Confounded Politics and Drinking Songs

These kids are singing a national anthem. But for what nation? To be honest I'm not sure myself. I found it on this site. It didn't sound American....

So I made a comment about the British monarchy feeling relatively secure that it would never be read by anyone actually British. But I was WRONG! So let that be a lesson to me and everyone else. The British monarchy is always watching. No, just kidding. (Or am I? Better get our little tin hats.) This just brings home that one should always remember the Internet is a public forum. I like to think I'm pretty good about this and you will see nary an embarrassing photograph or embarrassing incident that I do not feel comfortable allowing all the world to see. I'm probably more paranoid than I need to be concerning most things. But as we've seen, even I slip up a little.

So, in the spirit of fairness, I shall poke fun at both the US national anthem and the British one. But just so no one feels singled out, I'm of the opinion that most national anthems are pretty silly (or disturbing) when you get right down to it.

Now the first on our list is God Save the Queen, but don't worry, I poke fun at the Star Spangled Banner next. God Save the Queen is a very pretty tune, and we even stole it for my favorite patriotic song My Country Tis of Thee. But when I examined the words I had to crack up at that lines "Confound their politics/ Frustrate their knavish tricks." I don't know. I suppose I've lived too long in a country where the national anthem is about blowing things up. But I also find it ambiguous whose doing the confounding or frustrating. God, the Queen, the British people, or all of the above? All of these options seem rather amusing. And how are we confounding them? A well written treaty is a very admirable thing, but seems a bit odd to sing about in an anthem since I generally see anthems as something to stir up national pride. This is basically like saying, "We confuse people. Yeah!" Or perhaps they're using Jedi Mind Tricks? The idea of diplomacy in an anthem isn't bad, but there's just something about it that seems so uniquely British.



God save our gracious Queen,
Long live our noble Queen,
God save the Queen!
Send her victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us;
God save the Queen!

O Lord our God arise,
Scatter her enemies
And make them fall;
Confound their politics,
Frustrate their knavish tricks,
On Thee our hopes we fix,
God save us all!

Thy choicest gifts in store
On her be pleased to pour;
Long may she reign;
May she defend our laws,
And ever give us cause
To sing with heart and voice,
God save the Queen!

Okay, but fair's, fair. Our anthem is to the tune of an old British drinking song, is ridiculously long (only the first stanza is usually sung), and it is nearly impossible to sing well without really good range (and drunk people sang this?). And as previously mentioned, is basically about blowing things up. And yes, it's obviously about the flag too. We're very happy the flag is still there. What's that? What about all those dead soldiers? Oh, never mind that, hooray for the flag!



O! say can you see by the dawn's early light
What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming?
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight,
O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming?
And the rockets' red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there.
O! say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore, dimly seen through the mists of the deep,
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream:
'Tis the star-spangled banner! Oh long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion,
A home and a country should leave us no more!
Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps' pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O! thus be it ever, when freemen shall stand
Between their loved home and the war's desolation!
Blest with victory and peace, may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the Power that hath made and preserved us a nation.
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto: 'In God is our trust.'
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave