La Marsellaise

The Marseillaise may just be the greatest national anthem. It is certainly one of most stirring, but also
one of the most sanguinary. It originated during the French Revolution, but did not permanently
become the anthem of France until 1879. It was, ironically, composed in 1792, before the overthrow of
King Louis XVI, by a monarchist, Claude-Joseph Rouget de Lisle, a captain stationed on the Rhine,
who subsequently was nearly guillotined. The song got its name when a unit from Marseilles entered
Paris singing it later in the year. The popularity of the song led to its official adoption in 1795, but it
was then shunned by Napoleon I, the restored Kings, and Napoleon III. Only the advent of the Third
Republic led to its permanent status.
Intended as a "war song," the Marseillaise is extraordinarily bloody in its imagery, but I have never
heard of any movement to replace it as being too violent, as there is occasional talk in the United
States that The Star-Spangled Banner is too war-like. It is now certainly unthinkable that anything but
the Marseillaise should be the French national anthem.
The star-spangled banner
The great national anthem of the United States of America, the The Star-Spangled Banner, was a
poem written by Francis Scott Key after observing the attempt of the British in 1814 to bombard into
submission Ft. McHenry at Baltimore. Detained on a British ship, Key did not know the outcome of the
battle until the next morning he saw the American flag still flying over the fort. After his poem was
published, it began to be sung to an already existing tune, often said (sometimes disparagingly) to
have been an old drinking song (To Anacreon in Heaven).
It was many years before the song had any official status. It quickly, however, gained a certain
importance. For instance, it was sung in 1865 at the ceremony when the United States flag was
officially rehoisted over Ft. Sumter in Charleston harbor -- where, of course, the Civil War had begun
with a Confederate bombardment. Later, the song achieved semi-official status in the usage of John
Philip Sousa, conductor of the Marine Corps Band from 1880 to 1892 and thereafter involved with both
the Army and Navy music programs -- not to mention composer of immortal marches like The Stars
and Stripes Forever. Just before Sousa's death in 1932, Congress officially adopted The Star-
Spangled Banner as the national anthem (1931).
The original flag from Fort McHenry is displayed in the Smithsonian Institution (half of it, indeed, was
shot away); and flags are kept flying day and night over the Fort itself, and at Francis Scott Key's
grave.
The major complaint about the song is that it is just hard to sing. The match between the words of the
poem and the music is a little awkward. When done well, however, and countless artists have had
their chance at the World Series, the Super Bowl, and political conventions, it is powerful and moving.
Another complaint has been its warlike images. These, however, pale beside the Marseillaise, which
doesn't seem to receive such criticism.
A national anthem should serve as a focus for citizens to share their patriotism, accentuating what
they all share, and ignoring their differences. A national anthem also represents a country to its
neighbors, and it should give the impression of strength and resolution, but it should not give offense
to outsiders. The Star Spangled Banner does all this. It says we are strong, we are brave, we will
persevere. And it stops there.
Here is a list of things that a national anthem should not say:
From a domestic perspective, a national anthem should never say:
this country is only for people of a certain ethnicity
this country is only for people who belong to a certain social class
this country is only for people who believe in a specific religion
From an international perspective, a national anthem should not say:
we are better than you are
we are purer than you are
we want to irrigate our fields with your blood

God save the Queen
In contrast to The Marseillaise, the British National Anthem sounds more like a lullaby than a battle
hymn. It represents the British national character rather well, and the words, while a little bit insipid in
the first verse in which good things are wished for the monarch of the moment, get downright amusing
in the verse that asks the deity for intervention in the domestic affairs of other nations:
The most original line, in its ingenuity, I think is: "confound their politics." While many nations pray for
their deity to give them triumph in battle over others, it is an unusual request to ask also that the
enemy should elect the wrong leaders and fail in managing their own affairs. No wonder the French
think the British have no emotions, and the Americans in their own anthem refer to the British as
"haughty."
There is no agreed upon attribution for the British National Anthem, but it was well established by
1745. In the United States, the same tune is used for the song "Our Country 'Tis of Thee", which
adopts the same peaceful melody to laud America as a land of liberty, while reserving the title of
"King" to God, in the obligatory religious verse.