Ditch Flower of Scotland?

[Schiehallion]

All I can say is ...Thank you Chas and Jock Scot !

[MacRobert's Reply]

Quote:
If you want to hate the English - OK
I can do nothing against racism.
But have the courtesy to hate us for something real -
Not something made up out of your own head.


In sorrow more than rage

I seem to have missed or misunderstood something Chas, what expression of hatred and racism is there in this thread? I accept that some of the words in the songs express old animosities which, IMHO, is a good reason to find a better replacement.

[Redshank]

Flower of Scotland will do for me but then I am an insipid mindless hooligan noveau nationalist : )

[madmacs]

Flower of Scotland will do for me but then I am an insipid mindless hooligan noveau nationalist : )

Well as long as you know your place...

...and yes it was humour before anyone takes offence...

[McClef]

Well "old animosities" can appear in the lyrics of various anthems - the third verse of the Star Spangled Banner (it has four verses and another was added by Oliver Wendell Holmes during the Civil War period), for example.

"Proud Edward" is not especially well liked in Wales either.

But should the referendum outcome be for independence, some of the words that currently express the hope to "be a nation again" would become redundant.

But how often redundant phrases are actually changed as opposed to simply not being used is another question. If it's not in the first verse then most people would not even be aware it was there. Flower of Scotland is probably one of those rare instances where most people who know it and sing it know the whole thing.

There are 8 verses in the Norwegian National Anthem, how many Norwegians can sing them all without looking them up?

There are three verses in the Welsh National Anthem, how many, even of those who speak Welsh fluently and every day, know the second and third verses?

There are six verses in God Save The Queen, even dropping the Marshall Wade verse, that still leaves five and I struggle with anything beyond the first verse!

[Chas]

There are six verses in God Save The Queen, even dropping the Marshall Wade verse, that still leaves five and I struggle with anything beyond the first verse!

No There Are Not!

You might doubt Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_Save_the_Queen

But are you seriously saying that you know better than the Official website of the British Monarchy?

http://www.royal.gov.uk/MonarchUK/Sy...nalAnthem.aspx

Chas

[McClef]

I do not doubt my source which is:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...en-lyrics.html

And your link to the British monarchy website does not work.

[Chas]

The Telegraph! - you've just lost your argument.

Try the link now.

Chas

[macwilkin]

For Christmas I purchased the soundtrack to Clint Eastwood's Invictus, the dramatized account of the 1995 World Cup (Go Bokke!) and how Nelson Mandela used the Springboks to unite South Africa after the end of the Apartheid.

In both the movie and the book Playing with the Enemy (on which the movie is based), a running theme is the issue of the symbolism of the Springboks and their fans, who openly displayed pre-1994 RSA flags and sang "Die Stem"/"The Call of South Africa", the old South African Anthem. As a way to enourage unity, the Springbok team members openly sang "Nkosi sikelel' iAfrika", a hymn associated with anti-Apartheid organisations such as the ANC, as well as "Die Stem".

In 1997, both anthems were merged into one:

It is also musically notable for the fact that it employs a change of key in its final section, an uncommon compositional device that it shares with the Italian national anthem."

-- http://nationalanthems.me/south-afri...kelel-iafrika/

The version on the Invictus soundtrack (sung acapella by the South African group Overtone) is very well done. Here are the lyrics:

Nkosi sikelel’ iAfrika
Maluphakanyisw’ uphondo lwayo,
Yizwa imithandazo yethu,
Nkosi sikelela, thina lusapho lwayo.

Morena boloka setjhaba sa heso,
O fedise dintwa le matshwenyeho,
O se boloke, O se boloke setjhaba sa heso,
Setjhaba sa, South Afrika — South Afrika.

<CHANGE>

Uit die blou van onse hemel,
Uit die diepte van ons see,
Oor ons ewige gebergtes,
Waar die kranse antwoord gee,

Sounds the call to come together,
And united we shall stand,
Let us live and strive for freedom
In South Africa our land.

Note that a number of the RSA's official languages appear in the song. I'm sure Mike O will want to weigh on this as well.

T.

[thescot]

QUOTE=Redshank;1051170]Flower of Scotland will do for me but then I am an insipid mindless hooligan noveau nationalist : )[/QUOTE]

Now that's funny, I don't care who you are!

Sounds like me talking about being a Southerner!