What story does the lyrics of your country’s national anthem tell, and what do you think of that story?

r/

J

Comments

  1. Above-and_below Avatar

    We have two national anthems. One is used by the people like at sporting events, and is about how lovely and old the country is with rolling hills, blue sea and coming fromt the Vikings, The other is used in a more official capacity such as state visit, and is about our king Christian IV (1588-1648) and how he battled the Swedish at sea and smashed their brains with sword and so fourth.

    Both are nice and they tell good stories, we like to tell our children.

  2. de_G_van_Gelderland Avatar

    The whole anthem is pretty much an apologia for William of Orange (the original one, not his great grandson who became king of England) and his revolt against the Spanish crown. The first stanza, which is usually the only part that is actually sung, is basically an introduction of him. The other 14 stanzas go on to relate the story of how the tyranny of the Spanish forced him to rebel and the hardships he went through as a result as well as how he is kept going by his faith and his pity for the suffering of his poor country.

    I think it’s a pretty interesting anthem with a lot of history behind it. It’s definitely very different from most other national anthems I know, which tend to be more like odes to the country in question.

  3. generalscruff Avatar

    The British national anthem doesn’t have a particularly strong narrative, merely asking God to protect King Chas. A lot of people think it’s a fairly weak choice, with several other patriotic songs having better melodies or more interesting lyrics

    The English anthem used for sporting (although not football funnily enough) and a few other cultural events is far stronger. Jerusalem says that Jesus visited England (fact checked by true brexit geezers) and we should strive to build the New Jerusalem in his honour instead of the ‘satanic mills’ of the industrial revolution

  4. agrammatic Avatar

    The anthem of the Republic of Cyprus is legally instrumental (only the music of the anthem of Greece).

  5. TywinDeVillena Avatar

    Spain’s anthem is famous for not having lyrics. It was the march of the grenadiers regiment, and it so happened that king Charles III liked it a lot. So, for any official act, the march would be played, becoming the royal march, and from that it turned into the national anthem.

  6. FakeNathanDrake Avatar

    The British one’s already been covered, and politics/religion aside, it’s still absolutely dire.

    Ours (unofficial as we don’t have an official anthem) is all about a war with England back in the 13th-14th century. It’s a bit depressing when you think of it, like all we can do is define ourselves as “non-English” rather than about how class we are.

  7. kimmeljs Avatar

    “No valley, no hill, water, shore dearer than our homeland” and a lot about how the future will be bright.

  8. abhora_ratio Avatar

    I can’t even hear the national anthem or see our national flag without completely losing my mind because of those ultra-nationalists 😭😭 I have a small Swedish flag in my bag. From Ikea. I find it cute. Makes me feel better when I need a flag in my life. I just take it out.. look at it.. feel better.. put it back and move on with my life. Thank you Ikea cookie.

  9. ProblemSavings8686 Avatar

    Amhrán na bhFiann, a Soldier’s Song. A bunch of soldiers, waiting for battle, singing a pledge to Ireland and freedom. Nowadays sung almost exclusively in Irish, by those who learned it anyway, even though originally it was the English version that was more popular. Only the chorus of the song is ever sung. Was often seen as a song to mark the end of a night out or on RTÉ national television channel.

  10. JonnyPerk Avatar

    > Unity and justice and freedom
    For the German fatherland!
    Let us strive for this together,
    Brotherly with heart and hand!
    Unity and justice and freedom
    Are the foundation of happiness –
    Bloom in the radiance of this happiness,
    Bloom, German fatherland!

    Germany’s current anthem is the third stanza of the Deutschlandlied, the lyrics were composed in 1841 and were associated with the German National movement, which strived to unify the many small German states into one nation. The movement experienced repression from the monarchs governing those small states at the time and the poet who wrote the lyrics, August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben, had to go into hiding. It became a patriotic song after Germany was unified and later on the National Anthem in the Weimar Republic. In Nazi Germany the first stanza was sung followed by another song. After WW2 the third verse was reintroduced as the West German Anthem and since the reunification it’s the national Anthem for all of Germany.

    The first few words “Unity and justice and freedom” (Einigkeit und Recht und Freiheit) are also Germanies unofficial motto, you’ll find it in official documents like passports.

  11. deep_thoughts_die Avatar

    “U my homelan, u make me happy, i luv u until i die.” Thats pretty much it for Estonians. Oh, and we only bothered to make the words. We stole the music from Finns. They are stuck sharing like good brothers. Not exactly happly but not worth going to war over either.

  12. PoliticalAnimalIsOwl Avatar

    The full national anthem of the Netherlands has 15 stanzas, though often only the first and very occasionally the second and sixth stanzas are sung as well. The sixth is relatively popular in religious circles.

