You get more than a whiff of the pugnacious spirit of the time in the anthem’s second verse, assumed by many to be inspired by the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.
Thomas Arne, the most successful theatre composer in London, discovered the anonymous God Save the King in this collection and arranged it for performance at Drury Lane – which is why many believe that Arne actually composed the national anthem. By happy accident a collection of miscellaneous songs with the title Harmonia Anglicana had been published just the year before. As the newspapers reported: “The universal applause it met with, being encored with repeated Huzzas, sufficiently denoted in how just an Abhorrence they hold the arbitrary schemes of our invidious Enemies, and detest the despotick Attempts of Papal power.”Ĭlearly our anthem didn’t seem sober and solemn on that night, or the many other nights through the autumn when it was sung. It helped that the anthem was relatively hot off the press. On September 21 the King’s army under Sir John Cope was defeated at Prestonpans by Jacobite forces led by Bonnie Prince Charlie – the exiled Stuart claimant to the British throne – and the mood in London became fearful yet defiant.Ī stirring musical expression of that defiance hadn’t yet appeared – until one fateful night at the Drury Lane Theatre, when a new song entitled God Save our King (long the watchword of the Royal Navy the correct response was “Long to reign over us” ) was sung on stage by the company. The year was 1745, when the Jacobite rebellion against the Hanoverian dynasty became serious. When God Save the King first stepped onto the stage of history, long before the Coronation of King Charles III, it was at a time of existential danger for the relatively new United Kingdom. However it hasn’t always seemed sober and restrained. It lacks the excitement of the Marseillaise, with its cry of “To Arms, Citizens!” or the lovely poetry of the Bangladeshi anthem, which rhapsodises “In Spring, O mother, the fragrance from your mango groves makes me wild with joy.” The lyrics (see below) are a sober prayer, uttered in stately triple time, with just a touch of excitement at the crescendo which leads from the third line up to the fourth beginning “Send him victorious.” It doesn’t have the jollity of the Italian or quite a few Latin American national anthems, which sound like operatic choruses with new words attached. Screaming and telling him why he wasn't coming up on freely.The British national anthem may be much-loved on its home turf – apart from among die-hard republicans – but it has to be said it’s not exactly exciting.
Why he wasn't coming up on freely, after I was yelling and "I was just telling him, he couldn't get into number 2. "I don't know, I was really drunk at the time!" That geezer was cruising for a bruising!" The last Pink Floyd studio album, The Endless River (2014), was recorded without Waters and based almost entirely on unreleased material. Barrett died in 2006, and Wright in 2008. After nearly two decades of enmity, Gilmour, Wright, and Mason reunited with Waters in 2005 to perform as Pink Floyd in London as part of the global awareness event Live 8 Gilmour and Waters stated they had no further plans to reunite the band. The three produced two more albums—A Momentary Lapse of Reason (1987) and The Division Bell (1994)—and toured through 1994. Gilmour and Mason continued as Pink Floyd Wright rejoined them as a session musician and, later, band member. Following creative tensions, Wright left Pink Floyd in 1979, followed by Waters in 1985. They gained popularity performing in London's underground music scene during the late 1960s, and under Barrett's leadership released two charting singles and a successful debut album, The Piper at the Gates of Dawn (1967). Pink Floyd were founded by students Syd Barrett on guitar and lead vocals, Nick Mason on drums, Roger Waters on bass and vocals, and Richard Wright on keyboards and vocals. By 2013, they had sold more than 250 million records worldwide.
Pink Floyd were inducted into the American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 and the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. Distinguished by their philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, extended compositions, and elaborate live shows, they are one of the most commercially successful and influential groups in popular music history. They achieved international acclaim with their progressive and psychedelic music. Pink Floyd were an English rock band formed in London in 1965.
0 kommentar(er)
