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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: English National Anthem
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Ricardus
Shipmate
# 8757
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Posted
MPs have given initial support to the idea of England adopting an official national anthem. So that teams representing England rather than the UK don't have to default to God Save The Queen.
The front-runners are (predictably) Jerusalem and Land of Hope and Glory.
Some have other ideas:
quote:
Mr Perkins said there had been a lot of interest in choosing an anthem when he spoke on radio stations across England.
"I won't say which area it was that thought the most appropriate choice for an English national anthem should be Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now," he said.
"It will remain a secret between myself and the listeners of BBC Humberside, but it was perhaps reflective that each local area has its own sense of what Englishness means."
What would Shipmates pick?
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Then the dog ran before, and coming as if he had brought the news, shewed his joy by his fawning and wagging his tail. -- Tobit 11:9 (Douai-Rheims)
Posts: 7247 | From: Liverpool, UK | Registered: Nov 2004
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Sipech
Shipmate
# 16870
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Posted
Go for all out ironic jingoism, in the form of Flanders & Swann's 'A Song of Patriotic Prejudice'. [lyrics]
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I try to be self-deprecating; I'm just not very good at it.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheAlethiophile
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Schroedinger's cat
Ship's cool cat
# 64
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Posted
I reckon "We're All in it together" by Grace Petrie would (with some minor updating) be perfect.
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chris stiles
Shipmate
# 12641
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Posted
Put it to popular vote and there'll be a danger we end up with 'Vindaloo'
Posts: 4035 | From: Berkshire | Registered: May 2007
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Og, King of Bashan
Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by chris stiles:
Put it to popular vote and there'll be a danger we end up with 'Vindaloo'
I believe it was Auberon Waugh who commented that a group of untrained English boys will make even the loveliest song sound like a football war chant, so why not just embrace it?
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"I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
Posts: 3259 | From: Denver, Colorado, USA | Registered: May 2005
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itsarumdo
Shipmate
# 18174
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Posted
The Arethusa probably captures traditional Englishness as well as anything else.
lyrics
Jerusalem is a song for revolutionaries, and I doubt that it will be chosen. Land of Hope and Glory - great tune, Proms, scarf waving, no ida what the lyrics are (Na Na Nanana Na Na..). Probably No. 1 choice.
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"Iti sapis potanda tinone" Lycophron
Posts: 994 | From: Planet Zog | Registered: Jul 2014
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Mudfrog
Shipmate
# 8116
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Posted
We are the Champions?
There'll always be an England?
Who do you think you are kidding Mr Hitler?
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G.K. Chesterton
Posts: 8237 | From: North Yorkshire, UK | Registered: Jul 2004
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Chill
Shipmate
# 13643
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Posted
Always look on the bright side of life...
Posts: 343 | From: England | Registered: Apr 2008
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balaam
Making an ass of myself
# 4543
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Posted
Instead of an anthem before the match, how about the Smith's Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now after it.
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Last ever sig ...
blog
Posts: 9049 | From: Hen Ogledd | Registered: May 2003
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Dafyd
Shipmate
# 5549
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Posted
There's always Swing Low Sweet Chariot.
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we remain, thanks to original sin, much in love with talking about, rather than with, one another. Rowan Williams
Posts: 10567 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Feb 2004
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Dafyd:
There's always Swing Low Sweet Chariot.
Not a good idea. There are gestures associated with that which make it as unsuitable as Jerusalem.
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Marvin the Martian
Interplanetary
# 4360
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Posted
I'd vote for Land of Hope and Glory. Just the sort of "we are great" message a national anthem should convey.
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Hail Gallaxhar
Posts: 30100 | From: Adrift on a sea of surreality | Registered: Apr 2003
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Anglican't
Shipmate
# 15292
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Marvin the Martian:
I'd vote for Land of Hope and Glory. Just the sort of "we are great" message a national anthem should convey.
My instinct is to agree, but when it was used at the Commonwealth Games for England in 2002 the whole thing just didn't seem right to me. I think it might've been because it jumped straight to the chorus without the build up. I wonder whether Jerusalem is better for sporting events.
Posts: 3613 | From: London, England | Registered: Nov 2009
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Uriel
Shipmate
# 2248
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Posted
Just do the theme tune to The Archers, and we "La la la la la la laaaa" along.
Posts: 687 | From: Somerset, UK | Registered: Jan 2002
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Doublethink.
Ship's Foolwise Unperson
# 1984
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Posted
If you want to go really traditional then John Barleycorn would be appropriate.
But I do have a fondness in my heart for Wor Geordie's lost his penka.
