Ear Worm/Music/National Anthems

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Catchiest nationalism possible.

See also National Anthem.

Nations, by Continent

Africa

Asia

  • The beginning of the Chinese National Anthem sounds like the beginning of about...ten million songs. Which means there are ten million songs that can get it stuck in your head.
    • Strangely enough, reading that suddenly did cause that tune to flare up in this troper's head again. Well, he did read somewhere it was based on the theme song of a Chinese patriotic movie back in the day, that's probably why it sounds the way it does - just remind him not to hum it when he's in somewhere in Japan or, worse the United States (especially in the Deep South)

'Stereotypical Southerner Dweller': "We've got ourselves a li'l commie spy trying to pre-teind to be an Aussie, hm? Break out the Torches and Pitchforks and good ol' huntin' rifles, boys, we'ze-a goin' huntin' fer some slimy furriners...)

  • While Kazakhstan's actual national anthem is rather epic, Borat's version reeks of catchiness.
    • Am I the only person here who prefers Kazakhstan's actual anthem?
  • Japan: "Kimi ga yo wa / Chi yo ni ya chi yo ni / Sazare ishi no / Iwao to nari te / Koke no musu made."
    • If you ask me, Kimi Ga Yo, the national anthem of Japan, is very catchy. I find myself humming it a lot, but you really can't blame me. I'm very much into Japanese culture.
    • Apparently, many Japanese people find it too downbeat.
  • The North Korean anthem is epic that it outstripped the Chinese national anthem in epicness.
    • This troper would very much like to disagree, but since he doesn't know Korean as intimately as he does Chinese, YMMV.

Europe

  • The French National Anthem, "La Marseillaise", is absolutely horrible about getting into your head and staying there. Allons enfants de la Patrie, / Le jour de gloire est arrivé!
  • "God save our gracious Queen, / Long live our glorious Queen, / God save the Queen... / Send her victorious, / Happy and glorious, / Long to reign o'er us, / God save the Queen!" And this troper is American.
    • It's not a national anthem, but "Rule, Britannia" also qualifies.
    • The Eddie Izzard version of why she's 'overly-saved' definitely counts. "God please attack the Queen, / Send big dogs after her, / That bite her bum. / Let them chase after her..."
    • It's so catchy several other nations have used the tune in national anthems or patriotic songs, including:
      • The First Russian Anthem, Molitva russkikh
      • "America" also know as My Country, 'Tis of Thee
      • Oben am jungen Rhein, National anthem of Liechtenstein. Hilarity ensued when England played Liechtenstein in football a few years ago.
      • Kongesangen, the Royal anthem of Norway
      • The German Imperial Anthem. Heil dir im Siegerkranz, / Herrscher des Vaterlands! / Heil, Kaiser, dir!
      • And before that - since the 1790s - the royal Prussian anthem (same as above, but with "Heil, König, dir!"). The text of which was based on an anthem in honour of the king of Denmark written for his German-speaking subjects in Schleswig-Holstein.
      • As a matter of fact, from the late 18th century on many German states had songs set to that tune. This troper's favourite - the one for the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg: "Auf Hamburgs Wohlergehn, / Lasst kein Glas müßig stehn, / Trinkt Hamburgs Wohl!" (To Hamburg's well-being, / Let no glass stand idle, / Drink Hamburg's health!).
      • God Save the Queen also has French and Maori Translations for Canada and New Zealand, respectively.
  • The Polish national anthem. I dare you to go listen to it on Youtube, then try to get it out.
    • It has been written for Polish soldiers warring for freedom in Napoleon's army; being a soldiers' song meaning to raise spirits, it sounds particularly intimidating when sung by a large number of men - for instance, football fans...
    • Not exactly an anthem, but... the Polonez from the movie Pan Tadeusz. It's usually the opening dance on Polish high school proms.
    • When the anthem was chosen, the other option was this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lRLzNsn_0g
  • The one of Italy is quite catchy.
    • Damn right it's catchy! It's in an Opera-ish tone, and makes you sing along. With the slow lyrics it's a real possibility. Fratelli d'Italia~
      • This Italian troper likes the music of the Italian anthem, but really, really hates two parts of it. The first: Dov'è la Vittoria? Le porga la chioma / ché schiava di Roma Iddio la creò (="Where is Victory? Let she proffer her hair to her / for God created her as a slave of Rome"). What is that supposed to mean? That slaves of Rome are winners, thus anyone who does NOT consider himself as a slave of Rome is a loser? The second: I bimbi d'Italia si chiaman Balilla ("the children of Italy are named Balilla"). Now, Balilla was the nickname of a young boy who started the revolt of 1746 against the Habsburg forces that occupied Genoa, so the verse was meant to be patriotic, but Mussolini gave that name to the members of a Fascist youth organization, thus inexorably perverting the name "Balilla". Now, saying that the children of Italy are named Balilla sounds extremely inappropriate to Italians, like a swastika looks to German.
  • A history teacher once told me that the downside of his job was getting the Horst Wessel Lied stuck in his head from hearing it in World War II documentaries. It was the anthem of the Nazi party and second national anthem of Germany from 1933 to 1945 (it can be heard at the beginning of Wolfenstein 3D).
  • Ó, Guð vors lands! Ó, lands vors Guð!..... Ísland þúsund ár, Ísland þúsund ár!
  • The Swedish national anthem can be catchy as well.
  • The Dutch national anthem, allegedly the oldest national anthem still used, is also catchy if played on a marching tune. And it is a tribute to their national hero, Prince William of Orange, rather than to their country itself.
    • What is more interesting is that some of the lines imply that they still respected the Spanish king, which means that the Dutch had really beef against the Spanish colonial officials, not the King or the Spaniards in general.
  • The Polish anthem definitely deserves a mention or a hundred. It is, simply, amazing (and this troper has never set foot in Poland).
  • Deutschland, Deutschland, über alles...

