Your national anthem

[DeepGreenEyes]

It's U.S. Independence Day Wednesday.

But, as President Bill Pullman reminded us as the aliens were hovering over the world's cities in mile-wide bundt cake pans,

"We are fighting for our right to live. To exist. And should we win the day, the Fourth of July will no longer be known as an American holiday, but as the day the world declared in one voice: "We will not go quietly into the night!" We will not vanish without a fight! We're going to live on! We're going to survive! Today we celebrate our Independence Day!"

• What is your nation's official national anthem? Do you like it? If you were emperor, what would you decree the anthem?
  
• What's your favorite patriotic or pseudo-patriotic song for your nationstate/province/state/territory/kingdom/region/ethnic group/republic/dictatorship/collective?
  
• One that makes you cringe?
  
• Do you think it's really possible for Jeff Goldblum to have transferred a killer virus to an earth-threatening alien mothership using a creaky version of Mac OS9, pre-Steve Jobs' launch of the more stable unix-based OSX? Why or why not?
  

Video or audio links appreciated.

 

[DeepGreenEyes]

Why yes, I'm glad you asked, DGE. I will be happy to get things started.

• The U.S. national anthem, which is sung at the beginning of sports events (and I know you non-Americans find that hysterical), offering plenty of opportunities for new singing talent to get his or her big break, and for fans to defame the song by screaming one or two lines loudly, for some reason, as a gesture of tradition and spirit. I don't think it's easy to sing, or particularly catchy. I'm not that into Frances Scott Key, either.
  
• I'd swap it out for Woody Guthrie's This Land is Your Land in a heartbeat. I also considered Call Me Maybe, but it's too tentative for a superpower.
  
• Lee Greenwood's Proud to be an American. Not a fan.
  
• No, I think OSX Leopard would have been required, at least. It has cooler "upload" looking progress indicators.

 

[ViviLeigh]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=US&hl=en&client=mv-google&v=3BN1jSpiyIM&nomobile=1

Hehe this immediately came to mind. This makes me laugh- the movie is a guilty pleasure of mine, what makes me cringe is that this is poking fun at people who may actually feel this way.

As for Jeff Goldblum... Likely story. Better than Mel Gibson discovering that he can destroy his aliens with a glass of water in Signs. Really? Water?

My actual favorite would have to be this one,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=US&hl=en&client=mv-google&v=LMhq1L0cJf0&nomobile=1
Jimi Hendrix, live at Woodstock.

 

[DeepGreenEyes]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=US&hl=en&client=mv-google&v=3BN1jSpiyIM&nomobile=1

Hehe this immediately came to mind. This makes me laugh- the movie is a guilty pleasure of mine, what makes me cringe is that this is poking fun at people who may actually feel this way.

As for Jeff Goldblum... Likely story. Better than Mel Gibson discovering that he can destroy his aliens with a glass of water in Signs. Really? Water?

My actual favorite would have to be this one,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=US&hl=en&client=mv-google&v=LMhq1L0cJf0&nomobile=1
Jimi Hendrix, live at Woodstock.

I could not get the Team America link to work on my ahem, tablet. But I did run across this (What Americans sound like to British people), which has zero to do with this thread, and yet still made me chortle.

What? Signs? You didn't believe the advance alien scout team would have omitted the fact that, oh, 70 percent of the FUCKING PLANET is covered by a substance that can KILL YOU?? Hmmm....

As for Hendrix, I can see Frances Scott Key , holding up his lighter.

 

[desertslave]

Why yes, I'm glad you asked, DGE. I will be happy to get things started.

• The U.S. national anthem, which is sung at the beginning of sports events (and I know you non-Americans find that hysterical), offering plenty of opportunities for new singing talent to get his or her big break, and for fans to defame the song by screaming one or two lines loudly, for some reason, as a gesture of tradition and spirit. I don't think it's easy to sing, or particularly catchy. I'm not that into Frances Scott Key, either.
  
• I'd swap it out for Woody Guthrie's This Land is Your Land in a heartbeat. I also considered Call Me Maybe, but it's too tentative for a superpower.
  
• Lee Greenwood's Proud to be an American. Not a fan.
  
• No, I think OSX Leopard would have been required, at least. It has cooler "upload" looking progress indicators.

LOL about Call me maybe!

