English national anthem at the Commonwealth games
Justin Aerial
Posts: 5,710 Forum Member
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I was lucky enough to go to the 2002 Commonwealth games final night of Athletics in Manchester. We, England, won seven gold medals as far as I can remember. One of the things which made it even better was that the crowd got to sing "Land of Hope And Glory" (as opposed to that dirge tune "God Save The Queen"), the words were flashed up on the scoreboard, it was like the Last Night Of The Proms, but 10X bigger. Fabulous.
So what I don`t understand is that the English national anthem in Glasgow seems to be "Jerusalem". When did that change, and why ? Or am I suffering from a false memory of it all ? ! ?
So what I don`t understand is that the English national anthem in Glasgow seems to be "Jerusalem". When did that change, and why ? Or am I suffering from a false memory of it all ? ! ?
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Thanks for that DB. I have to say I`m a bit surprised at Land Of Hope & Glory being "outvoted" by Jerusalem ! Who exactly voted in that ? ! ?
I can`t think of a more rousing song than "L of H & G", personally I`d like to see "God Save The Queen/King" junked and replaced by L of H & G !
I do agree, I have been in the Albert Hall when LOHAG has been played (NOT the last night of proms) and it is very stirring, Jerusalem is a nice tune, but not "anthemic" nor stirring to me.
Jerusalem is a nice song, but no way is it a rousing anthem like Land of Hope and Glory.
Apparently the vote for Jerusalem was overwhelmingly in favour. I'd like to know who on earth voted because I haven't met a single person who prefers Jerusalem.
I suspect a decision had already been taken to exclude LoHaG from the results and so Jerusalem theoretically topped the poll. Cameron wanted Jerusalem, so I guess that's why it 'won'.
At least Jerusalem mentions England. LOHAG doesn't mention England (or Britain) and is overly religious too. Still a stonking tune though.
I Vow to Thee My County is also fairly religious. The whole second verse about "another country" is pure religion.
Nice theory but wasn't the poll carried out BEFORE the 2010 election? Maybe Gordon Brown wanted the worst one to win!
At the last night of athletics in Manchester (2002) it was sung by the vast majority of the 35,000 there, including my mate Bertrand from Paris in a French accent ! It was absolutely fantastic ! ! !
Or, alternatively, it could have been that in a free and fair, non-political vote, Jeruslaem got more votes than the other options?
or if you'd like another WW2 anthem that made out it was only the English taking part, how about this one....
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCzhgn5RMJc
See i don't know if you're trying to troll or if you think you're being serious... if you're trolling me who do you think you are kidding... it's not a WW2 anthem for a start, being composed in 1968... 23 years after the war. Secondly it's a TV theme song, and thirdly, just no.
Also NOWHERE in the lyrics of There'll always be an England does it make out that it was only the English taking part in the war. It doesn't even mention the war, it's about how while there's Englishmen still in England, the country will remain.