New National Anthem

What is Andrew Lloyd Webber doing?
It wouldn’t matter what he is doing. Someone would be offended.

If this is to be a National anthem, it must refer to the home Nation or country it’s about. Encompassing all those who were born here or who have chosen to live here.
I vow to thee my country would fit the purpose, but it might be a bit complicated to learn.

So some verses of There'll always be an England would fulfil that purpose, or even just the chorus.
e.g.

There’ll always be an England
And England shall be free
If England means as much to you
As England means to me

We could sing it twice - so as not to be too short or too difficult to learn, just changing the harmony at the end of the second verse.

There'll always be an England
And England shall be free
If England means as much to you
As England means to me

I thought we had talked this to death a while ago. I like it and wouldn’t want to see it changed. I think this is partly because I live in the States, and always feel very patriotic toward my home country when I hear it.

We're always talking this to death, Artio1s!!

Goes away singing I Vow to Thee my Country
(With new words after verse 1)

Callistemon21

We're always talking this to death, Artio1s!!

Goes away singing I Vow to Thee my Country
(With new words after verse 1)

And the new words are? It would be such a good national anthem.

I agree Callistemon Great tune, but get rid of the God bit.

As an insomniac the national anthem is played every night at about 1 am on R4 snd when I hear it I know I am in for another bad night.
Not that I am a royalist but an aside, it’s still god save the Queen, and Prince Charles , it may take a while for me to get used to the change.

In the US “My Country, ‘‘tis of Thee” is sung to the melody of your British anthem. It’s a lovely song with lovely words - altho a reference to the Pilgrims. Here are the four stanzas.

Lyrics
1. My country, ’tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing;
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrims’ pride,
From ev’ry mountainside
Let freedom ring!
2. My native country, thee,
Land of the noble free,
Thy name I love;
I love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills.
My heart with rapture thrills
Like that above.
3. Let music swell the breeze
And ring from all the trees
Sweet freedom’s song;
Let mortal tongues awake;
Let all that breathe partake;
Let rocks their silence break,
The sound prolong.
4. Our fathers’ God, to thee,
Author of liberty,
To thee we sing;
Long may our land be bright
With freedom’s holy light.
Protect us by thy might,
Great God, our King!

Text: Samuel F. Smith, 1808–1895
Music: From Thesaurus Musicus, London, 1744

Our national anthem is great but hard to sing for some people because of the octaves.
Proud to be an American!
USA Gundy

The anthem discussion is a diversion from the real issues facing the UK just like flying the Union Flag from all public buildings.

What is wrong with diversions? "Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?"

Well said grumppa.

I'll get out my sackcloth and have bread and water for dinner.

Actually, if the tennis goes on too long it might be bread and water for dinner.

The subject raised its head again as we now have a new King who likes music and wherever he goes that depressing dirge strikes up, while he stands there having to listen to people singing about him. Does any other country sing about their head of state instead of the nation?

The national anthem is an outdated dirge. That's why, in sport, every UK nation, other than us, has got away with dumping it. 🙄

Perhaps we need at least two national anthems - one for the UK to replace the dreadful dirge, and one for England.

We might need more.

The Welsh seem to have a good anthem - Land of my Fathers?, but I don't know what the Northern Ireland anthem is, and, even though I am Scottish, I'm not even sure about
the Scottish anthem - is it Scotland the Brave, Flower of Scotland or something else?

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varian

Perhaps we need at least two national anthems - one for the UK to replace the dreadful dirge, and one for England.

We might need more.

The Welsh seem to have a good anthem - Land of my Fathers?, but I don't know what the Northern Ireland anthem is, and, even though I am Scottish, I'm not even sure about
the Scottish anthem - is it Scotland the Brave, Flower of Scotland or something else?

None of the anthems of individual countries are official.
Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau has been adopted as the Welsh anthem, the Scots aren't sure, Northern Ireland sometimes uses The Londonderry Air for sporting events and England doesn't have one at all.

There is no "Scottish anthem" Varian,there's only Flower of Scotland that sports fans sing...its a bit of a dirge too.We need something that looks forward to a bright future ,maybe Dougie McLean could write one his Caledonia is fab,and loved by people of all nations.My Croatian friends tear up when they sing it as its applicable to most folks homelands .

I'm another who has never stood for "the queen" and never will so seperate anthems would appeal to me

I'll have to listen to Caledonia.

Caledonia ,with lyrics
youtu.be/lvIl-zeAg9c

grumppa

What is wrong with diversions? "Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?"

Nice ripost but it misses my point. The more the right wing media get people talking about the anthem the less time to consider the mess the Tories have created and, more to the point, how to clear it up.