You guys know God Save The Queen by another name? (1 Viewer)

[TheoGB]

I just noticed watching The Simpsons' 'Moaning Lisa' episode that the band are playing God Save The Queen (when Lisa goes off on the be-bop). However, Mr Largo calls it by another name. Odd...
Cheers
Theo
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[CharlesD]

There is an American patriotic song that uses the same tune as GSTQ. Don't remember its name though. At least that tune is not based on a 18th Century drinking song!

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-- Will Work for Five Million Dollars

 

[Peter Kline]

"My Country 'Tis Of Thee"
Go here for complete lyrics,
http://www.oremus.org/hymnal/m/m026.html
[Edited last by Peter Kline on October 18, 2001 at 12:27 PM]

 

[Richard Kim]

It's called "My Country 'Tis Of Thee"
My country 'tis of thee
Sweet land of liberty
Of thee I sing
Land where my fathers died
Land of the Pilgrim's pride
From every mountainside
Let freedom ring
We used to sing it all the time in elementary school

 

[Bruce N]

My Country, 'tis of Thee
Words: Samuel Francis Smith, 1832
My country, 'tis of thee,
sweet land of liberty,
of thee I sing;
land where my fathers died,
land of the pilgrim's pride,
from every mountainside
let freedom ring.
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.
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.
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.

 

[andrew markworthy]

Charles, it's always been my understanding that the music for God Save the Queen was, like the music for The Star Spangled Banner, derived from an English drinking song. BTW, the words for God Save the Queen are attributed to 'anon' according to the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations.
Incidentally, I was once told that GSTQ wasn't, pedantically speaking, an anthem but a hymn of praise to the monarch. Can anyone enlighten me further on this?
[Edited last by andrew markworthy on October 18, 2001 at 12:46 PM]

 

[Rob Gillespie]

That 'tune' is an embarassment to the nation. Dreary as a wet Monday morning and singing only about 'her'.
The national anthem should be Jerusalem, IMHO.

 

[Kelley_B]

I thought you were talking about the Sex Pistols about half way throught his thread!

 

[Cees Alons]

It's even worse than you think.
As far as I know it originates from an Austrian more-or-less-national hymn, and became the German National Anthem for a short time (1871-1914). It started with the text: "Heil dir im Siegekranz, Herrscher des Vaterlands, Heil Kaiser Dir!"
Hail thee in triumphal wreath, Ruler of the Fatherland, Hail Emperor thee!
But I may be wrong on at least one point: the tune may have gone the other way around.
Cees
[Edited last by Cees Alons on October 18, 2001 at 03:31 PM]

 

[Jim_F]

The actual title of U.S. version of the song is America. I guess it's become acceptable to call it by it's first line.

 

[Charles J P]

I thought it was actually called "America, The Beautiful"
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[Eric Scott]

I think it was a copyright infringment case over the authership of this song that was the true reason behind the cause of the American Revolution and subsequently WW1?

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[Michael St. Clair]

That 'tune' is an embarassment to the nation. Dreary as a wet Monday morning and singing only about 'her'.

Well, you should tell them to quit playing it at Formula One races every time a brit driver or constructor wins the race!

 

[Peter Kline]

America the Beautiful
by Katharine Lee Bates
O beautiful for spacious skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the fruited plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
O beautiful for pilgrim feet
Whose stern impassioned - stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America! America!
God mend thine every flaw,
Confirm thy soul in self-control,
Thy liberty in law!
O beautiful for heroes proved In liberating strife.
Who more than self the country loved
And mercy more than life!
America! America!
May God thy gold refine
Till all success be nobleness
And every gain divine!
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
O beautiful for halcyon skies,
For amber waves of grain,
For purple mountain majesties
Above the enameled plain!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till souls wax fair as earth and air
And music-hearted sea!
O beautiful for pilgrims feet,
Whose stern impassioned stress
A thoroughfare for freedom beat
Across the wilderness!
America ! America !
God shed his grace on thee
Till paths be wrought through
wilds of thought
By pilgrim foot and knee!
O beautiful for glory-tale
Of liberating strife
When once and twice,
for man's avail
Men lavished precious life !
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till selfish gain no longer stain
The banner of the free!
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till nobler men keep once again
Thy whiter jubilee!

