Boring national anthems:Canada & Australia?

[Dave, Melbourne,Australia]

The following appeared in Melbourne newspaper The Age on 11Feb2010. It was a letter to the Age Green Guide entertainment editor.

HANDS OFF CANADA'S CROWN
I am deeply offended and outraged by Michael Lallo's assertion that Australia has the "world's most boring national anthem" (Critic's View, Jan31). This is another blatant attempt by the jingoistic Australian media to claim credit for another country's cultural treasure, like political correctness or the word "mate". Canada, my birthplace, always has and always will have the world's most boring national anthem. Canadians are proud of this. It is one of our defining characteristics (along with maple syrup, politeness and Mounties). Parents sing it to small children to lull them to sleep and the CIA was reputedly interested in it for pacification purposes. Advance Australia Fair is stadium rock by comparison.
Peter Hextor
Stony Creek.

[charlene]

Peter is an arse.

[joveski]

i actually find ours boring too!. i much prefer Waltzing Matilda to be the one

[fezo]

I don't know about boring but, man, I really disliked the version of O, Canada that got sung at the opening ceremonies tonight.

Forgive me for commenting as a non-Canadian but that was pretty bad. I normally like O, Canada.

[charlene]

I did not like it and knew I wouldn't right from the first note. Don't fool with the anthem. ever. i mean it.

[fezo]

It was easy to dislike by the first note - it held for at least three times its normal length!

[charlene]

I'm rooting for the lone athlete from Ghana...
love it!

Very sad for the Georgian team . What a tragedy.

[fezo]

Count me in for Ghana!

I hadn't realized until the Georgians came in that there had only been 8 of them.. Sadly now seven.

[charlene]

I can't believe the Russians who were caught using banned substances last year are at the games. The IOC and the Olympic Ski fed. should be ashamed. toss them now before the races begin!

[charlene]

the singer was fine - lovely voice. she sings the I Believe song of the Olympics. the anthem arrangement was horrid.

[johnfowles]

I can't believe the Russians who were caught using banned substances last year are at the games. The IOC and the Olympic Ski fed. should be ashamed. toss them now before the races begin!
I mistakenly watched the opening ceremonies right to the bitter end . now where is that clip of Gord singing She Was My Athabaska Lady??

I thought afterwards of the 101 things I could have done instead
In fact I enjoyed an article in the New York Times online far more:-
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/sports/olympics/14mcgrath.html
entitled
An Appraisal
A Tasteful Way to Start the Olympic Games

some particular opinions therein
"There was also relief among those who had been fretting since 2008, wondering how the Vancouver organizers could compete with the opening ceremony for the Summer Games in Beijing. Wisely, they didn’t try. Friday’s ceremony was not a cast-of-thousands spectacle, and no children were subjected to voice dubbing, though a doping committee may want to look into what the aboriginal people were taking that enabled them to dance without stopping for three hours straight."
"The ceremony was long, a little dull at times, but it was also thoughtful and stirring. It was authentically and unabashedly Canadian. The poet Shane Koyczan pointed out that his was a country not afraid to use the words “please and thank you.” You could add that it’s a country unafraid to put a poet up there on the stage."
He also said that Canadians (correctly) said "A to Zed not Zee"
And that Canada was the "What" in "What's new"
The article also said:-
"About Nikki Yanofsky’s rendition of “O Canada,” the less said the better. She has picked up the unfortunate trait of turning the national anthem into a power ballad."
and pair of sharp observations
"As always, one of the best things about the ceremony was simply watching the athletes, bright-eyed and hopeful, and wondering about all the nonathletes who manage to get into the act. Why is it that a country sending one athlete to the Games also sends a handful of out-of-shape middle-age guys to march with him?"
"It’s true that the Bermudans, in shorts and knee socks, seemed to have mixed up the calendar, and what was with those German uniforms that bore “Team” on the front? They needed to be reminded?"

[Jesse Joe]

And what about that KD Lang... can that woman sing or what ! Purest voice ever to come out of Canada. I remember when she appeared on The Tonight Show w/ Johnny Carson, he would always praised her singing & Johnny was not one to show his admiration for a singing guest unless he really meant it.

