26-08-2020, 18:17
(This post was last modified: 26-08-2020, 18:19 by BaggieSteve.)
(26-08-2020, 16:11)Ska\dForLife-WBA Wrote:(26-08-2020, 15:50)BaggieSteve Wrote: 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.
1740s, not 1760s. It *did* bear some relation to the armed forces, as it was written for a masque about King Alfred's navy repelling a Viking invasion, and presented a deliberate parallel between that conflict and the ongoing War of Jenkin's Ear, with Alfred a proxy for the German-born but highly Anglophilic Prince of Wales, who'd commissioned both the masque and the song to big himself up as a potential future king.
The Glorious Revolution and the Bill of Rights were thrown into the mix more as a result of its adoption by the anti-Walpole Patriot Whigs, and when the Jacobites had another crack at the throne in '45, its themes of constitutionalism over absolutism were cemented in.
Honestly, I haven't sung it myself since I was a kid, but there's nothing remotely objectionable about it, it doesn't do anyone any harm whatsoever, so people who enjoy it should have every chance to.
Ska'd, you're quite right it was the 1740s - I'm afraid my typing is as hopeless as ever. I think the argument over its meaning will never be resolved; as you rightly say it was written, in effect, for George II's son to big himself up by linking him to Britain's growing naval dominance. I personally don't believe, however, that the song is a paean to the sailors of Britain's navy, which was sort of the point I was trying to make about it not being linked to the armed forces, but rather to British might and the 'glorious' Prince of Wales.
Although I personally don't like it, I have no issue if others do. I take the same approach with religion and the monarchy...each to their own.
(26-08-2020, 16:34)Devongone Wrote: A Baggie quoting Elgar (a Wolves fan), now I've heard it all.
People love I Vow to thee My Country too - Holst with saccharin sentiment stirred in..
It gets worse, I listen to Led Zeppelin as well
(26-08-2020, 18:06)Dingle-Dingle Wrote: Whilst we are about it, can we ban Amazing Grace so loved by the BLM movement. It was written by a slave trader after he was shipwrecked off the coast of Ireland and then rescued (His cargo was not saved). He wrote it to thank God for saving him.
DD
I wasn't aware anyone has banned anything
The light at the end of the tunnel is the light of an oncoming train