I agree with almost everything else, except for the Mac reference, which is over my head. I'm not keen on our national anthem, either. I love the idea of This Land Is Your Land, or maybe America the Beautiful. I'd just prefer something that celebrates the wonders of our country instead of commemorating a moment in a war. I guess I'm wimpy like that. <shrug>

Completely agree about Greenwood. <gag>

 

[Sir_Winston54]

Lee Greenwood's Proud to be an American. Not a fan.

Not a fan here, either, except when someone who knows what they're doing is standing beside the band/video player/color guard and does the ASL translation. Absolutely beautiful.

 

[Etoile]

Not a fan here, either, except when someone who knows what they're doing is standing beside the band/video player/color guard and does the ASL translation. Absolutely beautiful.

*beams*

Wish I could find a decent version on YouTube...nobody does a great job of that one. There are some fabulous ASL songs out there but this doesn't seem to have anybody really great doing it.

 

[graceanne]

[*]What is your nation's official national anthem? Do you like it? If you were emperor, what would you decree the anthem?

Star Spangled Banner. I like it, but only if I'm singing it - it's so much fun to sing. If I were emperor, I probably wouldn't change it, but I might if something else showed up that I like.


[*]Do you think it's really possible for Jeff Goldblum to have transferred a killer virus to an earth-threatening alien mothership using a creaky version of Mac OS9, pre-Steve Jobs' launch of the more stable unix-based OSX? Why or why not?

No, but then aliens haven't really attacked the world on the fourth of july, either. I don't watch movies because I expect realism.

 

[seela]

What is your nation's official national anthem? Do you like it? If you were emperor, what would you decree the anthem?

Finland's national anthem is Maamme. The same song with different lyrics is also the national anthem of Estonia. The song was composed by a German guy and it's based on the melody of some drinking song. The lyrics are originally in Swedish and the Finnish version is merely a translation.

I don't really care for it, but it is fun to play on the piano with a touch of reggae added on it. My big dream is to play it on steel pans one day.

If I were empress, I'd definitely change the anthem. The new one would obviously be Finland by Monty Python. Another good one might be American Pie, naturally the Finnish translation thereof, because we're so attached to translated anthem lyrics - and I'd make it mandatory to sing all the verses each time. The third option is Helan går, and everyone would have to have a shot of liquor in the middle, as per the age old tradition. Besides we do have a solid background in having non-Finnish songs as our national anthem anyways.

This Is My Song is actually a patriotic Finnish song that some religious people have stolen. Well, originally it shouldn't even be sung, because Sibelius didn't want it to be a vocal piece, but anyways, it's Finnish national romance.

Do you think it's really possible for Jeff Goldblum to have transferred a killer virus to an earth-threatening alien mothership using a creaky version of Mac OS9, pre-Steve Jobs' launch of the more stable unix-based OSX? Why or why not?

I think using Linux stuff would have been a lot more believable.

 

[Sir_Winston54]

Lee Greenwood's Proud to be an American. Not a fan.

Not a fan here, either, except when someone who knows what they're doing is standing beside the band/video player/color guard and does the ASL translation. Absolutely beautiful.

*beams*

Wish I could find a decent version on YouTube...nobody does a great job of that one. There are some fabulous ASL songs out there but this doesn't seem to have anybody really great doing it.

Yeah, I'm surprised too that there were no good versions on YT. I looked, too, and had I found one (among the near-dozen I checked out), I'd have linked it in my post. The closest I found to one I actually liked was the Copper City (?) HS ASL Club, and it wasn't very good, since the kids had trouble keeping in synch.

I belonged to a group who performed every year at the local county fair for three days, and the wife of one of our members did the ASL interpretation of "PTBA" and the anthem at opening ceremonies each day. She did it so gracefully that even a non-ASL "speaker" could get most of the meaning even when there was no singer beside her. (I watched her rehearse with just the music, singing along to herself, no mic. She was hearing, but worked as an ASL interpreter for businesses and the courts in that area.) I wish I had been smart enough to videotape it and keep the video. <Sigh>

 

[Fierywhore]

Our National Anthem since 1984

ADVANCE AUSTRALIA FAIR
Australians all let us rejoice,
For we are young and free;
We’ve golden soil and wealth for toil;
Our home is girt by sea;
Our land abounds in nature’s gifts
Of beauty rich and rare;
In history’s page, let every stage
Advance Australia Fair.

In joyful strains then let us sing,
Advance Australia Fair.

Beneath our radiant Southern Cross
We’ll toil with hearts and hands;
To make this Commonwealth of ours
Renowned of all the lands;
For those who’ve come across the seas
We’ve boundless plains to share;
With courage let us all combine
To Advance Australia Fair.