    It is an acrostic anthem, so putting all the first letters of each stanza together make up the name of Willem van Nassov (Nassau). Strangely it is a national anthem sung from a first person perspective, that of William the Silent, as the pater patriae. It weaves together multiple themes that I associate more with the late medieval rather than the renaissance period. It emphasizes his nobility and titles, feudal loyalty to his official liege lord, the King of Spain, his piety as a Christian man and loyal instrument of God, his willingness to fight against tyranny, being a strong military fighter who is willing to die heroically on the battlefield just like his family members, his appreciation of the country and being a shepherd to the Dutch flock, but above all it is a justification as to why he is taking up arms against a tyrannical King, which is that he has a higher loyalty and obedience to God. In return he hopes God will protect him and, just like the Biblical David got to rule Israel eventually, grant him a large kingdom as well.

    Singing only the first stanza is a bit weird, since it really only introduces himself. On top of that he emphasizes what is now his ‘German’ blood (though at the time the Seventeen Provinces in the Low Countries, his Principality of Nassau in the current Rhineland-Palatinate and his Principality of Orange near Avignon were all in the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation) and his loyalty to the King of Spain, whom he later practically accuses of tyrannical rule, which all feels strange to modern Dutch ears. For these reasons the sixth stanza became popular during the Nazi German occupation of the Netherlands, as that one emphasized the pain of tyranny and his piety to God instead.

    Often the anthem is sung in a way that sounds more like a stately Protestant church hymn, instead of a military fight song. That does not really help in hyping up the crowd before a football or other sports match. This way of singing it is my favourite though.

  13. coeurdelejon Avatar

    It describes Scandinavia, how it sits on a throne of a glorious past, how it still is as it was and will remain to be

    The most important part is: “Ja, jag vill leva, jag vill dö i Norden” which means “Yes, I want to live, I want to die in the Nordics / the north”

    I kinda like it though I like to think that the “glorious past” is nothing than what’s to come

  14. ConvictedHobo Avatar

    tl;dr: God, bless us, we’ve suffered enough

    O God, bless the nation of Hungary

    With your grace and bounty

    Extend over it your guarding arm

    During strife with its enemies

    Long torn by ill fate

    Bring upon it a time of relief

    This nation has suffered for all sins

    Of the past and of the future!

  15. SalSomer Avatar

    It starts with an affirmation that we love this country, and then talks about its weather beaten natural landscape, our fathers and mothers and something about a saga night creating dreams on earth, whatever that means. That’s the first verse and the verse that everyone knows.

    The second verse is just a list of old dead kings who did stuff. The main event is at the end when Olav (St. Olaf, patron saint of Norway) «painted the cross on the country with his blood».

    The third verse is about peasants making ready for war, a reference to the legendary Norwegian admiral Tordenskjold, and a comment on how even the women fought «as if they were men» (progressive stuff).

    The fourth verse is about the Swedish attempt at invading Norway and failing when they got to Halden and the people there burned the town to the ground so that the Swedish army was left without supplies and had to return.

    The fifth verse is about how all this death and destruction led to our freedom.

    The sixth verse is about how we realized the enemy that we’d been fighting all this time (Sweden) was actually our brother and that now all three Scandinavian brothers are united and not at odds with each other anymore.

    The seventh verse implores us to thank our God because he protected the country through its dark times and decided to give us the hard fought freedom that we’d been fighting for.

    The eight and final verse repeats that we love this weather beaten country and reminds us of the toil our ancestors went through to win our freedom and implores us to stand guard for freedom and peace in our country.

    Generally, either only the first or only the first, seventh, and eight verses are sung when people sing the national anthem. The second through sixth verses are all almost always skipped and very few people know them. Some exceptions exist. If you go to Halden, for example, everyone knows the fourth verse and are immensely proud of it, while in the rest of the country most people don’t even know the verse exists.

    So basically it’s a song about how we’ve done a lot of fighting to win our freedom, but that we’ve now reconciled with the enemy and that we’re now working to maintain the peace, but usually when the song is song the bloody parts are all left out, and if you ask most people they really only know the first verse which is mainly about loving the weather beaten landscape and something about a saga night.

  16. Fabulous-Pin-8531 Avatar

    It’s a call to arms against tyranny, saying to citizens to rise up and defend freedom and the nation. It emphasizes patriotism, resistance to oppression, and unity as a people.

    I think it reflects well our French mentality. It’s definitely not a boring national anthem, we like it here.

  17. Psychological-Ebb745 Avatar

    If we ignore God save the King/Queen , for England, Jerusalem is about a mixture of protecting nature and striving to “build Jerusalem” (maybe to be more christ – like). It is anti industrial revolution, calling it dark and satanic, which mind the fact it caused severe environmental ruin and fueled the greed and tyranny of those making profits from it, and those who caused mass suffering to those who worked in the mills and lived under their pollutants. One could argue the industrial revolution was against all teachings of Christianity.

    It laments what England became but has hope of what England could be and refers to the countryside as its base, since it is what “we had” and still have. Even if it is a bit basic, the countryside has a huge cultural impact for England, specifically as an escape, a place of rest, tranquility and a better and less greedy and destructive way of life. Something to yearn for which is pretty accessible.

    This is my take at least.

  18. DRSU1993 Avatar

    So, for Northern Ireland, unofficially we have “Derry Air.” (Get your derrière jokes in now) It has no lyrics and is the melody that the folk song “Danny Boy” is set to.

