26-08-2020, 15:50
Can I say to talkSAFT that I wasn't scoffing at your comment on the cancellation of Rule Britannia. I was assuming that's what it was - you didn't say in your post what had triggered your comments - and I was just smiling at that assumption.
i'd also say that it's not been cancelled, it just isn't being sung due to the lack of an audience and the requirements for social distancing - i'm sure it will return as a mass sing song when the LNotP returns to normal. They will still play it and I'm sure all those who want to will sing at home.
Having said all that, I'd personally be delighted if it never saw the light of day again. It was written in the 1760s, it bore no relation whatsoever to the armed forces when it was written (it has closer links to the Revolution of 1688 and the following year's Bill of Rights than it does to the military) and bears absolutely none now. Likewise, let's ditch Land of Hope and Glory, it's just a load of jingoistic tosh - Elgar thought the Pomp and Circumstance March was one of the most beautiful pieces he had written but hated the words that Benson added. I have as much love for my country as the next person but I just don't want to express that through words written 200+ and 100+ years ago when it was a different time, different challenges and, in all honesty, different values. I like the idea of looking forward - however the future appears - rather than looking back to some perceived golden age, which, truth be told, wasn't all that glorious.
I know a lot of fellow Baggies on this site will strongly disagree with what I've written - that's OK. Let's face it, it would be pretty crap if we all thought the same, and also extremely surprising as we are a cross section of society united by one thing - the Baggies. I'd also hate anyone to think that I'm some young idealist spouting these views - I'm a 65+ old fella, a lifelong abolitionist of the monarchy, a "leftie", and, in case I'm accused of having no love of tradition due to the comments above, I'm just completing a postgrad History degree on, ironically, the Victorians. More importantly, I'm a lifelong Baggie.
And, as importantly, have we signed anyone yet??
i'd also say that it's not been cancelled, it just isn't being sung due to the lack of an audience and the requirements for social distancing - i'm sure it will return as a mass sing song when the LNotP returns to normal. They will still play it and I'm sure all those who want to will sing at home.
Having said all that, I'd personally be delighted if it never saw the light of day again. It was written in the 1760s, it bore no relation whatsoever to the armed forces when it was written (it has closer links to the Revolution of 1688 and the following year's Bill of Rights than it does to the military) and bears absolutely none now. Likewise, let's ditch Land of Hope and Glory, it's just a load of jingoistic tosh - Elgar thought the Pomp and Circumstance March was one of the most beautiful pieces he had written but hated the words that Benson added. I have as much love for my country as the next person but I just don't want to express that through words written 200+ and 100+ years ago when it was a different time, different challenges and, in all honesty, different values. I like the idea of looking forward - however the future appears - rather than looking back to some perceived golden age, which, truth be told, wasn't all that glorious.
I know a lot of fellow Baggies on this site will strongly disagree with what I've written - that's OK. Let's face it, it would be pretty crap if we all thought the same, and also extremely surprising as we are a cross section of society united by one thing - the Baggies. I'd also hate anyone to think that I'm some young idealist spouting these views - I'm a 65+ old fella, a lifelong abolitionist of the monarchy, a "leftie", and, in case I'm accused of having no love of tradition due to the comments above, I'm just completing a postgrad History degree on, ironically, the Victorians. More importantly, I'm a lifelong Baggie.
And, as importantly, have we signed anyone yet??
The light at the end of the tunnel is the light of an oncoming train