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All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome. George Orwell
Posts: 19219 | From: Erehwon | Registered: Aug 2005
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Doublethink.
Ship's Foolwise Unperson
# 1984
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Posted
Absolutely the best modern song to use, if you want a crowd singable one for sports events is Tubthumping.
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All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome. George Orwell
Posts: 19219 | From: Erehwon | Registered: Aug 2005
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Bob Two-Owls
Shipmate
# 9680
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Posted
An anthem doesn't necessarily have to be sung, there are quite a few instrumental anthems out there. This being so I suggest it is time our sportspersons stood to attention to the glorious strains of The Imperial March from Star Wars.
It would certainly make a statement.
Posts: 1262 | Registered: Jul 2005
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Doublethink.
Ship's Foolwise Unperson
# 1984
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Posted
The Hallelujah chorus would be fun, and the words would be easy to remember ....
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All political thinking for years past has been vitiated in the same way. People can foresee the future only when it coincides with their own wishes, and the most grossly obvious facts can be ignored when they are unwelcome. George Orwell
Posts: 19219 | From: Erehwon | Registered: Aug 2005
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Ricardus
Shipmate
# 8757
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Marvin the Martian:
I'd vote for Land of Hope and Glory. Just the sort of "we are great" message a national anthem should convey.
But it's about the British Empire, not England. No-one wants England's bounds to be set wider still and wider except for those odd people who want to get Monmouthshire back from the Welsh.
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Then the dog ran before, and coming as if he had brought the news, shewed his joy by his fawning and wagging his tail. -- Tobit 11:9 (Douai-Rheims)
Posts: 7247 | From: Liverpool, UK | Registered: Nov 2004
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
OK then, if you want English, we'll have The Village Green Preservation Society.
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Eutychus
From the edge
# 3081
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Posted
hosting/
To Heaven with this merriment.
/hosting
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Let's remember that we are to build the Kingdom of God, not drive people away - pastor Frank Pomeroy
Posts: 17944 | From: 528491 | Registered: Jul 2002
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Schroedinger's cat
Ship's cool cat
# 64
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Posted
Maybe "They'll always be an England". I am sure some sporting crowds can amend the words appropriately.
"They'll always be an England
Who hates this Tory crap
And think the f*cking pigs head
Should have bitten back"
I could see that being sung.
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Blog
Music for your enjoyment
Lord may all my hard times be healing times
take out this broken heart and renew my mind.
Posts: 18859 | From: At the bottom of a deep dark well. | Registered: May 2001
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Bob Two-Owls
Shipmate
# 9680
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Posted
Some London performance poet type came up to Sheffield University and sang a version in the Student Union causing a punch-up. The chorus I always remember goes:
"There'll always be an England
Just one that's split in two
the northerners just eat raw meat
and paint their faces blue."
Posts: 1262 | Registered: Jul 2005
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L'organist
Shipmate
# 17338
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Posted
Great idea to have an English song for you before matches, but why the limited ambition? I'd submit this little number: good tune, wonderful self-deprecating lyrics, and could be trimmed if need be.
They're out of sorts in Sunderland And terribly cross in Kent,
They're dull in Hull And the Isle of Mull Is seething with discontent,
They're nervous in Northumberland And Devon is down the drain,
They're filled with wrath On the firth of Forth And sullen on Salisbury Plain;
In Dublin they're depressed, lads, Maybe because they're Celts
For Drake is going West, lads, And so is everyone else.
Hurray-hurray-hurray! Misery's here to stay.
There are bad times just around the corner
It might need editing ot cutting down (!) but it could be the first "anthem" to make people laugh.
(edited for copyright. I can remember when dear Noel was still with us)
[ 14. January 2016, 08:37: Message edited by: Firenze ]
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Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet
Posts: 4950 | From: somewhere in England... | Registered: Sep 2012
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Evangeline
Shipmate
# 7002
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sioni Sais:
quote:
Originally posted by Dafyd:
There's always Swing Low Sweet Chariot.
Not a good idea. There are gestures associated with that which make it as unsuitable as Jerusalem.
I've never understood why the English sing this at Rugby games. It's a spiritual from African slaves in the US who longed for death. Seriously why do you sing it let alone suggest for a national anthem, it seems really wrong to me.
Posts: 2871 | From: "A capsule of modernity afloat in a wild sea" | Registered: May 2004
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
Well, the World Cup was pretty depressing for England....
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Marvin the Martian
Interplanetary
# 4360
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Schroedinger's cat:
Maybe "They'll always be an England". I am sure some sporting crowds can amend the words appropriately.
