God save the Queen !
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Originally posted by teamsaint View Post
I have noticed at big football matches substantial numbers of people don't sing the national anthem.
Either way, an own-goal was unavoidable for the man the meedja now have firmly gripped in a double-bind.
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I've been a choral singer, and have had to sing it many times. It doesn't worry me at all, and anyone who sings a lot knows you don't have to believe what you sing. It's not a good idea to take it all literally. I found Land of Hope and Glory harder, but in a big choir it is entirely possible to make up one's own version. I regard Rule, Britannia as a historical song. Again, it doesn't bother me to sing it.
I think Corbyn probably should have made a feeble, unenthusiastic attempt to conform on this occasion, just out of good manners and consideration for others. He's going to have to compromise on much more than a song if he ever gets into power (unlikely).
Possibly predictably, I like the Britten version best - it makes it sound almost like music - but it can leave audiences very confused if they aren't warned/prepared!
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Originally posted by Stillhomewardbound View PostThe problem is there the words, but then that's easily fixed:
"Let's drink our precious gin
Long live our noble gin
Let's drink the gin
Imbibe victorious
Ginny and glorious
Long to hang over us
Let's drink the gin"
As to the dull tune (and boy, ISN'T it dull) and the words which are OK for some but not so for agnostics, atheists and anti-monarchists, the problem would so easily be solved (at least for those who still want to retain a National Anthem, the very point of which is, I confess, rather lost on me) by adopting Fairest Isle from Dryden's King Arthur in Purcell's setting - no deity, no monarch, just a celebration of the nation and, as such, surely more universal? Somehow I cannot imagine even QEII herself raising particular objections to this, having already been "saved" as a monarch for longer than anyone else in Britain (Ã propos which, although she's the second longest reigning living monarch, she's 47th in the list of monarchical durations found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...gning_monarchs).
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Originally posted by Mary Chambers View PostI've been a choral singer, and have had to sing it many times. It doesn't worry me at all, and anyone who sings a lot knows you don't have to believe what you sing. It's not a good idea to take it all literally. I found Land of Hope and Glory harder, but in a big choir it is entirely possible to make up one's own version. I regard Rule, Britannia as a historical song. Again, it doesn't bother me to sing it.
I think Corbyn probably should have made a feeble, unenthusiastic attempt to conform on this occasion, just out of good manners and consideration for others. He's going to have to compromise on much more than a song if he ever gets into power (unlikely).
Originally posted by Mary Chambers View PostPossibly predictably, I like the Britten version best - it makes it sound almost like music
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Originally posted by ahinton View PostYes, but in all the speculation as to why he kept his mouth shut on that occasion, no one seems yet to have put forward the possibility that he just can't sing......
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Originally posted by vinteuil View Post,,, or that he had a norrible example to be by all means avoided -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIwBvjoLyZc
Thanks for saving me the bother, vints!
Then of course there was Prescott scowling to the words of "Things can only get better"...
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Originally posted by ardcarp View PostDon't take this too seriously folks, but would you sing it if (a) you didn't believe in God and (b) you disapproved of the Monarchy ?
I would (a) because I'm a hypocrite and (b) because I like a good mass sing-song...be it Jerusalem or The Mayor of Bayswater.
All harmless fun, and if you don't like it, get migrating!
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Originally posted by Beef Oven! View PostOf course I'd sing it even though I don't believe in God and if we didn't have a monarch already, I wouldn't lobby to get one.
All harmless fun, and if you don't like it, get migrating!
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