In joyful strains then let us sing,
Advance Australia Fair.

And the Psuedo one that plays as support at nearly all other times

Tea company.[11] Paterson's original lyrics referred to "drowning himself 'neath the coolibah tree".[16]


The original manuscript of "Waltzing Matilda", transcribed by Christina Macpherson c. 1895. "Waltzing Matilda"

Tune for "Waltzing Matilda"
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Problems listening to this file? See media help.
Once a jolly swagman camped by a billabong
Under the shade of a coolibah tree,
And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled:
"You'll come a-waltzing Matilda, with me."

Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda
You'll come a-waltzing Matilda, with me
And he sang as he watched and waited till his billy boiled:
"You'll come a-waltzing Matilda, with me."

Down came a jumbuck to drink at that billabong.
Up jumped the swagman and grabbed him with glee.
And he sang as he shoved that jumbuck in his tucker bag:
"You'll come a-waltzing Matilda, with me."

Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda
"You'll come a-waltzing Matilda, with me",
And he sang as he shoved that jumbuck in his tucker bag:
"You'll come a-waltzing Matilda, with me."

Up rode the squatter, mounted on his thoroughbred.
Down came the troopers, one, two, three.
"Whose[N 1] that jolly jumbuck you've got in your tucker bag?
You'll come a-waltzing Matilda, with me."

Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda
"You'll come a-Waltzing Matilda, with me"
"Whose that jolly jumbuck you've got in your tucker bag?
You'll come a-waltzing Matilda, with me."

Up jumped the swagman and sprang into the billabong.
"You'll never catch me alive", said he.
And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong:
"You'll come a-waltzing Matilda, with me."

Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda
"You'll come a-waltzing Matilda, with me"
And his ghost may be heard as you pass by that billabong:
"You'll come a-waltzing Matilda, with me."

 

[kiwi_submissive]

God Defend New Zealand

There is an English and a Maori version. The Maori version is so much nicer. I have found a clip that has both the english and Maori version with some of the most beautiful New Zealand scenary.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dPcj_aC8fk

I would ban the english version if I was High Emperess of Aotearoa.

And how could I forget the Haka

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y55JRV-swhA&feature=related

Usually performed before rugby matches by the All Blacks but now it seems every kiwi and his sheep does them at the drop of a hat.

 

[seela]

And how could I forget the Haka

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y55JRV-swhA&feature=related

Usually performed before rugby matches by the All Blacks but now it seems every kiwi and his sheep does them at the drop of a hat.

Haka always gives me goosebumps in a very good way, as well as all the rituals and the traditional music of the small Pacific nations too. I find it a bit weird that those of non-maori origin also do it, but I rather see everyone do it than the tradition die away.

 

[Cattypuss]

Our official national anthem -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN9EC3Gy6Nk



And the two bits of music that many Brits (including me) prefer and are generally well-loved and ideal for flag-waving jingoistically to

(1) Land of Hope and Glory (love this tune but then I'm a total sucker for Elgar in general )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCx5bx-qtJQ

(2) Rule Britannia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cWz9MrHskk

 

[Keroin]

First...Happy 4th to our American Litsters!


Canada has about the most simple national anthem ever. In fact, it was so simple that they added some extra lyrics several years ago.

"Hey, instead of just repeating O Canada ad nauseum, why don't we put in some other words?"

O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.

With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!

From far and wide,
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.


And yet, strangely, I like our anthem. The part about "true north strong and free" always gets me.

I wish we could change the 'god' bit and the fact that its 'sons' kind of pisses me off, but otherwise I can live with it.

Realistically, though, this should be our anthem...

The Hockey Song

(Warning: The chorus will be stuck in your head all day if you listen)

The good ol' hockey game is the best game you can name...WOO HOO!!!

Americans, I feel for you when it comes time to sing your anthem. Did the guy who wrote it just want to use every note on the scale or what??

And as for Jeff Goldblum, yes, he could do that. He could do anything he wanted to. He could have inserted that virus with an etch-a-sketch. Because...Jeff.

 

[Cattypuss]

Couple more British flag-wavers (both of these were sung regularly during my school assemblies way back in the 70s and 80s... boy that takes me back and makes me feel old). The first has terribly nationalistic lyrics (yuk) but a beautiful tune (the first is Holst of course) and the second has a beautiful tune (I don't know who by) and lyrics by the incomparable William Blake.


I vow to thee my country -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=erooWKq9-RE

Jerusalem

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9r81ZPHfKXU

 

[Netzach]

I've always been jealous of Canadians as a singer of limited faculties, and because it's not militaristic, it's just very inspiring. You're gonna get god and sons pretty much across the board.

