by Steven Knipp

In many cases, a country’s national anthem tells of a passionate struggle to become independent, so lyrics are often littered with images of violence and revenge (“the bombs bursting in air….), (“we are ready to die!”) ("the bloody flag is raised”). And still more anthems consist of blaring military music boasting of the glorious achievements of one’s country.

But other anthems are so benign as to be charming. Who wouldn’t be beguiled by Australia’s cheery Waltzing Matilda? Alas, that’s not the nation's anthem, though many people think it is. Australia’s actual anthem is Advance Australia Fair, a song which might be kindly categorised as worthy but dull. And, compared to Waltzing Matilda, has all the romantic rhythm of a bowling ball bouncing down a stairwell.

How seriously nations take their anthems varies greatly. Some Americans get mildly upset when a singer misses a note in The Star-Spangled Banner while singing it before a baseball game; this is despite the fact that the tune is notoriously difficult to sing as it demands an enormous vocal range, including the ability to reach a note so high it can strain a professional singer’s throat.

Many dictatorships, however, look very darkly indeed at anyone who fails to show full deference to their toe-tapping totalitarian tunes. Early last month [June], the People’s Republic of China formalised new laws in Hong Kong which could mean the arrest and a three-year prison term for any Hong Kongers who dare show “disrespect” for China’s national anthem. Ironically, the man who wrote March of the Volunteers in 1934, Chinese poet Tian Han, was later arrested for treason and died in prison.

Meanwhile, in Hong Kong, a middle school music teacher has been fired for allowing her students to sing the city’s own recently-written pro-democracy anthem, Glory to Hong Kong. The popular, award-winning educator, Novem Lee,  who had worked at the Heung To Middle School for 12 years, said that her students had selected the song as their own choice for a music exam. One student, who declined to give her name to media, said “We performed the song despite Ms Lee’s reminders that we should be careful about our song choices and try not to pick anything that’s related to the ongoing social events.”

In most democracies, including the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the UK, it’s no crime to diss the national anthem. Perhaps to avoid any possible political trouble, some anthems have no lyrics at all, including those for Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and San Marino. I have nothing more to say about those songs. But you’re free to hum a few bars, if you’d like?

As an Irish American, I was nearly a teenager before I realised that Too Ra Loo Ra Loo Ral (That’s an Irish Lullaby) — the song my Irish grandmother used to sing the lovely lyrics of to me all the time — wasn’t the national anthem of Ireland. In fact, it’s a favourite American song… Later, as a teenager, I discovered another song that my south Armagh-born granny quite liked, but it was no lullaby: The Fighting Men of Crossmaglen. 

Personally speaking, my favourite anthem is the famously bittersweet national hymn of the Kingdom of Hawaii, written in 1878, by Hawaii’s Queen Liliʻuokalani. As the last sovereign monarch of the Hawaiian Islands, she wrote Aloha Oe in the certain knowledge that her beautiful island-nation was being forcibly taken over by the United States following a coup organised by rich American planters. 

Anyone who’s heard the gentle sounds of this tender, bittersweet ballad even once will likely never forget it. But few know the significance of the title. Aloha Oe means “Farewell to thee.”