[johnfowles]

OK for those who have never heard it here is a link to the "definitive" version of O Canada
http://www.johnfowles.org.uk/LIGHTFOOT/Extra_Rare/O_Canada.mp3
and for good measure one to the anthem of its mate south of the world's longest border
http:/www.johnfowles.org.uk/LIGHTFOOT/Extra_Rare/The_Star_Spangled_Banner.mp3 (http://www.johnfowles.org.uk/LIGHTFOOT/Extra_Rare/The_Star_Spangled_Banner.mp3)(both I believe were recorded at a Florida sporting occasion some years back

[Patti]

Tried again today to hear the 2nd one, unable to again, but the 'O Canada' song really doesn't sound boring at all. Sounded ok.

[jj]

Patti is right, that 2nd one doesnt seem to work

thanks for posting the first one, John! talk about vocal vibrato, eh, lol


Tyson gave Gord advice with starting low for the American anthem...he also was well guided to finish low for the Canuck one!


I much prefer God Save the Queen and especially the Maple Leaf Forever...the latter was written back in 1867 not far from where I work...no matter how many times the words are changed to try satisfy all, it is still not politically correct enough for this country, lol

The Maple Leaf Forever Anne Murray (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d45zJSHHwS8&feature=related)

[jj]

the singer was fine - lovely voice. she sings the I Believe song of the Olympics. the anthem arrangement was horrid.

this young kid (Nikki) singing a more normal arrangement here:

YouTube- Nikki Yanofsky Montreal - april 12-2008

and the I Believe video...many Canucks know every single brief memorable video clip compiled for this from over the years

YouTube- Vancouver Olympics 2010 (I Believe - Nikki Yanofsky)

'68 Greene is my 1st vivid Olympic memory

[jj]

and for good measure one to the anthem of its mate south of the world's longest border
http:/www.johnfowles.org.uk/LIGHTFOOT/Extra_Rare/The_Star_Spangled_Banner.mp3 (http://www.johnfowles.org.uk/LIGHTFOOT/Extra_Rare/The_Star_Spangled_Banner.mp3)

this may be for good measure but it's still coming across as a bad link, john, no?

john, again, please let us know when resolved ("pronto":))

[johnfowles]

Sorry but I really do not understand what you are all moaning about. The URLs of both mp3s are perfectly correct and I just tried right clicking on that US anthem link:it worked for me just dandy and here is the proof
http://johnfowles.org.uk/LIGHTFOOT/images/works_for_me.jpg
The fact that the downloaded file would not then play in Windows Media Player is another issue that I will now look into

[johnfowles]

The fact that the downloaded file would not then play in Windows Media Player is another issue that I will now look into


OK.Yesterday I found that the uploaded copy of The Star Spangled Banner mp3 would not play after downloading from my website
and in fact Windows Media Player claimed that it was corrupted,as was the one on file on my computer. I have now gone back to a working wav file ( ripped from a CD that I had burnt previously) and reconverted it to a 192 KBPS mp3 using the freeware program Switch Sound File Converter
it is now at:-
http://johnfowles.org.uk/LIGHTFOOT/Extra_Rare/TheStarSpangledBanner2.mp3and it played OK for me after a test download. just right click that link then "save target as" or whatever is your fancy
As for the sound quality of these two anthems according to:-
http://www.lightfoot.ca/chron05.htm
"In the first week of March, Lightfoot begins his 1999 touring season in Florida
Lightfoot sings the Canadian and US anthems at the Yankees' spring training game against the Blue Jays. He turns down Steinbrenner's suggestion he wear a Yankees jacket while singing because he has to live in Toronto!"
Presumably he sang through the Arena's public address system with its multiple loudspeakers(what is known as a Tannoy in the UK) which would produce an eerie echo effect if recorded by a microphone held by whoever in the crowd recorded these unusual and probably highly unofficial performances hence the audio quality is not the best

[RM]

In the first week of March, Lightfoot begins his 1999 touring season in Florida. Lightfoot sings the Canadian and US anthems at the Yankees' spring training game against the Blue Jays. He turns down Steinbrenner's suggestion he wear a Yankees jacket while singing because he has to live in Toronto!


