I'm at work -- and I'm not in the mood

[trixtah]

I've had one idiot phone call already, which just hasn't enhanced my motivation, shall we say?

Laurie King posted up something in a recent blog talking about national anthems, and their dodgy sentiments. And yep, there are some good'uns.

La Marseillaise (France):

Let's go children of the fatherland,
The day of glory has arrived!
Against us tyranny's
Bloody flag is raised! (repeat)
In the countryside, do you hear
The roaring of these fierce soldiers?
They come right to our arms
To slit the throats of our sons, our friends!

Grab your weapons, citizens!
Form your batallions!
Let us march! Let us march!
May impure blood
Water our fields!

No, it really is the French national anthem, not Nazi Germany's.

The Star-Spangled Banner (US):

What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars, thro' the perilous fight'
O'er the ramparts we watched, were so gallantly streaming.
And the rockets red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
Oh, say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

Well, it's good that's nothing's changed there with the bombs bursting in air. We don't need to go into the blood "washing" further on.

¡Oh Gloria Inmarcesible! (Colombia) (8th Stanza)

The virgin her hairs
pulls out in agony
and from her love widowed
hangs them on a cypress.
Regretting her hope
covered by a cold headstone,
but glorious pride
hallows her fair complexion.

Ok, WTF? All the independence stuff earlier on makes sense, but this?

Das Lied Der Deutschen (Germany) (2nd stanza)

German women, German loyalty,
German wine and German song,
Shall retain in the world,
Their old lovely ring
To inspire us to noble deeds
Our whole life long.
German women, German loyalty,
German wine and German song.

See, there's motivation: wine, women and song. I can't help thinking the French and Germans got their anthems muddled up somehow.

And, the piece de resistance, the New Zealand National Anthem:
God Defend New Zealand

God of nations, at thy feet
In the bonds of love we meet,
Hear our voices, we entreat,
God defend our free land.

No, apparently von Sacher-Masoch did not compose the lyrics, but really, who can tell?

The Canadian and Australian national anthems are pretty decent, really, the lucky buggers. The English and South African ones go "Queen, queen, queen" and "God, God, God" respectively, but that's pretty inoffensive.

Comments

[countrycousin.livejournal.com]

No, it really is the French national anthem, not Nazi Germany's

Not sure there is a lot to choose between post-revolution France and Nazi Germany :<) Wiping out nobles perhaps is slightly less atrocious than wiping out Jews, but those were only part of both regimes' destructions. The French Revolution times are remembered less severely than the Nazi times, and certainly they replaced a much more oppressive regime than the Nazis did.

[trixtah.livejournal.com]

Yes, they certainly did get all blood-thirsty there for a while. I would have assumed that one of the "republiques" or another would have opted for some slightly less squick-making lyrics. But, if the French want to sing about their martial pride, far be it from me to stop them. :-)

[aquaeri.livejournal.com]

I wonder if misia can shed any light on the virgins in Columbia's national anthem? She's written an entire book about virginity, and she's had to chop heaps out, but I'm sure one of the things she writes about is the metaphor of virginity for the Americas when the white folks arrived, and some weird attitudes to the locals as a result. (I think the book is due out before the end of the year.)

[trixtah.livejournal.com]

That may be a possibility in that respect - I had another look to see if it might be a metaphor/theme that's being brought into play, but really, the whole thing is impenetrable (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Anthem_of_Colombia) (without, one assumes, the appropriate historical context). I must ask my tame Colombian friend what it all refers to.

[aquaeri.livejournal.com]

Wow. Either that President was up really, really late, or there's a whole heap of Columbian history I'm not up on, being celebrated in a (for me personally) very icky way.

[epi-lj.livejournal.com]

To be fair, while our national anthem may be less lyrically offensive, it's a terrible song. (And yes, that's just a personal aesthetic judgment.)

My highschool actually changed their school song while I was there. It used to be:

Merrily we sing of thee
Kennedy, our own.
You can hear the loyal cheering
as the goal our men are nearing, playing, fighting!
Here's to you, our colours true.
Our guide you'll ever be!
Though we may leave you
our hearts will ne'er forget
dear old Kennedy!
Rah, rah, rah!

However, it was pointed out that "men" only addressed half the school body, and "fighting," was not something we wanted to encourage. I think the line was changed to, "as the goal our teams are nearing, scoring, winning!" or something like that.

[saluqi.livejournal.com]

Eeep, school songs.

On the up side, I just tried to recall mine, and I can't. Yay!

[trixtah.livejournal.com]

Oh dear. At least they got all PC after a while.

I went to a girls' grammar school in my final year, and I nearly screamed with laughter when they burst into the "Grammar School Song" at my first assembly there.. I don't recall the lyrics, alas, probably because I never broke myself of the sniggering reflex - other than the penultimate line "We sing our Grammar Schooooooool!" (Initial Caps compulsory)

The Canadian national anthem hasn't exactly got the most dynamic tune, I agree, but it's better than that bloody dirge we have, when it's sung in English.

[faxon.livejournal.com]

hmmm I read this line:

Against us tyranny's

as;

Against us tranny's

What ever could that mean. ;)

Also I have to admit that while I used to hate the NZ national anthem, now that it is also sung in Maori I positivly love it.

[trixtah.livejournal.com]

Hah, I'm not the only person who had to read that a couple of times. :-) Mind you, you never know what those French might have in mind with those guillotines of theirs!!! :-/

[trixtah.livejournal.com]

And yeah, the NZ anthem sounds much better in Maori. In English, it just sounds like everyone's taken a big hit of Valium. The other good thing about the Maori version is that the words aren't quite so self-flagellating when you translate them back. As you would expect, hee!