tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761010880487745023.post2030580003694491049..comments2015-10-05T07:40:11.990-07:00Comments on Stephen Crabbe's Blog: National Anthem: Advance Australia or Dance Australia?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17399406434118826499noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761010880487745023.post-83604905336116121962014-01-03T01:41:38.814-08:002014-01-03T01:41:38.814-08:00Thanks for dropping in, Dean. I suspect the anthem...Thanks for dropping in, Dean. I suspect the anthem that struck you in the Tatoo was Scotland the Brave, which as well as a tripping lilt for the melody has some really nice text--e.g. the first verse:<br /><br />Hark, hark, the night is falling<br />Hear, hear the pipes are calling<br />Loudly and proudly calling down through the glen<br />Here where the hills lie sleeping<br />now feel the blood a leaping<br />high as the spirits of the old highland men<br /><br />It's a melody people dance with quite easily and bubbles with the spirit of the natural environment. I'd love to have a song like that for Australia!<br /><br />I reckon if we could put Paul Kelly, Eric Bogle (originally Scottish and now an Adelaide resident) and a couple of others together we'd end up with an anthem most people would fall in love with.<br /><br />Anyway, Dean, please come again.<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17399406434118826499noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2761010880487745023.post-59974355497016836712014-01-02T20:32:47.562-08:002014-01-02T20:32:47.562-08:00A great discussion about a topic which I have long...A great discussion about a topic which I have long ruminated over myself. I have to say that, for me, Advance Australia Fair is completely lacking in one essential ingredient - and that is romance. It does nothing to inspire a love for ones country at all and I think this was made clear to me whilst I was watching the Edinburgh Tattoo the other night. I can't recall which nation it was - either Scotland or perhaps New Zealand - but I heard an anthem that was infused with romance. It had none of the patriotic fervor one would associate with an authoritarian state - rather, it inspired love for ones country in a much more personal way, a romantic way - a way that inspired emotion. <br /><br />Advance Australia Fair does none of that for me. It is indeed an anachronistic muddle that serves more to inspire confusion and a scratching of heads rather than deep feeling.<br /><br />I've always been rather partial to Paul Kelly's "From Little Things, Big Things Grow" but, at a plus 5 minutes running time, I fear people would quickly lose their minds.DeanfromAustraliahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12292995600982621329noreply@blogger.com