Favorite National Anthem

One thing I love about studying history, especially the history of my homeland the Untied States is the sense of pride that it creates. One of these things is music, specifically a nation's national anthem. I love just listening to them, no matter what nation it is. However, I do have my favorites. It just seems like when I listen to them I feel the pride of that nation, and feel like i'm from that nation. It's the same way for the language. For example, it's because of this I was able to start learning my two favorite languages besides English, German and Russian. I started learning these languages because of these nation's national anthems. But anyways, what are your favorite national anthems, Modern-Day or throughout history.

 

France's is moving...Australia's is relatively new and full of pride...America's is awesome! And one cant help but like the German's also...

 

Yes, I love ours. I just wish they played all 4 verses more often, the 4th verse is my favorite. But, I absolutely love the German one. Check out this video, best performance of it I have ever seen:

 

France's is definitely impressive, I think the Soviet National anthem is quite stirring as well, The Star Spangled banner is great, but I wish America the beautiful was our anthem.

Makes me cry every time........

 

I've always been partial to the tune at the end of this video.

 

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Australia's...
One lyric "In History's page let every stage Advance Australia fair...Ive taken this to heart since a boy, and as some have no doubt noticed I try to push and expose Australia's part in every/any field or stage.
Its also one of the few anthems that actually tells you how to sing it..."In joyful strains then let us sing" - Too many occasions get this part wrong and sometimes sing it solemnly...WRONG!

Australia's unofficial national anthem Ke Sanh - Partly about the Vietnam war...sung by the Australia Cricket team whenever they win. Which is frequently...
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Turn it up!
Played by Cold Chisel...an Iconic Australian band.

 

Russian and German anthems. They sound forceful, confident and stirring. As a liberal ( British and USA Liberals do not equate) and pacifist, I find this worrying. However, listening to a Zambian crowd singing theirs is spine tingling as the harmony is amazing.

 

I know Waltzing Matilda isn't the official Ozzie anthem, but it ought to be.

 

It’s a good candidate...

 

That is a great scene from one of my favorite Eastwood movies. It is a jaunty tune, and very singable. I believe President Lincoln said he was fond of it as well. No slight intended to my Southern friends.

 

Slipdigit reminded me of this:

 

I have always found some of the German marching songs to be very spirited and catchy, specifically Erika, Panzerlied, and the Luftwaffe march. I remember Erika from an old WW2 documentary on a VHS I watched as a child. It showed German troops marching through all the theaters, it was stirring for me seeing the Germans smiling, singing, being normal human beings, because when I was little, I thought the Germans were anything but. Then there is the Luftwaffe ,march I first heard in the battle of Britain, one of my favorite parts in the movie to this day.

 

Might be more impressive if they actually pronounced Khe Sahn correctly.

 

That’s rich coming from a Yank...hehe... : )

 

Le Marseillaise would be the top of my list, with the Star-Spangled Banner a close second. Of course one advantage our National Anthem has is that it sounds really good on the electric guitar!

 

"Might be more impressive if they actually pronounced Khe Sahn correctly."

How To Pronounce Khe Sanh (song)

According to this we are saying it correctly...each country has sometimes a different pronunciation for words...Americans can understand that im sure.


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And Barnsie is from Scotland, even after 50 odd years in Australia he still has a Scottish accent...

 

I would agree that Le Marseillaise is the one I prefer. At Grand Prix races (Formula 1) they play the winning drivers home country national anthem as well as the manufacturers. Since Alain Probst, it has been pretty scarce. The Star-spangled Banner I also find beautiful but few have the octaves to sing it well. One would think the Italians, Spanish, Germans, Austrians, Russians, etc with the long history of composers would have more memorable music. I guess it is all about timing and politics but one can imagine what Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky could have written. Would love to hear what Willie Nelson could do as well !!!

 

Nice thinking Gaines...
Anthemic music is a style unto itself, some bands do it well today (think Bon Jovi - I know I said the Bon Jovi word...sorry) The music needs to be simple yet catchy and be able to be sung by many people and still work. - Super pop! Mozart WAS a pop artist and would have shredded a national anthem...Beethoven could've written good durges...bit unkind perhaps...

 

The newscasters are saying it correctly, in the song they pronounce Sahn like san in sand, the announcers pronounce it sahn like in sawn, that's how the Vietnamese pronounced it and those that fought there use the same pronunciation. My Dad fought in the "Hill Fights" there in 1967 and was wounded there.

Hill Fights, my dad was in 3d Recon Bn:
The Hill Fights - Wikipedia
Pictures:
881splash

My brother, older son and I went up to VMI quite a few years back when one of the biggest heroes of the 1968 Siege of Khe Sahn got his Navy Cross. We got to hang around and drink with Dabney's men and the helicopter pilots and crews that supported them.

They have a website here:

Warriors of Hill 881South; 12-26-67 to 04-18-68

Some really good stories.