Original post by TheGreatReformer)
This is conceded.
However, its abolishment does not negate the fact that the Imperial ancestors of the Isles did indeed extensively partake in the said barbaric acts. There are a number of opinions that the slave trades conducted by the Empire were only halted and finally abolished due to it becoming 'uneconomical'.
In any case, as soon as the Empire joined in with the slavery of the Africans, all 'superiority' vanished and history should view them as primitive and barbaric. There were, however, many clever men during the times of the Empire and the slave trade who voiced their aversion to such 'barbaric acts' (indeed, many at that time called slavery 'barbaric' regardless of the enslaved!). It is also interesting to study the reasons that were used to justify the slavery of the Black Man by the Empire and regardless of the 'inferiority' argument, many had the stupidity (and the audacity) to rationalise through the use of Biblical examples!
However, that is academic. This thread is about our national anthem and I'm betting you haven't even done me the courtesy of watching the YouTube link I posted of Flanders and Swann. Probably a good thing because you won't like how English it is. -
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Re: What should be the national anthem of England?But do we want an anthem where we're basically saying, "England is a bit ****, we need to sort it out."?(Original post by Lazar Wolf)
Jerusalem. All the way. perhaps then we can indeed rid ourselves of the dark Satanic mills. -
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Re: What should be the national anthem of England?Not sure all your fellow countrymen would agree, but if that's true, call me a proud Scot.(Original post by kingsholmmad)
Considering the vital significance of history to our culture and the hugely important parts religion and the monarchy have played in that history, yes. Atheists and republicans are deviants from the essential essence of what it is to be English. -
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Re: What should be the national anthem of England?(Original post by Mbob)
But do we want an anthem where we're basically saying, "England is a bit ****, we need to sort it out."?
Well it would be better than GSTQ which simply glorifies our monarch.
The hymn for me is one of hope and eventual triumph, of 'fighting the good fight', a bit like the Battle Hymn of the Republic sung by the Union soldiers during the American Civil War. Jerusalem though denotes how Blake did want to see a 'promised land' in England (Albion) which in the throes of materialism and false religion had lost his soul (Jerusalem). I feel that in many respects it is just as relevant today as it was when it was written 200 years ago. -
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Re: What should be the national anthem of England?In that case, the bad news for you is that religion has played at least as big a part in Scottish history as it has in English. What's more, a large part of your history has been heavily influenced by the monarchies of Scotland, Britain and a few others.(Original post by derangedyoshi)
Not sure all your fellow countrymen would agree, but if that's true, call me a proud Scot. -
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Re: What should be the national anthem of England?You say that as if I didn't know already.(Original post by kingsholmmad)
In that case, the bad news for you is that religion has played at least as big a part in Scottish history as it has in English. What's more, a large part of your history has been heavily influenced by the monarchies of Scotland, Britain and a few others. -
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Re: What should be the national anthem of England?Adaptation from Russell Howard's good news!!(Original post by babyjustin)
Me: Your majesty, what do you think of the national anthem 'God save the Queen'
Queen: If I had a penny every time they sang that song...-oh wait I do! Nice one! -
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Re: What should be the national anthem of England?You think? I never have trouble. Are you talking about the melody, or the fact that not everyone knows the words?(Original post by Architecture-er)
The problem with Jerusalem is it isn't something you can easily sing along to.
Having said that, that's what I'd like to have played.