And I've always liked Jerusalem, but that's what you get when you've got William Blake.

The tune for Star Spangled Banner is actually a British pop hit of the time it was written, which is funny because they were the ones dropping the rockets on Francis Scott Key's head while writing it.

I actually have a soft spot for how the song came to be - in a way it really sums up American illogical optimism, in a way that America the Beautiful doesn't.

I think I found my favorite version. It's humbling to me when people with so much reason to despise this country have more faith in it than I do. It puts me in my place to listen to this.

A linguist/anthro I studied with who knows umpteen endangered languages said Navajo is the world's most beautiful. I can't argue.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NUj_w38FNM

 

[Cattypuss]

Fond memories of the Soviet Union's national anthem, which I bought on vinyl in Siberia in 1988 - quite stirring stuff

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLi_m656tQQ

 

[Netzach]

Fond memories of the Soviet Union's national anthem, which I bought on vinyl in Siberia in 1988 - quite stirring stuff

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLi_m656tQQ

I always thought it the most anthemic of the anthems.

 

[Keroin]

I've always been jealous of Canadians as a singer of limited faculties, and because it's not militaristic, it's just very inspiring.

That's one of the things I do love about our anthem. In my very rose-coloured-glasses world I like to imagine myself standing on guard for this very beautiful piece of land that I'm privileged to live on, and protecting its wild spaces.

You're gonna get god and sons pretty much across the board.

Sadly yes. Though I like to think Canada's forward-thinking enough that one day we might change that.

Fond memories of the Soviet Union's national anthem, which I bought on vinyl in Siberia in 1988 - quite stirring stuff

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLi_m656tQQ

That anthem has always felt the most appropriate and evocative of all national anthems, to me. It's not the words, it's the sound. Sad and proud, all at once. Gives me shivers.

 

[Etoile]

Best ASL version of the US anthem is from Deaf actress Terrylene:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFFIdT026b8&feature=related

Note that it doesn't follow the English exactly - there are other videos that do that - but it's the most "ASL" of the videos out there!

 

[DeepGreenEyes]

This is cool, especially on the eve of the Olympics. Now I have a particular musical interest in the medal ceremonies.

LOL about Call me maybe!

I agree with almost everything else, except for the Mac reference, which is over my head. I'm not keen on our national anthem, either. I love the idea of This Land Is Your Land, or maybe America the Beautiful. I'd just prefer something that celebrates the wonders of our country instead of commemorating a moment in a war. I guess I'm wimpy like that. <shrug>

Completely agree about Greenwood. <gag>

I do love America the Beautiful. It's timeless, singable, and if you've got a major land mass full of majestic sites, dammit, put them in your anthem.

Not a fan here, either, except when someone who knows what they're doing is standing beside the band/video player/color guard and does the ASL translation. Absolutely beautiful.

I never would have known. Thank you.

[*]What is your nation's official national anthem? Do you like it? If you were emperor, what would you decree the anthem?

Star Spangled Banner. I like it, but only if I'm singing it - it's so much fun to sing. If I were emperor, I probably wouldn't change it, but I might if something else showed up that I like.

[*]Do you think it's really possible for Jeff Goldblum to have transferred a killer virus to an earth-threatening alien mothership using a creaky version of Mac OS9, pre-Steve Jobs' launch of the more stable unix-based OSX? Why or why not?

No, but then aliens haven't really attacked the world on the fourth of july, either. I don't watch movies because I expect realism.

You'll be singing a different tune someday. And by that I mean, a daily anthem of "Oh, Blork Save Our Zarnoom," after Our Alien Overlords land and liberate us.

Finland's national anthem is Maamme. The same song with different lyrics is also the national anthem of Estonia. The song was composed by a German guy and it's based on the melody of some drinking song. The lyrics are originally in Swedish and the Finnish version is merely a translation.

I don't really care for it, but it is fun to play on the piano with a touch of reggae added on it. My big dream is to play it on steel pans one day.

If I were empress, I'd definitely change the anthem. The new one would obviously be Finland by Monty Python. Another good one might be American Pie, naturally the Finnish translation thereof, because we're so attached to translated anthem lyrics - and I'd make it mandatory to sing all the verses each time. The third option is Helan går, and everyone would have to have a shot of liquor in the middle, as per the age old tradition. Besides we do have a solid background in having non-Finnish songs as our national anthem anyways.