    Officially we have “God Save the King,” but it’s a stinking pile of shite and only represents the British Loyalist community that live here.

  19. SrZape Avatar

    That Franco had a white ass, because his wife used Ariel, Queen Sophia used bleach and his captain used Perlan.

  20. Brainwheeze Avatar

    It’s mainly a call to arms that invokes nostalgia concerning the age of exploration. A lot of people these days don’t give much thought to the lyrics, but it was actually conceived as a protest march after the 1890 British ultimatum debacle. At that time Portugal had plans for uniting its colonies of Angola (on the west coast of Africa) and Mozambique (on the east coast of the continent) so that they made one large stretch of land, but this went against British interests and they issued and ultimatum demanding they refrain from doing so. Portugal abandoned the idea very quickly and this was seen as an embarrassment and a sign that the monarchy was weak, which is how it became associated with the republican movement.

    To be honest I don’t think the lyrics to be particularly controversial. Very nationalistic for sure, but given the context in which they were conceived they could’ve been worse. I’ve seen some criticism directed the more militaristic aspects of it, what with it being a call to arms and whatnot, but the lyrics are also a bit vague in a way.

  21. Doitean-feargach555 Avatar

    Amhrán na bhFiann

    Sinne Fianna Fáil,
    atá faoi gheall ag Éirinn,
    Buíon dár slua
    thar toinn do ráinig chugainn,
    Faoi mhóid bheith saor
    Seantír ár sinsear feasta,
    Ní fhágfar faoin tíorán ná faoin tráill.
    Anocht a théam sa bhearna bhaoil,
    Le gean ar Ghaeil, chun báis nó saoil,
    Le gunna-scréach faoi lámhach na bpiléar,
    Seo libh canaig’ amhrán na bhFiann

    The Soldiers’ Song

    Soldiers are we,
    whose lives are pledged to Ireland,
    Some have come
    from a land beyond the wave,
    Sworn to be free,
    no more our ancient sireland,
    Shall shelter the despot or the slave.
    Tonight we man the breach of battle
    In Erin’s cause, come woe or weal,
    ‘Mid cannons’ roar and rifles’ peal,
    We’ll chant a soldier’s song.

    I think it sums up the mindset of the rebellious nature of Irish people perfectly and our desire to be free.

  22. Baba_NO_Riley Avatar

    Reading through all the posts here – the states ( homelands, countries, patrias) are truelly demanding and blood-thirsty beasts.

  23. AnalphabeticPenguin Avatar

    It’s a military march written about our army that was gathering in Italy to march to Poland to regain independence during the Napoleonic wars.

    It says how Poland lives to the last living Pole. That we will follow our general Dąbrowski to reunite with our homeland. Napoleon and Czarniecki are mentioned as examples to follow in respectively how to win and how far you can go to save fatherland. The finish is about a father that with happy tears in his eyes is telling his daughter that you can hear our soldiers coming home.

    The “story” just fits the times and our national mentality. It was written at the beginning of our problems with independence over 200 years and even though the fight seems to end in 1989 we still need to remind “someone” that we will fight for freedom to the last blood if they will try something.

    As a fun fact for you the Czarniecki part is about how he attacked Sweden from behind from the Baltic sea when they were invading and robbing the P-L Commonwealth in the deluge in the XVII century.

    The only problem with this anthem is that it’s a march so it goes a verse, 2x refrain, a verse, 2x refrain and so on. That means we sing only 4 unique verses and 8 times the same refrain. Although we usually just sing half of it.

  24. Monicreque Avatar

    Galician anthem is about a full moon night and the wind making the pines make noises by the sea…and that “some people” are too dumb to understand us.

    It’s a bit Emo.

  25. 1tiredman Avatar

    The soldier’s song

    It’s about how we are soldiers for Ireland and we pledge our allegiance to Ireland and defend it

    The lyrics in English:

    Soldiers are we,
    Whose lives are pledged to Ireland,
    Some have come from a land beyond the wave,
    Sworn to be free, no more our ancient sireland
    Shall shelter the despot or the slave;

    Tonight we man the Bearna Baoil
    In Erin’s cause come woe or weal,
    ‘Mid cannon’s roar and rifle’s peal,
    We’ll chant a soldier’s song.

  26. Christina-Ke Avatar

    The Danish National Anthem was written in the early 1800s by Oehlenschlæger

    And is a tribute to old Denmark without comparing or belittling other (countries)
    It’s a bit “old” romantic.
    It is cute.and describes Denmark quite well in the “old” romantic way.

    I love it because it’s our national anthem and I grew up with it, but it’s not as magnificent as others.

    I have translated the first and last verses as closely as possible, there are 4 verses but I think it would be overkill to translate them all.
    But people can get an idea of what our national anthem is about if they read the two verses 😏

    There is a lovely country, It stands with broad beeches,Near Saltan Oyster Beach it meanders in hill valley, it’s called old Denmark and it’s Freya’s Hall, and that is Freya’s hall

    Last verse:

    Hail, king and fatherland
    Greet every Dane
    Who works where he can, who works where he can
    Our old Denmark will endure as long as the beech reflects Its top in the wave blue, its top in the wave blue