The Middle East

Then our hope is not yet lost,
The hope of 2000 years:
To be a free people in our own land,
The land of Zion and Jerusalem.

  • Then there's the Independence March of Turkey. I'm not even Turkish and the beginning blows me away.

North America

  • America's national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner," is difficult to sing, but it is a definite Ear Worm.
    • "Oh say can you see, by the dawn's early light, / What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last gleaming, / Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight, / O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming? / And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air, / Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there! / Oh say does that star-spangled banner yet wave, / O'er the land of the free, / And the home of the brave?" I'm pretty happy with myself. I only transposed lines once, and got the tense of "hail" and "hailed" wrong. It's a complex anthem, and doesn't even begin to be as complex as the actual entire song, but apparently, it's still an earworm.
      • The really funny part is that the melody to The Star-Spangled Banner was cribbed from the theme song of an old music club, the Anacreontic Society. This troper, who has sung the Anacreontic Song (more commonly known as To Anacreon In Heaven), can attest that it is less ear-wormy in its original form, partially because tSSB is much more condensed.
      • A neat thing about The Star Spangled Banner that many don't realize is that the entire song is posed as a question. When it was written, the future of the country was still not a certain thing, so every time the anthem is played, it is as if you are asking for reassurance that the country has made it through each successive hardship. And when the Stars and Stripes are posted, you see that yes, it has.
  • "O, Canada, our home and native land; / True patriot love in all thy sons command. / With glowing hearts we see thee rise: / The True North strong and free; / From far and wide, oh Canada, / We stand on guard for thee! / God keep our land, glorious and free! / Oh Canada, we stand on guard for thee. / Oh, Canada! we stand on guard, for, THEE!!!" This troper is not Canadian, he just loves the song.
    • O Canada has only been the national anthem since 1980. Before that, there were two de-facto Canadian anthems, an English and a French. O Canada was the French one, while the English one was "The Maple Leaf Forever" (or a ballad version if you don't like the National Archives' copy), which may be even catchier than O Canada.
  • Mexico's national anthem -- the condensed version -- is fairly catchy. Do you know what's catchier? The full version. Because then it has continuity to make you remember it. (It's also fun to translate/summarize for people. "Basically, they're saying 'You guys! We should all go fight in the wars you guys! The country will love you, guys, and if we're defeated, we'll leave you the ruins so everyone in the future will just walk around saying "Those Mexicans were really badass!"'")
    • Apparently Mexico's national anthem is so catchy, even some stations in Southern California play it. This troper could hum the entire song by ear as a child, long before he even knew it was Mexico's anthem.
      • That's actually due to certain laws pertaining the Mexican National Anthem, which states that all Radio and TV stations should always start and end their transmissions with the anthem. And there are also a few radio stations that while they are located in border cities in the U.S. they also have Mexican callsigns, thus they are compelled by law to play it.
  • The Cuban National Anthem, AKA the Bayamo Song.

