Poll: Do you know the words to your national anthem?

[Dornedas]

Well the case with Germany and it's national anthem is a funny one.
And now it's time for a history lesson.

The original national anthem, the Deutschlandlied, has 3 stanzas.
Man people believe that singing the first stanza is illegal which is wrong. But it's generally associated with the Nazis.
Nobody I know, besides me, knows the second stanza.
And the third stanza is the official national anthem of Germany today. Which is sad because our anthem is not a complete song.

But as a fan of history I know all 3 stanzas. And the anthem of East Germany. And the two "inofficial" anthems of the German Empire.

Fun fact: This song was used once as the German National anthem after the second world war. Yes It's a carnival song.

 

[Anja Bech]

Yes of course I do, I've heard is so unbelievably many times. "Der er et yndigt land" (there is a beautiful country/land). It makes me all patriotic. No, not really, but it's a nice song and I happen to know all of it, not just the bits you sing at foot ball matches.

 

[infohippie]

I know the first verse, and am vaguely aware there is a second one.

However, I will have to agree with this estimable poster:

Australia has the worst most droning boring anthem ever

say what you want about Waltzing Matilda at least its catchy

We really do have the most boring, pointless national anthem. Waltzing Matilda would be better, though in honour of our current Prime Minister's staunch efforts in appealing to the bogan vote by Stopping the Boats*, I would like to nominate Frenzal Rhomb's You Can't Move Into My House as our new national anthem.

[sub]* Copyright Australian Liberal Party, Canberra[/sub]

 

[RedDeadFred]

Canadian here. Yes I know our national anthem. Don't know it in French though. Between singing it every morning in school and hearing it all the time at the start of hockey games, it's pretty much permanently drilled into my brain.

As a random aside, Calixa Lavallée (the composer of the actual music for O Canada) wasn't nationalistic at all. He actually advocated for the US and Canada to be one nation.

 

[infohippie]

As a random aside, Calixa Lavallée (the composer of the actual music for O Canada) wasn't nationalistic at all. He actually advocated for the US and Canada to be one nation.

Still, a job's a job, eh?

 

[RedDeadFred]

As a random aside, Calixa Lavallée (the composer of the actual music for O Canada) wasn't nationalistic at all. He actually advocated for the US and Canada to be one nation.

Still, a job's a job, eh?

Ya... composers didn't exactly make a ton of money. I doubt he even hesitated when he was commissioned to compose the piece. Even though it wasn't made the national anthem until long after he was dead, he was still composing it to the very patriotic poem.

 

[CrystalShadow]

Yep. Well, the verse that everyone actually bothers to sing that is. Because there's several more you rarely ever hear.

Well, OK, I may have forgotten some of the words...

And OK, well, technically I only really know the anthem of one country properly, which, considering I've lived in 3, and have citizenship of 2 of them is I guess not ideal, but...

Well, that aside, yes... XD

Australia has the worst most droning boring anthem ever

say what you want about Waltzing Matilda at least its catchy

Nope...knowing all the words to the national anthem is unAustralian.

knowing the second verse is just trying to hard

[sub/]I know the second verse[/sub]

You poor poor soul. Nobody is meant to know that verse. It just isn't natural... XD

Wasn't there some joke about making waltzing matilda the actual anthem at some point?
It got rejected or something, but I think it was actually a genuine suggestion at one point or another, wasn't it?

Then again there's a bunch of people that feel like suggesting new designs for the flag every 5 minutes, so, that's not really saying much is it.

 

[Colour Scientist]

I do indeed.

Amhrán na bhFiann isn't the most exciting national anthem but it can be fun to belt it out before watching a match! :3

By match do you mean rugby? Six Nations this weekend, and apparently Blighty's favourite to win... ;D

Also, I do know the words to my national anthem, the best one out there, and most of the words to half the songs considered as an 'English' anthem. Including the entirety of 'Jerusalem', and most of 'Land of Hope and Glory'...

Favourite shmavourite.

Besides, even if you do win, I'm comforted by the fact that we still leathered your arses.

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

Canada's lyrics are pretty simple when you think about it and it was drilled into me when schools still made you sing it in the morning. So yeah, I know Oh Canada.

 

[kasperbbs]

I know the beginning, which isn't much at all. Last time i heard it was in sixth grade during a music class..

 

[Knight Captain Kerr]

Australia has the worst most droning boring anthem ever

say what you want about Waltzing Matilda at least its catchy

Nope...knowing all the words to the national anthem is unAustralian.

knowing the second verse is just trying to hard

[sub/]I know the second verse[/sub]

I think you should replace it with Land Down Under.

I know some of it but not all of it. Although in my defence it's in Irish and I'm not great at Irish.

 

[DevilishGryphon]

Yup, I know my national anthem (Welsh) and the English translation. If it's sung by a male voice choir (as it should be), it's one of my favourites from all that I've heard.

 

[Colour Scientist]

Australia has the worst most droning boring anthem ever

say what you want about Waltzing Matilda at least its catchy

Nope...knowing all the words to the national anthem is unAustralian.

knowing the second verse is just trying to hard

[sub/]I know the second verse[/sub]

I think you should replace it with Land Down Under.

I know some of it but not all of it. Although in my defence it's in Irish and I'm not great at Irish.

You could always do what a lot of people do, sing the first few bars and then make weird noises that vaguely sound like the syllables of the actual words.
Then when you get to the end, shout really loudly because you know you definitely have the syllable sounds down.


"Shuuuh-liiiivv con-eeegh ah-rawn na veeen!!!"

*wipes tear away*

So beautiful.

 

[Aris Khandr]

I probably do, though I couldn't actually tell you which song is America's national anthem. But if they started playing it, I'd know the words.

I'm much better at God Save the Queen, the Marseilles, O Canada, and Mawtini (the national anthem of Iraq, as decided by the American government and stolen from the Palestinians).

 

[hermes]

Yes, I do.

Many people in my country only know the first few strophes. Once, during an sport event, they decided to play in whole, and most people got lost about midway into it.

 

[White Lightning]

You bet your ass I know the words. I was the first person to stand up and the last person to sit down when they came on during School. I remember one day there was a new girl, and she didn't stand up, and I was like "HEY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING??" and they said "Oh, my religion says I can't stand u-" so I said "THEN GET THE HELL OUT!" and kicked their chair over...
















I got suspended for two weeks.

 

[Aris Khandr]

You bet your ass I know the words. I was the first person to stand up and the last person to sit down when they came on during School. I remember one day there was a new girl, and she didn't stand up, and I was like "HEY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING??" and they said "Oh, my religion says I can't stand u-" so I said "THEN GET THE HELL OUT!" and kicked their chair over...

I got suspended for two weeks.

Curse you, Poe's Law! I seriously cannot tell if this is a joke or not.

 

[AT God]

If I weren't so lazy I would post the Onion video about the dance that is supposed to accompany the Star Spangled Banner but it isn't worth the effort.

Yes, I do know the US national anthem, although I don't really need to since it only seems to matter at sporting events which I do not attend.

 

[Libra]

Lord no. Our national anthem makes no sense anyway, considering it talks more about the Germans and the Spanish than it does about the Dutch

 

[Creator002]

Yes. I know both the first and second verses of the Australian anthem (and I believe there's a third that never gets mentioned now). Most people only know (and, in some cases, only know of) the first and usually only parts of it. I used to know the German anthem too (the 3rd verse of the entire thing is the one sung, I believe), but haven't recited it in a while, so I only know bits now.