"They'll always be an England
Who hates this Tory crap
And think the f*cking pigs head
Should have bitten back"
I could see that being sung.
Yes, because if there's one thing a national anthem needs to be it's politically divisive ![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif)
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Hail Gallaxhar
Posts: 30100 | From: Adrift on a sea of surreality | Registered: Apr 2003
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Schroedinger's cat
Ship's cool cat
# 64
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Marvin the Martian:
quote:
Originally posted by Schroedinger's cat:
Maybe "They'll always be an England". I am sure some sporting crowds can amend the words appropriately.
"They'll always be an England
Who hates this Tory crap
And think the f*cking pigs head
Should have bitten back"
I could see that being sung.
Yes, because if there's one thing a national anthem needs to be it's politically divisive
So a song that is an appeal to a deity which most people don't believe in to support a hereditary ruler who some people don't agree with is OK then?
A national anthem is always going to be politically divisive. It is liable to be conservative, and so tend to alienate the more liberal minded.
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Blog
Music for your enjoyment
Lord may all my hard times be healing times
take out this broken heart and renew my mind.
Posts: 18859 | From: At the bottom of a deep dark well. | Registered: May 2001
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betjemaniac
Shipmate
# 17618
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Marvin the Martian:
quote:
Originally posted by Schroedinger's cat:
Maybe "They'll always be an England". I am sure some sporting crowds can amend the words appropriately.
"They'll always be an England
Who hates this Tory crap
And think the f*cking pigs head
Should have bitten back"
I could see that being sung.
Yes, because if there's one thing a national anthem needs to be it's politically divisive
second verse is:
There'll always be an England
whose votes keep Labour out
and keep those braindead policies
still safely without clout
third:
There'll always be an England
that votes for the LibDems
but why they do that no one knows
they're sinking in the Thames
fourth:
There'll always be an England
that quite likes to vote Green
but what that will ever achieve
still remains to be seen
fifth:
some folks live north of England
and like the SNP
whatever will make them look good
will be their policy
sixth:
Some people west of England
cross their ballots for Plaid
but while they don't like Labourites
they're pretty red inside
seventh:
there are remaining Liberals,
who didn't want to merge
but like remaining SDP
they are a powerless dirge
I mean, presumably equal opportunities division is ok?
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)
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And is it true? For if it is....
Posts: 1481 | From: behind the dreaming spires | Registered: Mar 2013
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
"Engerland, Engerland, Engerland..."
Simple tune, easy to remember.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
Another possibility would be to adopt a decent tune and not bother with words as these are bound to be divisive. GSTQ isn't well-loved north of the border and "Flower of Scotland" only seeks to balance it. They are both dirges and I can't see either of them inspiring anyone.
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Nick Tamen
Ship's Wayfaring Fool
# 15164
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Evangeline:
I've never understood why the English sing this at Rugby games. It's a spiritual from African slaves in the US who longed for death. Seriously why do you sing it let alone suggest for a national anthem, it seems really wrong to me.
Like many African-American spirituals, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" has layered meanings. It is about death, but it also about a longing for freedom. References to the Jordan River refer both to crossing from this world to the next, and going from the South to the North (whether north of the Ohio River or all the way to Canada). Songs like this were a "safe" way for slaves to express their longings.
Which to me, at least, doesn't make it any less strange a choice to be sung at rugby matches.
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The first thing God says to Moses is, "Take off your shoes." We are on holy ground. Hard to believe, but the truest thing I know. — Anne Lamott
Posts: 2833 | From: On heaven-crammed earth | Registered: Sep 2009
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Nick Tamen:
quote:
Originally posted by Evangeline:
I've never understood why the English sing this at Rugby games. It's a spiritual from African slaves in the US who longed for death. Seriously why do you sing it let alone suggest for a national anthem, it seems really wrong to me.
Like many African-American spirituals, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" has layered meanings. It is about death, but it also about a longing for freedom. References to the Jordan River refer both to crossing from this world to the next, and going from the South to the North (whether north of the Ohio River or all the way to Canada). Songs like this were a "safe" way for slaves to express their longings.
Which to me, at least, doesn't make it any less strange a choice to be sung at rugby matches.
It has been sung in rugby clubs for years. Mid-seventies at least. I'm pretty sure it became popular at the Middlesex Sevens.
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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Nick Tamen
Ship's Wayfaring Fool
# 15164
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Sioni Sais:
It has been sung in rugby clubs for years. Mid-seventies at least. I'm pretty sure it became popular at the Middlesex Sevens.
