Even Amerika sounds better

I can’t say this shit in work, so I’m gonna say it here.

  • Mardoniush [she/her]
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    9 months ago

    Never understood why they didn’t go for Rule Britannia, which is admittedly hard to sing but is a banger. (and in the context of the Opera it started in is more about freedom from oppression than Imperial expansion)

    On the other hand, consider how narrowly you avoided being girt by sea.

    • regul [any]
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      109 months ago

      Whenever Ferrari wins in F1 they play the Italian anthem and it’s a lovely jaunty march.

    • Mickmacduffin [he/him]
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      69 months ago

      A good national anthem should be a bad song. Think about it. A soldier crying and saluting an objectively brilliant piece that makes you want to cry? Meaningless. The song makes everyone want to cry. But that same soldier crying to a mediocre 19th century drinking song with the most forgettable orchestral backdrop you’ve ever heard? Damn, he must really love his country to be moved by that piece of shit

    • TillieNeuen [she/her]
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      149 months ago

      I mostly agree, but sometimes they have the perfect level of drama, like that scene in Casablanca

  • SexUnderSocialism [she/her]
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    9 months ago

    I despise the Dutch anthem for being total monarchist bootlickery. It even has a line about honoring the King of Spain. (referring to Charles V, who was king of the Spanish Empire, which the Netherlands was a part of)

  • Mickmacduffin [he/him]
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    129 months ago

    I have a theory that national anthems are bad by design. If its a good song, there’s no patriotism in liking it. Its a bop! Of course you like it!

    But a bad song, a bad song is ripe with opportunities to flex your love of country. Its a contest! Look at how brainwashed I am! Look at how much I’m moved by the bad song!

    That’s why you’ll never see any national anthem on anyone’s ipod (Hendrix excluded). It sucks by design

  • bunnygirl [she/her]
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    99 months ago

    you say that but the germans leave two thirds of theirs out for being just a lil too fashy

    • Erika3sis [she/her, xe/xem]
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      249 months ago

      Abolish the monarchy, dissolve the UK, and unite Ireland, all so that we won’t have to hear “God Save The King” again. Only “Flower of Scotland”, “Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau”, “Amhrán na bhFiann”, and “Jerusalem”, all of which are a million times better.

      Now even without the UK, the same melody is also used by the national anthem of Liechtenstein. This being the case, I say Liechtenstein should get annexed by Switzerland, purely so that no-one will need to be reminded that the UK ever existed.

        • Erika3sis [she/her, xe/xem]
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          69 months ago

          Tax haven with a monarchy, yeah, that’s reason enough. The Landtag has 25 seats and four parties: three of these, representing 22 seats, are slight variants of right-wing populist + liberal conservative + Christian democrat + monarchist. The remaining three seats belong to a social democratic party describing itself as green, secular, and multicultural… Which is, you guessed it, also monarchist.

          There are also two parties in Liechtenstein without representation in the Landtag, one of which is yet another chud party, and the other of which is a more or less single-issue party against vaccines and COVID-19 lockdowns. And this is not to get into the defunct parties of Liechtenstein!

          All in all, I think this says something about the Overton window of Liechtenstein. Like, Switzerland strikes me as also pretty shitty, but at least Switzerland is a real country, at least it has a communist party at all, and at least it has a sizeable “parliamentary left” that doesn’t support a monarchy.

          • Tiocfaidhcaisarla [he/him, comrade/them]
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            69 months ago

            Really is shit all the way down there, huh? Agreed on Switzerland. I spent a few hours in Lichtenstein on my one time in Europe on a high school trip, I don’t remember the exact details but apparently there was a guy running for president (?) Who was also noble/the king and threatened to raise taxes if not elected. It was distinctly unremarkable compared to surrounding Switzerland and Austria, was a hold over from the HRE that seemingly exists solely as a tax haven for those too dastardly for even Switzerland and for that king president to rule over is his obedient piggies. And it’s already protected by Switzerland so they really should just take it and put that fucker out to pasture. Low on the list of demonic countries even then though

  • WittyProfileName2 [she/her]
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    199 months ago

    I think this is just an England problem.

    As national anthems go, Flower of Scotland and Mae Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau are good.

  • Orcocracy [comrade/them]
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    89 months ago

    The US anthem can’t be sung well by the average person (especially towards the end), hence why in stadiums the crowd doesn’t even try to sing along and just cheers and whoops. The UK is about the monarch at the level of the text. But the US anthem is about the same thing in how it functions as a piece of music to create a social situation where the crowd remains passive in its adoration of a single person. There is no collective experience of doing and participatory togetherness. There is only the admiration of the celebrity pop singer as an emblem of the American aristocracy.

    But yes the UK anthem is an awful dirge.