Oceania and Australia

  • The national anthem of the Philippines. No idea what the words are, but it's so damned bouncy.
    • "Lupang Hinirang[1]", "Tierra adorada", "Chosen Land". It's available in three languages; take your pick. And the "Sa dagat at bundok, sa simoy..." bit is probably the catchiest.
      • Filipino historians note their anthem is heavily derivative of the Spanish and French anthems and the Triumphal March from Verdi's Aida, so there's that.
  • Austraaaaalians all let uuuuuus rejoice, / For we are young and freeeeeee....
    • Not the anthem but "We are one~ but we are maaaanyyyy~ / And from aaaall the lands on earth we come..." definitely qualifies.
    • As the closest thing to a national anthem that is not actually a national anthem in history: "Waltzing Matilda, waltzing Matilda, / You'll come a waltzing Matilda with me. / And he sang as he sat and waited 'til his billy boiled... / You'll come a-waltzing Matilda with me!"
      • The first one's "We are Australian", the second is about a sheep-thief who drowns himself so he doesn't get hanged. He then goes on to be a ghost..
    • ACK!!! Australia may be the Lucky Country, but our national anthem sucks, methinks...
    • It may be major suckage, but its catchiness is just undeniable.
      • New Zealand's one deserves a mention... I hope I'm not the only person who thinks that.

South America

Other Examples

  • This troper has a collection of national anthems. They're ALL like this! Fashhadoo! Fashhadoo! Fashhadoo! Oh, God ,Algeria gets into your head! Azərbaycan! Azərbaycan! Powerful, so powerful! Deutschland, Deutschland über alles! It's called "The Germany Song!" mawt.ini- mawt.ini-/ al-g(ala-lu wa-l-g(ama-lu wa-s-sana-'u wa-l-baha-'u! Iraq's is so cheerful! Jaya jaya jaya jaya he-! Victory, victory, victory, victory to thee! India's is soothing! And, dear God, that jingle in the beginning of the Finnish anthem! Why, yes, it has made me a bit unhinged!
    • That's not the current German anthem - the contemporary anthem's lyrics is only the Deutschlandlied's third stanza (about unity and law and freedom for the German lands), still set to the same melody as always (the catchy melody was originally used as the imperial hymn for Austria).
  • The National Anthem of the Soviet Union. The one they used from '44 to '91, in all its various forms. This troper isn't even from Russia, but has been known to hum the tune or sing a few lines when he least expects it.
    • This troper agrees, and has done the same thing in the past.
    • Soyuz nerushimiy respublik svobodnik, / Splotila naveki velikaya Rus...
      • There's a reason why they brought it back, albeit with different lyrics.
        • This troper is an Australian and proud, but sometimes starts humming that tune...I hope I never do that if I am with an American girlfriend...
          • You're assuming that an American girlfriend would even recognize the Soviet/Russian National Anthem...
          • If anyone asks, say you were singing the Hymn of Wikipedia. Uses the same tune.
        • That's nothing. This Texan, extremely right-wing troper frequently hums it in public.
        • An interesting irony of the Cold War is that The Star Spangled Banner can be sung to the same tune as the Hymn of the Soviet Union, as they have the same meter. [2]
        • In Soviet Russia, anthem rocks YOU!
        • This version is This Troper's personal favorite.
        • It's even worse if you know French and watch the Gag Sub version. KOUCHNER ALORS A MÉLANGÉ PASQUAAAAAA!!!
    • It also causes a desire to conduct a symphony orchestra while listening to it. Which of course can be embarrassing in public.
      • Seconded. It's also kind of irritating when you're trying to focus on an intense game of Civilization but are too caught up in flailing around grandiosely.
      • Feh, that's nothing. Try to hum it anywhere in the Eastern Bloc (outside Russia). Suffice to say the anthems of your invaders tend to not be liked very much. This doesn't help very much either...
      • Not only is the Soviet anthem an Ear Worm, but the Old Imperial Russian Anthem, Bozhe Tsarya Khrani, was just as insidiously catchy. (It even shows up in Mulan, where it has NO business.)
        • Bozhe Tsarya Khrani was so insidiously catchy that, until 1990, U.S. State Pennsylvania used the tune with modified lyrics for its anthem "Hail, Pennsylvania".
  • There is a very famous, and very earwormy, tune that is currently best known as "The Battle Hymn of the Republic", but there are many, many different lyrics set to it.
  • While it isn't precisely a national anthem, it's an anthem nonetheless: the Internationale, the international anthem of the socialist movement. The tune is stirring and incredibly catchy--even a diehard conservative will find him/herself whistling the tune after hearing it once. The best versions are in the original French and in Russian (it was the national anthem of the Soviet Union from 1917 to 1948), but really, the tune at least will get in your head no matter what language you hear it in.
  • Formula One fans will most likely end up having some National Anthems as Ear Worms if they watch the podium ceremony after every single race. And those anthems that really stick will be those represented by the consistently winning drivers and teams. For instance, the Michael Schumacher/Ferrari era had fans getting the German and Italian National Anthems in their heads, then when Fernando Alonzo rose to the top, the Spanish National Anthem was in.
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