The Marseillaise is the better tune though. We will never trump the french on that.

I’m atheist and a Republican.

I like “I vow to thee my country”. The words are a bit saccharine, but it’s a great tune.

Because it brings back memories for the ancients

I vow to thee, my country, all earthly things above,
Entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love;
The love that asks no question, the love that stands the test,
That lays upon the altar the dearest and the best;
The love that never falters, the love that pays the price,
The love that makes undaunted the final sacrifice.

And there’s another country, I’ve heard of long ago,
Most dear to them that love her, most great to them that know;
We may not count her armies, we may not see her King;
Her fortress is a faithful heart, her pride is suffering;
And soul by soul and silently her shining bounds increase,
And her ways are ways of gentleness, and all her paths are peace.

Singing a song that begs an elderly German woman to ‘rain over us’ is not only highly inappropriate (IMHO) it’s downright objectionable and should not be sung in polite society!

I’d rather have just about anything. Jerusalem is OK and a slightly modified Land of Hope and Glory (we sing Land of Smoke and Glory at Stoke City matches) would also be good options.

However, if I was a dictator (benign of course) it would be England Rocks by Down N’ Outz…

So grab a place, find a space
And yell and scream for more

England Rocks, England Rocks
England Rocks, England Rocks

Just what we need now. The corporate elite need to now the guillotine is coming…

Some of the bankers are giving Louis a run for his money.

“The howling of these fearsome soldiers
They are coming into our midst
To cut the throats of your sons and consorts”

Aye, most modern and inclusive…..

The title of the Polish national anthem translates as Poland Is Not Yet Lost, which cracks me up.

I’d suggest that the people who feel strongly about the national anthem are likely to be the same people who’d kick up a fuss at the idea of changing it. Heritage and tradition and whatnot.

Well, it would be very English to do that, wouldn’t it?

http://www.nextleft.org/2010/06/do-this-lot-really-count-as-german-asks.html

And thus very much more English than I am….unless we take Sunny’s view that it’s a choice. Three generations back I am (in part) Peruvian….four back, indio, so the rumour goes.

“Also Tim you were educated by the Catholic church. Not an organisation that have been a friends of the English since Elizabeth the first.”

Tsk, it’s them Prots that are not the friends of the English, darned usurpers and upstarts!

Napalm Death. How do you know its not already being used? They may not be sneezing.

The Archers theme is an old Billy Conolly joke that seems to have stuck. I’d prefer Hoots Mon There’s A Moose Loose Aboot This Hoose for a Scottish anthem. Imagine it echoing around the terraces.

Let’s be obscure and choose Uncle Harry’s Last Freakout by the Pink Fairies as the English national anthem. For a start its nearly 10 minutes long.

I don’t get the enthusiasm for Jerusalem, even though it uses the word “England”. I love the song, and I support the radical political thought behind it, but it is fundamentally suggesting that “England” is a crap country that needs reforming. Why would anyone want an anthem that describes their country as crap?

God save the Queen…..nothing about my country

send her victorious….nothing about my country.

long to reign over us…..nothing about my country.

God save the Queen….nothing about my country

It is a song about monarchy not country.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqoTNVwhrAg