[Football] Flower of Scotland.

[Peacehaven Wild Kids]

Totally this! It was a battle of dirge between Scotland and Hungary's national dirge.

Let me guess…. You’re voting for Sweet Caroline

 

[Blue3]

Mrs Blue3 has just suggested a fitting England football anthem would be Culture Clubs

Give me time to realize my crime
Let me love and steal
I have danced inside your eyes
How can I be real?
Do you really want to hurt me?
Do you really want to make me cry?
Precious kisses, words that burn me
Lovers never ask you why
In my heart the fire is burning
Choose my color, find a star
Precious people always tell me
That's a step, a step too far
Do you really want to hurt me?
Do you really want to make me cry?
Do you really want to hurt me?
Do you really want to make me cry?

 

[Eeyore]

I'd say that, given that we bewilderingly regard ourselves as a Christian country, perhaps we should adopt a Charles Wesley hymn as the national anthem. He wrote some absolute bangers.

National Anthems don't have to be full of nationalistic fervour.

 

[Billy the Fish]

This thread happens on NSC every single international tournament.

Go to an England away game when there's 20,000 English in the stadium and the place is decorated in 1000s of flags. Every single person belts out the song, it sounds awesome when you're in it.

 

[Eeyore]

The Welsh one is the best.
England should use Land of Hope and Glory

It's a good song, but would need a little bit of updating to remove the colonial undertones. That shouldn't be too difficult. I'd vote for it if they were removed.

I'd also replace the St George's flag as well.

There's a lot of folk like me who would like to claim back their love for Blighty from those who still think a third of the planet is coloured pink.

Then again, I'm more Sussex than England. My 'identity' is more 'club over country'. That's interesting because in that dynamic I'm an immigrant.

 

[The Antikythera Mechanism]

GOEBTS

 

[Quebec Seagull]

Every overseas fan regularly tuning in to an EPL match is convinced that England's national anthem is Hey Jude.

.

 

[Giraffe]

A song about sending the English home in a war several centuries ago.

Sounds a bit like ten German bombers in the sky to me…

Love the hypocrisy.

Ps) no issue with it, just highlighting!

Pps) I like I vow to thee our country for the English national anthem or land of hope and glory or Jerusalem

 

[Peacehaven Wild Kids]

A song about sending the English home in a war several centuries ago.

Sounds a bit like ten German bombers in the sky to me…

“That fought and died for
Your wee bit hill and glen
And stood against him
Proud edward's army,
And sent him homeward
Tae think again”


erm….ok

 

[Stato]

Jerusalem as a tune with different words. Blake wrote it as a parody.

FOS was written in the 60s, so why not have something more modern?

The tune came much later and I wouldn't describe the original Blake poem as a parody. It was an allegory, inspired by the Joseph of Arimathea myth. I read it as an exhortation to the people to strive to build a paradise 'among these dark satanic mills'. I'd rather an anthem that hopes for a better future than one that celebrates the accepted order (GSTK) or that celebrates selected military victories over a historic enemy (FoS).

'Flower of Scotland' seems a bit like us singing a song about how we once beat Palace instead of 'Sussex By The Sea'. It defines a nationality through opposition which is a bit strange as Scotland surely has better ways to define itself than wars with it's neighbour seven hundred years ago.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

The tune came much later and I wouldn't describe the original Blake poem as a parody. It was an allegory, inspired by the Joseph of Arimathea myth. I read it as an exhortation to the people to strive to build a paradise 'among these dark satanic mills'. I'd rather an anthem that hopes for a better future than one that celebrates the accepted order (GSTK) or that celebrates selected military victories over a historic enemy (FoS).

'Flower of Scotland' seems a bit like us singing a song about how we once beat Palace instead of 'Sussex By The Sea'. It defines a nationality through opposition which is a bit strange as Scotland surely has better ways to define itself than wars with it's neighbour seven hundred years ago.

The Joseph of Arimathea story is definitely a myth. Look at the words again with a sarcastic bent.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

A song about sending the English home in a war several centuries ago.

Sounds a bit like ten German bombers in the sky to me…

Love the hypocrisy.

Ps) no issue with it, just highlighting!

Pps) I like I vow to thee our country for the English national anthem or land of hope and glory or Jerusalem

Nah. They sent one English king home with a flea in his ear.

 

[Arkwright]

Let me guess…. You’re voting for Sweet Caroline

Which party is she standing for?

 

[Stato]

The Joseph of Arimathea story is definitely a myth. Look at the words again with a sarcastic bent.

I know. I just called it a myth. The sarcasm might work for the first stanzas, but doesn't stack up at all with the last verse:

"I will not cease from mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand,
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England's green and pleasant land."

It's pure utopianism.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

I know. I just called it a myth. The sarcasm might work for the first stanzas, but doesn't stack up at all with the last verse:

"I will not cease from mental fight,
Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand,
Till we have built Jerusalem
In England's green and pleasant land."

It's pure utopianism.

I agree. He belonged to a sect called the Dissenters and eventually declared mad.

 

[Stato]

I agree. He belonged to a sect called the Dissenters and eventually declared mad.

Yep. West Sussex see. He should have come East.

 

[Baldseagull]

Isn't the Flower of Scotland, the thistle? A spiky bastard thing, you don't want to be near.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Isn't the Flower of Scotland, the thistle? A spiky bastard thing, you don't want to be near.

Yes. At the start of Braveheart, Wallace is handed a thistle.

 

[Baldseagull]

“That fought and died for
Your wee bit hill and glen
And stood against him
Proud edward's army,
And sent him homeward
Tae think again”


erm….ok

Battle of Bannockburn took place on 22nd and 23rd June, 1314. Exactly 710 years ago, and in another 710 years, Scotland will still have not got out of their group in the Euros.

 

[BrightonCottager]

The answer to the questions in Jerusalem are 'no', 'no' 'no' and 'no'.

I'm all for a vision of building utopias in England green and pleasant land, but getting planning permission will be tricky.