It worked this time. Beautiful rendition.

Imagining Lightfoot in a Yankee jacket.....such is the stuff dreams are made of

[jj]

Steinbrenner's suggestion he wear a Yankees jacket


George also may have insisted that Gord get a haircut (just ask AJ or Damon)

wow, that was GL 1999 voice...impressive, thanks so much for sharing, JF

[fezo]

Would make him shave, too. Boo!

[charlene]

I'm rooting for the lone athlete from Ghana...
love it!

Very sad for the Georgian team . What a tragedy.

http://www.ctvolympics.ca/alpine-skiing/news/newsid=53743.html#snow+leopard+achieves+olympic+dr eam

I LOVED this guy!! he considered himself a winner if he didn't come in last..as long as he beat one person he was a winner...loved it..

Snow Leopard achieves Olympic dream
The Globe and MailBy Dawn Walton, The Globe and Mail Posted Saturday, February 27, 2010 3:19 PM ET

Judging by the boisterous applause, the autograph seekers and young women screaming "I love you," you'd be forgiven for thinking hockey prodigy Sidney Crosby was nearby.

But all the adoration was aimed at a 35-year-old ski racer who had no hope of medaling at the Olympics and looked like a long shot to even finish a tough men's slalom course in Whistler.

On Saturday, Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong, affectionately called Snow Leopard, became the first Ghanaian to ski in the Games.

"Usually when I race nobody's watching - I can do my own thing - but there was a lot of pressure," he said.

Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Nkrumah-Acheampong's family moved to Ghana when he was a baby, and later lived in Zambia, Nigeria and again in Ghana, before he returned to the United Kingdom to attend university. He currently resides in Milton Keynes, Britain with his wife and two children. That's where he first learned to ski on artificial snow at an indoor ski park in 2003.

Nkrumah-Acheampong competed here as part of a program to broaden the appeal of the Winter Games to non-traditional countries. As part of the qualification criteria he competed at the World Ski Championships in Val d'Isère, France last year where his best result was 67th in the slalom.

Backed by heavy self-promotion, he was a celebrity before he became the last man to push out of the Olympic start gate and plod his way down the first slalom run in 1 minute 9.08 seconds, a gaping 21.29 seconds behind the leader. He was faster at least than Erjon Tola from Albania who was 46.15 seconds out after climbing up the course to make a missed gate.

By the end of the day, Nkrumah-Acheampong, clad in a leopard print ski suit, did better than 53 athletes who either didn't finish or were disqualified. After his second run he wound up 48th, 43.28 seconds behind the winner, Italy's Giuliano Razzoli. But his Olympic dream was complete.

"Somebody else was last today, so I'm okay," he said.

What about Sochi in 2014?

"No chance," he said, laughing.

Instead, Nkrumah-Acheampong is busy working on construction of a ski slope for grass skiing in Ghana.

"You'll hear of skiing in Ghana soon," he said.

[jj]

the closing ceremony rendition was a bit more normal arrangement but they still confused me toward the end and then threw in the Glowing Hearts reprise...i think i can now go a day (at least) without hearing the anthem or the I Believe tune or one of it's 200+ arrangements, lol

at one point the Olympic speaker guy (the one who struggled with French, well, struggled with English also, lol...i just didn't think he was charismatic) invited all participants in the games to be Canadian, at least temporarily...it was nice, kinda like 'you are now all family'

anyhow, i would like to be Russian in 4 years at least temporarily so i can sing that lovely anthem which i haven't heard much since 1972's Canada Russia hockey classic...i think the rendition i heard last night was the most moving part of the eve, except for the prolonged polite applause for the poor young luger.

