The best-known songs in the world are violent, sexist, and religious — so why do we celebrate national anthems when we should be rewriting them?
The story begins in a London theatre in 1745, where the modern idea of anthems started out as triumphant expressions of national superiority. They glorified violence, claimed the support of God for their country, and mostly ignored women.
David Pate says it’s time to dump lyrics about cutting throats, watering fields with blood, building walls with the bodies of enemies, and celebrating the sound of machine guns. From the author’s own youth as a schoolboy in Scotland when he was caned for refusing to sing “God Save the Queen” to the ubiquity of anthems in sports and as weapons for extreme patriotism, The Worst Songs in the World looks at the origins of many of the world’s anthems, including the movie theme song that became China’s national anthem and the English tune used for “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
This wide-ranging, deeply researched narrative combines politics, personalities, humour, and vivid storytelling to argue for what we should all want: better national songs.
Table of Content
- Overture
- 1: Living for Music
- 2: To Arms!
- 3: Humming Along
- 4: Badly Played and Monotonous
- 5: God Loves Lots of Countries
- 6: Changing Times
- 7: Making Room for Women
- 8: The Verses We Don’t Sing
- 9: Abandoned Anthems
- 10: Don’t Mess with My Music!
- 11: Everyone Wants an Anthem
- 12: Who Owns Your Anthem?
- 13: Rebel Songs for a Cause
- 14: A Kinder, Gentler Way
- 15: The Soundtrack of Nationalism
- Final Verse
- Acknowledgements
- Notes
- Index
- About the Author
About the author
David Pate was a veteran journalist who has stood to attention for dozens of national anthems and thought most of them are terrible songs. Born in Scotland, he worked for numerous media outlets, including Ireland’s public radio and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He lived in Nova Scotia.
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