'Boring' national anthem sparks fierce debate among Australians: “I am constantly girt by loonies,” jokes one social media user
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'Boring' national anthem sparks fierce debate among Australians: “I am constantly girt by loonies,” jokes one social media user
There seems to be a lot of debate surrounding our national anthem, with some people claiming it is boring and antiquated, and others asserting that it is actually quite uplifting and progressive.
So, what do people think?
Well, some Reddit users seem to think that the song is indeed quite boring and that the lyrics are outdated.
One user writes sarcastically: "I make a point of using ‘girt’ in a sentence at least once a day", with a user jokingly replying "This is the police! We have you girt!"
Another says: "I've taught primary school music for the last three years, and I get to teach the anthem. I LOVE teaching them about "girt" (I say "this is my FAVOURITE word in the whole song!!")! They go around the school for the rest of the term using girt in sentences!".
However, not everyone agrees. Another user writes: "Never understood this argument. It's actually got quite an uplifting melody and when orchestrated it sounds great. Also, the lyrics are positive and really nice compared to most other national anthems that mention war and how much better they are than their neighbours. The only issue is we don't sing the second verse enough, which imo, is the best. Should always be sung as ours is very short by world standards with only one verse."
Some Reddit users seem to think that our national anthem is quite boring
and that the lyrics are outdated. Credits: Shutterstock
Another user quips: "My home country's (Guatemala) national anthem takes about 5 minutes and 45 seconds to play in its entirety. We would be forced to listen to it frequently in school.
The Australian one is a breath of fresh air for me. I love it."
'Advance Australia Fair' is actually one of the shorter national anthems, clocking in at just over a minute. In comparison, the national anthem of Greece is a whopping 10 minutes long!
The history of our national anthem is also interesting. It was first written in 1878 by Scottish-born composer Peter Dodds McCormick, and was originally titled 'Advance Australia'. The lyrics were later changed to 'Advance Australia Fair' in 1974.
According to Wikipedia, it first replaced "God Save the Queen" as the official national anthem in 1974, following a nationwide opinion survey. "God Save the Queen" was reinstated in January 1976, but a plebiscite to choose the national song in 1977 preferred "Advance Australia Fair", which was restored in 1984.
So, what do you think? Is our national anthem boring, or is it actually quite uplifting? And if you were going to change it, what would you change it to? Let us know in the comments!
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