neil young had just recently played Long May You Run to close the Conan tonight show run so it was not a big deal to me, Heart of gold seemed like a more suitable selection...either way, not sure why he wasn't up on a cylindrical podium like Alanis or whoever else...maybe he was chicken of heights or feared another hydraulic malfunction...he looked and sounded good, anyhow...i was glad to see that big propane penta-flame out, i was worried about a catastrophic Hindenburg-like moment in that dome

i liked the wit of the torch re-light but the Shatner OHara Fox stuff was pretty lame old humour, imo

hepner did nice job on the hymn... avril, hedley, buble, alanis, frech gal were appealing and appropriate in one way or another...i couldnt tell if it was lip synch (like adams and furtado were) but it sure was an echo chamber...the nickleback and KOS stuff were great for pee breaks...when i got back i couldnt believe it endedon that note...anyhow, regardless, i hope the athletes and volunteers had a really great time there and especially afterwards and all get home safely...thank you for coming, world

thoughts for next summer olympics:

- go to 4 on 4 overtime should any of those soccer matches end in a tie, fun

- allow relay runners to give a boost push to team mates after handing off the baton

- start having short track races where those runners just go in small perimeter track rather than any straightaways...there may be a few knee raspberries following each wipeout but it's all about blood as well as the sweat and tears

- it was likely tough for the skiers to see those slalom poles in the fog...i think it would be exciting to have the hurdles and pole vault in similar conditions

but seriously, am looking forward to the paralympian glory upcoming in a few weeks...talk about blood, sweat, tears....and a lot of heart

[charlene]

I too am looking forward to the Paralympics...they take 'having heart' to a different level.
Maybe we'll geta g old in sledge hockey too!
oh yeah - the trifecta of olympic hockey gold!
;)

[charlene]

shout out to Lightfoot in this Canadian anthem:

YouTube- Classified - "Oh... Canada" [Official Video]

(Oh Canada we stand on guard, for thee)
I told this guy where I was from
he said oh, Canada
kinda laughs it off, real funny huh?
yeah, uh, come on

(O Canada)
1-2, 1-2,
mic check, 1-2, 1-2
yeah
(O Canada)

uh, yea
from the land of the lost
Trans-Canada crossed
patriotic and a honor
with a hand on my heart
from the Greatest of Lakes
to the greenest of greens
to the Rockiest mountains
and everything in between

o-o-o Canada
oh you're no fan of us?
'cause our movie and TV shows are so amateur?
yeah, we laugh it off, that don't really bother me
look, we ain't serious unless we really gotta be
humorous attitude like Kids in the Hall
like Jim Carey, Mike Myers, hell we claiming them all
it's the Great White North
home of the funniest actors
the brunt of the joke
with an abundance of laughter
the Red and White flag
keep it high keep it visual
people say Canada and get stereotypical
think we finish every sentence with buddy or bye
and if it ain't that its either dude, eh or guy
(Canadaka eh)
yeah we consider it people
and smoking marijuana
we consider it legal
still doing rap like the 1990's
but that's how we like it off timed and grimey

I know where I'm from and I told ya before
North of America hard to ignore
every time I go away I tell them for sure
I'm from Canada o-o-o Canada

(O Canada)
O Canada o-o-o Canada
(O canada)
I'm from Canada
o-o-o Canada

the Class makes a sick beat, we call it a classic (x4)

I've been around the globe and
heard the confusion
honestly a lot of y'all are ignorant and stupid
yes, we have microwaves, tvs and cell phones
unintelligent fuck we invented the telephone
we made Yahtzee
the light bulb, hockey
and bred the greatest player's Gretzky to Crosby
we all got at least one drinking buddy
and after one drink, all of us think we're funny

our national mascot's a damn beaver
O Canada we love our beaver
home of Hell's Angels the RCMP
home of Gordon Lightfoot and SCTV

the Underground Rail Road
Georges St. Pierre
right here is where he calls home

our health care system
y'all know its free
keep our girls banging with a full mouth of teeth
I won't even get into the music on the streets
they say hip hop is dead
naw its up north with me
I could do this all day its a part of my routine
but supper's almost done and tonight poutine

I know where I'm from and I told ya before
North of America hard to ignore
every time I go away i tell em for sure
I'm from Canada o-o-o Canada
(I'm from the east coast of Canada)
o-o-o Canada
(I'm from the east east east coast)
yo yo!
see I'm from Canada so sometimes the words come out of my mouth like this
get used to it

(O Canada, we stand on guard for thee)

[charlene]

http://www.cbc.ca/thenational/indepthanalysis/story/2010/03/18/national-knaan.html