This Is My Song is actually a patriotic Finnish song that some religious people have stolen. Well, originally it shouldn't even be sung, because Sibelius didn't want it to be a vocal piece, but anyways, it's Finnish national romance.

I think using Linux stuff would have been a lot more believable.

I was reeeeally hoping you'd link the Monty Python anthem when I started the thread. I mean, who could not be stirred by "A poor second to Belgium/When going abroad"?

So a Finnish translation of a Swedish version of a German guy's drinking song??? Pretty, though. Interesting how many anthems had tunes ripped off from pop or drinking songs. Thinking Call Me Maybe, more and more.

Our National Anthem since 1984

ADVANCE AUSTRALIA FAIR
Australians all let us rejoice,
For we are young and free;
We’ve golden soil and wealth for toil;
Our home is girt by sea;
Our land abounds in nature’s gifts
Of beauty rich and rare;
In history’s page, let every stage
Advance Australia Fair.

In joyful strains then let us sing,
Advance Australia Fair.

Beneath our radiant Southern Cross
We’ll toil with hearts and hands;
To make this Commonwealth of ours
Renowned of all the lands;
For those who’ve come across the seas
We’ve boundless plains to share;
With courage let us all combine
To Advance Australia Fair.

In joyful strains then let us sing,
Advance Australia Fair.

Beautiful. I never knew the lyrics. I like that the word "Advance" is so prominently repeated: Keep getting better. A little humility in an anthem is a rare thing. I think the star-spangled banner could use a line like "there was no magic time in the past when this was a social and political paradise. Get on with it."

God Defend New Zealand

There is an English and a Maori version. The Maori version is so much nicer. I have found a clip that has both the english and Maori version with some of the most beautiful New Zealand scenary.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dPcj_aC8fk

I would ban the english version if I was High Emperess of Aotearoa.

And how could I forget the Haka

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y55JRV-swhA&feature=related

Usually performed before rugby matches by the All Blacks but now it seems every kiwi and his sheep does them at the drop of a hat.

To me, the coexistence of the colonial and indigenous cultures in things as symbolic as the national anthem seems... miraculous. I can't imagine the star spangled banner sung in Cherokee as well as English before an NFL game. Even if there were only one native language, I can't imagine it.

The Haka, in that context, does remind me of college football Saturdays, and the chants and team cheers. Probably for many Americans, those have even more resonance as "national anthems" then the star spangled banner, though they'd never admit it.

Our official national anthem -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN9EC3Gy6Nk


And the two bits of music that many Brits (including me) prefer and are generally well-loved and ideal for flag-waving jingoistically to

(1) Land of Hope and Glory (love this tune but then I'm a total sucker for Elgar in general )

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCx5bx-qtJQ

(2) Rule Britannia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cWz9MrHskk

Nooooobody does Important Song like the British! Nobody.

And I really love that there is no continent that has not heard the lyrics sung, of the queen's enemies:

"Confound their politics
Frustrate their knavish tricks."

Heh.

First...Happy 4th to our American Litsters!


Canada has about the most simple national anthem ever. In fact, it was so simple that they added some extra lyrics several years ago.

"Hey, instead of just repeating O Canada ad nauseum, why don't we put in some other words?"

O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.

With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!

From far and wide,
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.


And yet, strangely, I like our anthem. The part about "true north strong and free" always gets me.

I wish we could change the 'god' bit and the fact that its 'sons' kind of pisses me off, but otherwise I can live with it.

Realistically, though, this should be our anthem...

The Hockey Song

(Warning: The chorus will be stuck in your head all day if you listen)

The good ol' hockey game is the best game you can name...WOO HOO!!!

Americans, I feel for you when it comes time to sing your anthem. Did the guy who wrote it just want to use every note on the scale or what??

And as for Jeff Goldblum, yes, he could do that. He could do anything he wanted to. He could have inserted that virus with an etch-a-sketch. Because...Jeff.

A grateful nation thanks you for your well wishes.

It's a great anthem, and yes, as Netz says, easy to sing. Not to be underestimated. it seems to be a thing where someone screws up the U.S. anthem and then is lambasted for it. But truthfully, it rises, falls and twists like the San Francisco street grid, and it's easy to take a turn into an alley.

Thanks for the hockey song. grrrrrr.

And, re. Jeff, I believe that any man who shared a bed with Geena Davis gets the benefit of the doubt.

I've always been jealous of Canadians as a singer of limited faculties, and because it's not militaristic, it's just very inspiring. You're gonna get god and sons pretty much across the board.