 

[TheoGB]

It's not the worlds greatest tune. One word a note, jeez... On the other hand there is a rather nice bass voice counterpoint in one of the verses. Hmm.
Don't know about Jerusalem. What about Land of Hope and Glory?

Frankly national anthems are all a bit pants and a trifle fascist. Give me the Sex Pistols and Radiohead any day.

(Incidentally it's not surprising if it is German as we had German monarchs in the time when that song appeared. Still do in fact but the name Saxe-Coeburgh-Gothe (sp?) was thought much nicer as 'Windsor' when WWI began!)
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My Novelty Coasters

 

[Iain Lambert]

Ooh yes, can we have 'The National Anthem' by Radiohead as our national anthem? Wouldn't that be the coolest? Not many anthems are so hummable, or give off quite so many dBs of bass...
I still think though that the sensible choice is the theme to The Archers. We would be a much happier nation I'm sure if instead of that dreary 'God Save The Queen' we all went 'Dum ti dum ti dum ti dum, Dum ti dum ti da ta'!

 

[CharlesD]

I still think though that the sensible choice is the theme to The Archers.

I'm with you on that one Iain! I haven't heard The Archers in years, over a decade even, but all you need to say is "'Dum ti dum ti dum ti dum, Dum ti dum ti da ta'" and that tune came right back. For some reason I can't find it on my radio here in the US... strange that.
For those that don't know The Archers is is a BBC radio soap opera concerning the goings on in a village in the English country side. I believe it was started during (or immediately after) WWII as a vehicle to give crop management advice to farmers. And it doe shave a very catchy theme tune... I need to find a mp3 of it somewhere.
Seeing as we are likely to hear the UK national anthem a lot next year at the end of Grands Prix (Juan PABLO Montoya) they better get a move on and get it changes to the Archers theme PDQ!

 

[andrew markworthy]

The Archer's theme tune is called Barwick Green and is about somewhere in Scotland (ironic, since the Archers is supposed to be based around the Midlands - or more accurately, near Worcester, which is supposedly 'Borchester'). Words have been set to it in the past, I believe, but I defy anyone to sing the National Anthem to the Tune.
Actually, the Brit National Anthem isn't that bad if sung at a reasonable tempo (and certainly it's easier to sing than The Star Spangled Banner, though I grant you the latter has a better tune). It's worth hearing Benjamin Britten's arrangement of it for those who think it's a dirge.
Rob and Theo, much as I normally respect your opinions, I must confess that I really do prefer GSTQ to Land of Hope and Glory and Jerusalem. Incidentally, Land of Hope and Glory is sung to what most Americans know as the 'graduation day march' (i.e. Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 by Elgar - also a Worcester connection). To Elgar's credit, he hated the appropriation of the tune as a patriotic (not to say jingoistic) hymn, but felt he had no choice but to give way to popular demand. Jerusalem is a decent tune (H. Parry, for those wondering) but the words are pure tosh. They were written by W. Blake, renowned (and IMHO grossly overrated) artist, poet and general fruitcake, who was comparing the grim satanic mills of the industrial revolution (which made Britain rich enough to create a paying public for his works, a fact he always conveniently forgot) with the imagined bliss of a new Jerusalem, based on the legend that Joseph of Aramathea buried the Holy Grail at Glastonbury (Ground Zero for hippies and similar deep intellectuals in Britain).

 

[Iain Lambert]

I must admit, I've always read Blake's words as satire. To quote the last verse, well, lets not get into politics:
I will not cease from mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England's green and pleasant land
Rather violent imagery, wouldn't you agree?

 

[andrew markworthy]

Iain, I could see Blake fancying the idea of that last verse, but only if someone else did all the work.