Cycling UK Forum

I've just watched the triathlon medal ceremony. An Aussie won. It seems a pity they did not go for Waltzing Matilda for their anthem. The one they chose is the usual dirge.

http://theconversation.com/how-advance-australia-fair-waltzed-with-matilda-and-won-21564

Australians let us all rejoice
For we are young and free
We ******** stole the black mans land
And threw him in the sea
..
I like singing national anthems when cycling, but I upgrade the lyrics

Well, we Brits are not much better, what with wishing to:

Confound their politicks,
Frustrate their knavish tricks...

Mind you, whoever wrote that surely never expected us to have been confounding our own politics these past three years...

Mike Sales wrote:I've just watched the triathlon medal ceremony. An Aussie won. It seems a pity they did not go for Waltzing Matilda for their anthem. The one they chose is the usual dirge.

http://theconversation.com/how-advance-australia-fair-waltzed-with-matilda-and-won-21564

Listen to "I am Australian" by The Seekers.
Ticks most of the boxes.

Mike

Mike_Ayling wrote:

Mike Sales wrote:I've just watched the triathlon medal ceremony. An Aussie won. It seems a pity they did not go for Waltzing Matilda for their anthem. The one they chose is the usual dirge.

http://theconversation.com/how-advance-australia-fair-waltzed-with-matilda-and-won-21564

Listen to "I am Australian" by The Seekers.
Ticks most of the boxes.

Mike

Great, and moving. It would not make it as a national anthem though. Too much real meaning and not enough platitudinous
rubbish. And not enough of a dirge.
In my childhood I spent a few years on Cape Barren Island, going to school with Tasmanian aborigines. Is that word still o.k.?

First Nations? May I order a copy of your autobiography?

It is a shame we do not have more people from down under on these fora, like to know how much is taught about history at school

Learning about it later as Mike and I have done is rather different

Mike Sales wrote:

Mike_Ayling wrote:

Mike Sales wrote:I've just watched the triathlon medal ceremony. An Aussie won. It seems a pity they did not go for Waltzing Matilda for their anthem. The one they chose is the usual dirge.

http://theconversation.com/how-advance-australia-fair-waltzed-with-matilda-and-won-21564

Listen to "I am Australian" by The Seekers.
Ticks most of the boxes.

Mike

Great, and moving. It would not make it as a national anthem though. Too much real meaning and not enough platitudinous
rubbish. And not enough of a dirge.
In my childhood I spent a few years on Cape Barren Island, going to school with Tasmanian aborigines. Is that word still o.k.?

Well tennis player Ash Barty has just referred to herself as Aboriginal.

Mike

Mike_Ayling wrote:

Mike Sales wrote:In my childhood I spent a few years on Cape Barren Island, going to school with Tasmanian aborigines. Is that word still o.k.?

Well tennis player Ash Barty has just referred to herself as Aboriginal.

Taboo words referring to minority or ethnic groups sometimes lose their offensiveness when used by the people concerned. For example, Black Americans frequently use the N-word, and LGBT people use the Q-word. It wouldn't do for those outside these groups to use these words!

I don't know about "aborigine" - probably best to avoid. Didn't Rolf Harris (long before his disgrace) have a verse from "Tie Me Kangaroo Down" suppressed, because it contained a shortened form of the word?

661-Pete wrote:I don't know about "aborigine" - probably best to avoid. Didn't Rolf Harris (long before his disgrace) have a verse from "Tie Me Kangaroo Down" suppressed, because it contained a shortened form of the word?

That shortened form is, in the Aussie way, most frequently used, and that often derisively.

Why does anybody feel able to prescribe what another nation's anthem should be?

I rather like Tie me kangaroo down, sport! although mainly as a way of irritating people. The problem now, perhaps is that Jake the Peg's extra leg was all too real.

As for our own tune, I think that all those rooting for the Wingnut should be obliged to sing it daily, with emphasis on all the bits praying for HM's longevity.

thirdcrank wrote:I rather like Tie me kangaroo down, sport! although mainly as a way of irritating people. The problem now, perhaps is that Jake the Peg's extra leg was all too real.

Shame nobody walked on it.

---o0o---

IIRC, while AAF was to be used for the pomp & circumstance, Waltzing Matilda was to be used for sporting occasions, as Flower of Scotland is at Murrayfield.

thirdcrank wrote:Why does anybody feel able to prescribe what another nation's anthem should be?

I don't think anyone is prescribing, merely, like you, offering light hearted suggestions. It's fair enough to offer an opinion on the matter.
I feel the French is rousing and tuneful, and free of the usual platitudes.

Mike Sales wrote:I feel the French is rousing and tuneful, and free of the usual platitudes.

Maybe. Rather gory, with lots of blood and throat-cutting... Most English-speakers probably only know the first two lines, so it won't matter to them.

661-Pete wrote:

Mike Sales wrote:I feel the French is rousing and tuneful, and free of the usual platitudes.

Maybe. Rather gory, with lots of blood and throat-cutting... Most English-speakers probably only know the first two lines, so it won't matter to them.

And the chorus.

For podium ceremonies of different types, perhaps we'd have less jingoism and some better music if the winner could pick their own, a bit like Desert Island Discs. Perhaps we'd get a tad too much Nessun Dorma.

While team sports might seem be a problem, We Are The Champions might be a good one and better than some of the England Team World Cup songs. And I can do without Gerry and the Pacemakers. Stange how a word like pacemakers changes its meaning and connotations over a half-century. Doesn't time just fly?

Edited to correct the spelling of Discs. Perhaps at the Olympics it should be discus