And I've always liked Jerusalem, but that's what you get when you've got William Blake.

The tune for Star Spangled Banner is actually a British pop hit of the time it was written, which is funny because they were the ones dropping the rockets on Francis Scott Key's head while writing it.

I actually have a soft spot for how the song came to be - in a way it really sums up American illogical optimism, in a way that America the Beautiful doesn't.

I think I found my favorite version. It's humbling to me when people with so much reason to despise this country have more faith in it than I do. It puts me in my place to listen to this.

A linguist/anthro I studied with who knows umpteen endangered languages said Navajo is the world's most beautiful. I can't argue.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6NUj_w38FNM

Illogical optimism. Hmm. An interesting thought.

I always feel like saying, "But wait! We're more than just war! And how long do the Brits get to be our gloat-pinatas, anyway? I guess if you lose your colony, hope that colony doesn't grow up to be a superpower, or you're never gonna hear the end of it.

Fond memories of the Soviet Union's national anthem, which I bought on vinyl in Siberia in 1988 - quite stirring stuff

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLi_m656tQQ

Stirring. But not so much the lyrics, you know? Unbreakable union and all that stuff? I do like a good Internationale, though!

That's one of the things I do love about our anthem. In my very rose-coloured-glasses world I like to imagine myself standing on guard for this very beautiful piece of land that I'm privileged to live on, and protecting its wild spaces.

That anthem has always felt the most appropriate and evocative of all national anthems, to me. It's not the words, it's the sound. Sad and proud, all at once. Gives me shivers.

Yes it is. I want me some redwoods in the U.S. anthem. Or at least a shining sea or two. Even a creek would do. Gimme something to work with here!

Best ASL version of the US anthem is from Deaf actress Terrylene:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wFFIdT026b8&feature=related

Note that it doesn't follow the English exactly - there are other videos that do that - but it's the most "ASL" of the videos out there!

That's gorgeous. So evocative. Maybe I've just heard and sung the star spangled banner so many times, that its become background noise. I need a fresh interpretation.

(Is it common for the Japanese anthem to be performed or sung at cultural or sporting events?)

Of course, there's always Borat's bastardization. Such a brave man, to pull this at a rodeo of unsuspecting attendees.

The lyrics are stirring.

Potassium.

 

[kiwi_submissive]

Haka always gives me goosebumps in a very good way, as well as all the rituals and the traditional music of the small Pacific nations too. I find it a bit weird that those of non-maori origin also do it, but I rather see everyone do it than the tradition die away.

Seeing a really hot rugby player doing the Haka is truely hot. Seeing a middle aged overweight white man doing it.....not so much.

Some of the Kapa Haka groups here are truely amazing and inspiring to watch, you can see their love for their culture as it really shines through.

To me, the coexistence of the colonial and indigenous cultures in things as symbolic as the national anthem seems... miraculous. I can't imagine the star spangled banner sung in Cherokee as well as English before an NFL game. Even if there were only one native language, I can't imagine it.

The Haka, in that context, does remind me of college football Saturdays, and the chants and team cheers. Probably for many Americans, those have even more resonance as "national anthems" then the star spangled banner, though they'd never admit it.

It's almost annoying having it sung in two languages. A couple of times only the Maori version has been sung and the pakehas (white people) have spat the dummy and if they only do the english version then the Maoris throw their toys out of the cot. Hence why it's usually both versions.

I agree, I think more people feel that the Haka is the true Kiwi anthem as our national anthem doesn't seem to have alot of relevance today, god and the queen?

 

[Redkate]

I'm An Aussie and I love our anthem. Id be horrified it Waltzing Matilda became our anthem. Having said that, I love the song and live hearing it sung.

And I'm a HUGE haka fan!!!! I always watch NZ play rugby just for that. It gives me goosebumps. I think it's amazing.

 

[Etoile]

That's gorgeous. So evocative. Maybe I've just heard and sung the star spangled banner so many times, that its become background noise. I need a fresh interpretation.

(Is it common for the Japanese anthem to be performed or sung at cultural or sporting events?)

The only sporting event I have been to here was a baseball game, they did have the Japanese anthem, "Kimi-ga-yo" which is one of the shortest anthems in the world! They sang it pretty slowly as I recall.

My perception, though, is that there is not a lot of nationalism in Japan. The flag doesn't fly everywhere. They cheer for Japan in world sporting events, of course, but people generally try to keep nationalism at a low point, to avoid a repeat of what happened in the first half of the 20th century.