Posted by admin on 18 Jun 2008 | Tagged as: anthems, events, news, politics
There were red faces galore the other night at the Swiss TV channel SRG during the Germany-Austria Euro 2008 match. Someone had the bright idea of subtitling the national anthems. Unfortunately, that someone was using an outdated lyric book, as the German anthem came with the words, “Deutschland, Deutschland über alles… (Germany over all)”. Yep, [...]
Posted by admin on 23 Apr 2008 | Tagged as: anthems, news, politics
If you’re a regular reader, you are probably aware that I have come to the conclusion that most anthems are dark, mean-spirited affairs. When they’re not calling for the spilling of blood (Ireland, France), they are stomping on other people (like the infamous sixth verse of “God Save the Queen”). It looks like someone in [...]
Posted by admin on 21 Dec 2007 | Tagged as: news, politics, protest
I’ve always been a little uncomfortable with the campaign against dancehall, as it has echoes of the thought police in action. But I’ve always been very uncomfortable with some of the extremely violent anti-gay lyrics as well. Now the British resort Brighton has become the first UK town to officially ban licensed venues from playing [...]
Posted by admin on 19 Dec 2007 | Tagged as: anthems, meanings, news, politics
I always thought that national anthems were ancient texts passed down from generation to generation and sung with pride. As the recent news in the UK has shown, they can still be works in progress. And now Spain is at it, struggling to find lyrics that fit the national psyche. There is a simple reason [...]
Posted by admin on 22 Nov 2007 | Tagged as: Eurovision, news, politics
So the unthinkable has happened: a country has decided to NOT take part in the Eurovision Song Contest. I remember hearing comments in Dublin after multiple wins that it was costing too much and that Ireland couldn’t afford to win again. But to not take part at all is quite dramatic. Why the fuss?
Posted by admin on 15 Apr 2007 | Tagged as: meanings, news, politics, protest
Who can and cannot call black women “whores”? Who can or cannot call coloured people “niggaz” (as if the z makes any real difference)? It’s funny that it took an aging loudmouth radio presenter to finally bring the issue of bling lyrics into the public arena. And since then, a lot of the debate has [...]
Posted by admin on 06 Apr 2007 | Tagged as: anthems, meanings, news, politics
National anthems are, on the whole, a bloodthirsty genre. It’s funny that while debate rages around violent or pornographic songs and video games, we still stand up to shout (I can hardly say sing) encouragements to kill, seek revenge, conquer and ethnically cleanse. If you think I’m exaggerating, I invite you to check the anthems [...]
Posted by admin on 11 Mar 2007 | Tagged as: news, politics, protest
No, of course it’s not true. It wasn’t really Tony Blair. It’s a well-known fact that the British Prime Minister was in a band briefly in university. Ugly Rumours never went very far. But a British pressure group decided to record a version of “War” with a Blair lookalike and try and get in the [...]
Posted by admin on 04 Mar 2007 | Tagged as: Eurovision, news, politics, protest
Eurovision wouldn’t be Eurovision without a good argument. Last year, Iceland provided the comic relief with a song that included the F word. This time, some people are questioning if Israel is not pushing the limit of humour a little with a topical comedy track called “Push the Button”… Who exactly should be pushing the [...]
Posted by admin on 22 Feb 2007 | Tagged as: politics, protest
As its policing role brings it to some of the world’s most violent areas, the UN is used to dealing with violence. But people in the impoverished island of Haiti are having a go at the UN using a more subtle weapon: lyrics. The country hosts some 9000 UN troops, charged with bringing stability and [...]