Etc., dark satanic mills and chariots of fire included. According to Wikipedia, the Church of Scotland considered changing the references in the lyrics from England to Albion, so theres a bit of a precedent.
Steve.
----- Original Message ----
From: Phillip Atcliffe <atcliffe@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: gzg-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Thursday, 17 January, 2008 3:18:20 PM
Subject: Re: [GZG] Martians & La Marseillaise
Brian Burger wrote:
[...] any guesses as to how banal/cloying/triumphal the state songs of the GZGverse superstates are?
Let's see:
NAC -- the "old guard", the same
faction that wants the Navy to re-adopt the HMS prefix for its ships, probably backs "God Save The King/Queen", but hasn't convinced Parliament. It's possible that the current (2180s) anthem is either something we don't know or a re-worked version of an existing anthem -- "Land of Hope and Glory" with references to England being replaced by "Albion", for instance. In either case, it'll be something that lends itself to large-scale orchestration a la Elgar; something heavy on the brass and percussion with at least pretensions to
gravitas so that it can be included in State occasions and ceremonies, played either by a full orchestra or a Marine band.
ESU -- depends on the balance in the government between the ex-Russian influence and the Chinese influence. Either way, it's likely to be something suitably neo-Communist in style -- big, boastful, made for mass singing and military bands -- but what it sounds like will depend on which musical tradition was
followed.
NSL -- well, it's going to be Germanic-style on steroids. A march, definitely -- possibly Mozart (original or re-worked).
FSE -- what's wrong with "Ode to Joy"? The FSE sees itself as the successor state to the EU, so they'd likely keep the latter's anthem to promote continuity for their citizens, and as an attraction for anyone from the other states who wishes to "rejoin the fold". There may well be a French movement that would like La Marseillaise adopted, but they don't (yet?) have the votes.
The other powers could have quite different styles of anthems following their own musical traditions; the OU anthem could be quite interesting if they tried to incorporate South Pacific influences.
With Humanity spread out among the start in a multitude of nations, great and small, I can see a return to the old-style anthems of the pre-20th century Great Powers -- triumphal, bombastic, rather militaristic and, above all else,
big, made
for large occasions. The banality of the words is in the ear of the beholder and has more to do with the context in which they are encountered; songs with complex lyrics requre simple music if they are to be heard and register, but simple words allow complex music, which may be more to the taste of the governments.
Phil