Oh I know. But to an American Southerner, the mere fact that it has been and is regularly used this way is truly bizarre.
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The first thing God says to Moses is, "Take off your shoes." We are on holy ground. Hard to believe, but the truest thing I know. — Anne Lamott
Posts: 2833 | From: On heaven-crammed earth | Registered: Sep 2009
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quetzalcoatl
Shipmate
# 16740
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Posted
I'm trying to imagine the whole crowd doing the hand gestures; wow, quite a surreal image. (Basically, hand movements imitating masturbation and other sexual antics).
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I can't talk to you today; I talked to two people yesterday.
Posts: 9878 | From: UK | Registered: Oct 2011
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no prophet's flag is set so...
Proceed to see sea
# 15560
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Posted
Seeing as you're talking songs at sports, could you find any songs by Queen that would work? Given the name of the band, seems apropos. People sing along to We are the Champions, We Will Rock You, and Bohemian Rhapsody all the time here. I think I'd just choose the stomp/clap from We Will Rock You and leave it there.
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Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety.
\_(ツ)_/
Posts: 11498 | From: Treaty 6 territory in the nonexistant Province of Buffalo, Canada ↄ⃝' | Registered: Mar 2010
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Ferijen
Shipmate
# 4719
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Uriel:
Just do the theme tune to The Archers, and we "La la la la la la laaaa" along.
Dum de dum de dum de dum, surely...
Posts: 3259 | From: UK | Registered: Jul 2003
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betjemaniac
Shipmate
# 17618
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Posted
I think the absolute best would be Sandy Denny's mighty No End - the whole of the English condition in one song....
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And is it true? For if it is....
Posts: 1481 | From: behind the dreaming spires | Registered: Mar 2013
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Adeodatus
Shipmate
# 4992
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ferijen:
quote:
Originally posted by Uriel:
Just do the theme tune to The Archers, and we "La la la la la la laaaa" along.
Dum de dum de dum de dum, surely...
Yes, everyone knows the Archers lyrics are
quote:
Dum de dum de dum de dum,
Dum de dum de dumm dumm,
Dum de dum de dum de dum,
Dum de diddle-de dum...
(It's said, really. I could probably have become an Archers fan if it weren't for that godawful tune that has me diving for the 'off' switch whenever I hear it.)
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"What is broken, repair with gold."
Posts: 9779 | From: Manchester | Registered: Sep 2003
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mark_in_manchester
not waving, but...
# 15978
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Posted
quote:
Seeing as you're talking songs at sports, could you find any songs by Queen that would work?
Prince Charles might vote for 'Tie one's mother down (keep one's daddy out of doors, one don't need him nosing around)'...
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"We are punished by our sins, not for them" - Elbert Hubbard
(so good, I wanted to see it after my posts and not only after those of shipmate JBohn from whom I stole it)
Posts: 1596 | Registered: Oct 2010
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Schroedinger's cat
Ship's cool cat
# 64
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Posted
If we are going with Dum de dum tunes, maybe the Doctor Who theme?
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Blog
Music for your enjoyment
Lord may all my hard times be healing times
take out this broken heart and renew my mind.
Posts: 18859 | From: At the bottom of a deep dark well. | Registered: May 2001
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Sipech
Shipmate
# 16870
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Schroedinger's cat:
If we are going with Dum de dum tunes, maybe the Doctor Who theme?
Plus, if we could sort of copy the New Zealand rugby team by having both a national anthem and their haka, we could introduce our "extra" in the form of the Mastermind theme, and all the players get to sit down for 90 seconds and look a bit nervous.
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I try to be self-deprecating; I'm just not very good at it.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/TheAlethiophile
Posts: 3791 | From: On the corporate ladder | Registered: Jan 2012
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
Well, if we used Barwick Green (I think that's what the Archer's tune is called) our teams could enact a suitable bit of morris to counter the haka.
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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ExclamationMark
Shipmate
# 14715
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Posted
"God save the Queen" by the Sex Pistols - seems appropriate given the messages the Government is putting out.
Posts: 3845 | From: A new Jerusalem | Registered: Apr 2009
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Penny S:
Well, if we used Barwick Green (I think that's what the Archer's tune is called) our teams could enact a suitable bit of morris to counter the haka.
I think it might put the wind up the other team more if they imitated The Cloggies
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Penny S
Shipmate
# 14768
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Posted
I think I might have had in mind the punk side which performed in black bin liners with pins, and introduced moves including the knees and head butting. I saw them perform on the platform in front of St Martins in the Fields. I suspect a Cloggie influence.
Posts: 5833 | Registered: May 2009
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