FinishMySong Blog

I think we in the United Kingdom get a bit confused about our national status on account of the country being split up into a number of smaller 'countries' that many people find themselves more able to associate with. I always remember when I was filling out a Student Loans form back in Scarborough, there was a question about my nationality to answer next to which I wrote down "British". Now I'm not sure even whether that's technically correct as Britain is a geographic place rather than being determined by political or national borders (think of the Isle of Man being one of the British Isles), but the opinionated finance woman at UCS who went through my form changed my answer to "English", turning to me with the remark that she prefers that!!

So, where exactly DO we live? Most people who have been brought up in my part of the world would say that their country is England, but then politically we belong to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and of course, when they're not calling us "Limeys", the Americans simply refer to us as 'British'. England, Scotland, Wales & Northern Ireland have one common parliament with one Prime Minister and yet, perhaps for historical reasons, we choose to see ourselves as members of 4 different countries (of course, the situation with Northern Ireland is more understandable after 100 years of conflict over that land).

So, then we have a number of national anthems, all of which are used at different types of occasions. Wikipedia has this to say about the matter :

• Wales has its own recognised anthem in Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau;
• Scotland uses either Flower of Scotland or Scotland the Brave, or traditionally Scots Wha Hae; see also National Anthem of Scotland.
• England generally uses God Save the Queen, but has used Jerusalem or Land of Hope and Glory.
• Northern Ireland generally uses God Save the Queen at events associated with the British tradition, and the Irish national anthem Amhrán na bhFiann at events associated with the Irish tradition. Additionally, Londonderry Air is a popular cross-community anthem.
• At international football matches, England and Northern Ireland both use God Save the Queen, while Scotland uses Flower of Scotland, and Wales uses Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau. There has been some debate about replacing God Save the Queen with Jerusalem for England matches.
• At international rugby league matches, England have used Land of Hope and Glory but in their 2005 internationals, changed to God Save The Queen. Scotland uses Flower of Scotland and Wales uses Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau. At Great Britain matches, God Save the Queen is played, which recently led to Irish-born Brian Carney bowing his head and not singing along.

So, it's not altogether surprising that the people of our little group of islands get quite confused about their national identity. Not that any of this matters at all, but it does amuse me to see so many people flying the George Cross in support of the English football team over in Germany - just to make matters even more complicated, St George is actually the patron saint of a number of nations, including Israel, and the tune God Save Our Gracious Queen is used by various other countries for their anthem, including Norway!

Anyway, if England beat Ecuador in the football World Cup today (as I write this, it's half time and the score is 0-0), you might want to join in with the singing at the beginning of their next game. See below for the lyrics of our English national anthem (seriously cringe-worthy, if you ask me) and click on the flag to listen to an absolutely brilliant recording of the piece as sung by a choir in a magnificent arrangement with orchestral accompaniment - you'll need Real Player to hear it. Out of interest, every time I listen to the piece the thought crosses my mind that it is the bass part that really drives the music forward and ultimately it is this reason why the piece 'works' in such a stirring fashion.