Dally wrote:You picked out random verses. Also there are references to "us". Perhaps, it's about more than the monarch, per se? I picked out the commonly used version of the national anthem. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_Save_the_Queen I think we could indulge in a spot of finding hidden depths in a national anthem which doesn't really have any, but the long and the short of it is that it does not suitably reflect the country. The Australian national anthem tells everyone who cares to listen that its land abounds in natures gift's. Ours essentially says, "I doff my cap to the king/queen. I do hope they don't smite us". I should also say that this isn't about being republican. I don't think that being a monarchist and finding our anthem absurd are mutually exclusive.

Dally wrote:You picked out random verses. Also there are references to "us". Perhaps, it's about more than the monarch, per se? I picked out the commonly used version of the national anthem. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_Save_the_Queen I think we could indulge in a spot of finding hidden depths in a national anthem which doesn't really have any, but the long and the short of it is that it does not suitably reflect the country. The Australian national anthem tells everyone who cares to listen that its land abounds in natures gift's. Ours essentially says, "I doff my cap to the king/queen. I do hope they don't smite us". I should also say that this isn't about being republican. I don't think that being a monarchist and finding our anthem absurd are mutually exclusive.

Scrap it, I say.
Get something better or adapt something better.

Change a couple of words in Land of Hope and Glory and t'job's a good 'un.

It's hardly "about one woman", is it, though? Isn't the symbolism bleedin' obvious? The thing is about the Head of State, as such, and thus is really about the country of which she is just the incumbent monarch. "The king is dead! Long live the king!" kind of thing.

The personal identity of the monarch is irrelevant for this purpose. If you need proof to get your head around this, consider this; if Brenda retired tomorrow, would anyone ever sing an anthem to her again? And why do you think that would be, then?

There are so many versions and verses, for all sorts of historical reasons, that there is no official full version but it doesn't matter since for all intents and purposes verse 1 is the only one mostly ever sung.

Personally I reckon they should bring back the following as verse 2, which I put on a par with the verses contributed by Johnny Rotten:

From France and Pretender
Great Britain defend her,
Foes let them fall;
From foreign slavery,
Priests and their knavery,
And Popish Reverie,
God save us all.

As in my comments before, though I'm pretty sure that the supplicants were asking god to defend the realm, not just the queen. As if she alone survived it wouldn't be an exercise with much point.

That only represents England.

I'd settle for someone putting lyrics to The Archers theme

Quite.
And that verse is about God and the monarch and ruling over us ... not all the other stuff you mentioned.

It's crap, get rid.

Pumpetypump wrote:I picked out the commonly used version of the national anthem. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_Save_the_Queen I think we could indulge in a spot of finding hidden depths in a national anthem which doesn't really have any, but the long and the short of it is that it does not suitably reflect the country. The Australian national anthem tells everyone who cares to listen that its land abounds in natures gift's. Ours essentially says, "I doff my cap to the king/queen. I do hope they don't smite us". I should also say that this isn't about being republican. I don't think that being a monarchist and finding our anthem absurd are mutually exclusive. The Aussies want to change theirs!

Pumpetypump wrote:I picked out the commonly used version of the national anthem. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_Save_the_Queen I think we could indulge in a spot of finding hidden depths in a national anthem which doesn't really have any, but the long and the short of it is that it does not suitably reflect the country. The Australian national anthem tells everyone who cares to listen that its land abounds in natures gift's. Ours essentially says, "I doff my cap to the king/queen. I do hope they don't smite us". I should also say that this isn't about being republican. I don't think that being a monarchist and finding our anthem absurd are mutually exclusive. The Aussies want to change theirs!

I have noticed that you can quite easily sing the words from "Mary had a little lamb" to that tune.

More apt would be "Bruce had many sheep and has Now caught a dose."

Oh come on. Do you feel that Brenda rules over you, like she could have your head chopped off or something? We are a constitutional monarchy and the monarch is the head of state. Most of the country (sadly) believe in god, i don't but see no harm in the title, any more than i see anything wrong in using a phrase such as "Thank God for beer". Belief in a deity is not necessary for you to get my point.

I wouldn't mind the song being replaced by something the people as a whole preferred, if it were possible to find out what that actually was, but for now see no problem at all with a patriotic song in a constitutional monarchy referring to the monarch, and it is a rousing tune, sung to good effect on many occasions so I reckon thousands must reckon that by and large it does the job. There's no need to take it so literally, and it's a mistake to do so.

Plus if you are fundamentally opposed to the monarchy, you can always sing sing "team" instead of "queen"