Great National Anthems, past and present

[SoonerCoug]

Here is my personal favorite:

[YOUTUBE]0yDrtNEr_5M[/YOUTUBE]

[MarkGrace]

[YOUTUBE]<object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/OOLzDqm-5bM&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/OOLzDqm-5bM&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object>[/YOUTUBE]

Bet you didn't see that coming!

[scottie]

[YOUTUBE]HJLvCM4j2mg[/YOUTUBE]

[pellegrino]

This could have become the Italian national anthem. It's a beautiful song that comes from Verdi's Nabucco. Unfortunately it has now been appropriated by LegaNord, a separatist movement in Northern Italy, as the national anthem of their mythical Padania.

[YOUTUBE]7K68tdN3fYw[/YOUTUBE]

[il Padrino Ute]

I have to admit that I love listening to the various anthems from around the world. I don't know why - perhaps because so many are very stirring pieces of music. I really like the Soviet anthem, despite what it meant being one who grew up during the Cold War.

A few others that I really like:

Italy (this is a shorter version of it):
[YOUTUBE]z3RToBymttA[/YOUTUBE]

Poland:
[YOUTUBE]3M9wrLN_dV0[/YOUTUBE]

Hungary:
[YOUTUBE]3iOKbRRSgic[/YOUTUBE]

Angola:
[YOUTUBE]XX9xlQsIpO4[/YOUTUBE]

Spain:
[YOUTUBE]UsddDZluhT4[/YOUTUBE]

[il Padrino Ute]

This could have become the Italian national anthem. It's a beautiful song that comes from Verdi's Nabucco. Unfortunately it has now been appropriated by LegaNord, a separatist movement in Northern Italy, as the national anthem of their mythical Padania.

[YOUTUBE]7K68tdN3fYw[/YOUTUBE]

Bellissima!

[Tim]

This could have become the Italian national anthem. It's a beautiful song that comes from Verdi's Nabucco. Unfortunately it has now been appropriated by LegaNord, a separatist movement in Northern Italy, as the national anthem of their mythical Padania.

[YOUTUBE]7K68tdN3fYw[/YOUTUBE]

I love Nabucco!

[Tim]

I have to admit that I love listening to the various anthems from around the world. I don't know why - perhaps because so many are very stirring pieces of music. I really like the Soviet anthem, despite what it meant being one who grew up during the Cold War.

A few others that I really like:

Spain:
[YOUTUBE]UsddDZluhT4[/YOUTUBE]

Dang, I was just about to post the Spanish anthem when I refreshed and saw that you'd posted it. It's such a majestic and strong song! It's one of my favorites.

[il Padrino Ute]

Dang, I was just about to post the Spanish anthem when I refreshed and saw that you'd posted it. It's such a majestic and strong song! It's one of my favorites.

It's an amazing piece.

[myboynoah]

Here is my personal favorite:

[YOUTUBE]0yDrtNEr_5M[/YOUTUBE]

That's a great one, I agree.

I like this one. It should even move IPU, that great detester of la France.

[YOUTUBE]-KL76edqCKc[/YOUTUBE]

[pellegrino]

I love Nabucco!

It's a beautiful opera, one that I've been able to incorporate in the classroom with some success.

[smokymountainrain]

Here is my personal favorite:

[YOUTUBE]0yDrtNEr_5M[/YOUTUBE]

Very good, indeed.

I remember watching this as a teenager and being envious of Russia's anthem:

[YOUTUBE]<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/9UQ1hw2bkdA&hl=en_US&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/9UQ1hw2bkdA&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>[/YOUTUBE]

[statman]

While I often cry like a baby when I hear it, I don't think ours is anywhere near the best we could've done, if for no other reason than it's damned hard to sing. I also think the lyrics fail. Too much emphasis on the flag itself and not enough on other things (No mistake that it's called The Star Spangled Banner"). Verses 3 & 4 finally get to the meat of the song, but of course we rarely sing them...

"And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a country should leave us no more?
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution!
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Oh, thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n-rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: "In God is our trust":
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave"

"America the Beautiful" or even "God Bless America" - with any version sung by Kate Smith as the "official version" - would have been a better choice. "My Country 'tis of Thee" or "Battle Hymn of the Republic" are also superior choices to what we have, IMHO. Both of these are powerful musically, and have much more meaningful lyrics.

Being able to say "alabaster" at will when you were 8 years old would've been enough to push AtB to the top spot...

Call me a heretic, but I like the Pledge of Allegiance even less. In fact I don't like it at all. Although, like with the National Anthem, I often weep like a school-girl at formal presentations of our flag, I don't feel that I owe the flag itself any allegiance. I wouldn't die for my flag. I wouldn't even consider it. The country - "the Republic for which it stands" - I owe my allegiance, and maybe even my life, but not the flag itself.

"I pledge allegiance to the United States of America. One Nation, under God. Undevisable. With Liberty and Justice for all." No problem with that "Pledge" at all...

Sure, the flag is a symbol of the country, and as such, I respect it and would certainly never degrade or desecrate it. But like a CDO, it's only a derivative of the underlying asset. Why honor a derivative as much as, if not more, than the construct that truly deserves my honor, respect and allegiance? Why give the flag top billing and make the Republic an afterthought? I just don't get it.

I also really like the German National Anthem. Hayden wrote a nice tune. And what could be wrong with Unity and Justice and Freedom? Certainly more to point than singing about black red and gold...

[YOhio]

Definitely not an LA Ute safe national anthem (it has lots of swears).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sWS-FoXbjVI

[old_gregg]

Hatikva, for me, is second only to the star spangled banner. There's something about a nation created out of the systematic extermination of millions of their own having an anthem called "hope."