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Girt by sea
Aug. 9th, 2008 06:49 pmOh, what a week. Sick cat at home (now on antibiotics and seeming much better) and audit preparations at work. But then I saw a photo of the Canadian Olympic tracksuit and that cheered me up no end.
( Oh, Canada. What were you thinking? )
Contrary to my claim last week that I'd sorted out my original research paper topic, I changed horses midstream. I suddenly realised that (a) I have sheet music for all four songs that contested the 1977 election for Australia's national anthem and (b) I've always wondered why "Advance Australia Fair" got the nod ahead of "Waltzing Matilda" when no-one seems to like the former. So there's my research topic right there.
For those readers who've never had the pleasure of hearing Australia's anthem... well, you're not missing much. Even many Australians claim not to know it, but I don't believe this; everyone seems to know the line about our land being "girt by sea" well enough. The people who mock this have clearly never heard "Song of Australia", one of the other 1977 anthem contenders, which is much, much worse. If that had won, we'd have been standing on the world stage claiming that our summer skies "are gleaming with a thousand dyes/ blending in witching harmonies (in har-mo-nies)". And that's just in the first three lines.
I've spent an enjoyable afternoon going through the government's online archives, where they thoughtfully put scans of all sorts of correspondence going back decades. Even back in the 1950s, people were sending their original anthems to the Prime Minister for his consideration. I read one brilliant composition today, complete with hand-written sheet music, that claimed Australia was the "land of the tiger" which is wrong, but awesome. I also saw not one, but two original songs that had "girt by (the) sea" in them. It's clearly a line that has a strange attraction for songwriters.
I haven't had this much fun since I read the suggestions for the 1912 "Name Australia's Capital City" survey. We know it now as Canberra, but how much better would it have been as Sydmeladperbrisho or Meladneyperbane?
( Oh, Canada. What were you thinking? )
Contrary to my claim last week that I'd sorted out my original research paper topic, I changed horses midstream. I suddenly realised that (a) I have sheet music for all four songs that contested the 1977 election for Australia's national anthem and (b) I've always wondered why "Advance Australia Fair" got the nod ahead of "Waltzing Matilda" when no-one seems to like the former. So there's my research topic right there.
For those readers who've never had the pleasure of hearing Australia's anthem... well, you're not missing much. Even many Australians claim not to know it, but I don't believe this; everyone seems to know the line about our land being "girt by sea" well enough. The people who mock this have clearly never heard "Song of Australia", one of the other 1977 anthem contenders, which is much, much worse. If that had won, we'd have been standing on the world stage claiming that our summer skies "are gleaming with a thousand dyes/ blending in witching harmonies (in har-mo-nies)". And that's just in the first three lines.
I've spent an enjoyable afternoon going through the government's online archives, where they thoughtfully put scans of all sorts of correspondence going back decades. Even back in the 1950s, people were sending their original anthems to the Prime Minister for his consideration. I read one brilliant composition today, complete with hand-written sheet music, that claimed Australia was the "land of the tiger" which is wrong, but awesome. I also saw not one, but two original songs that had "girt by (the) sea" in them. It's clearly a line that has a strange attraction for songwriters.
I haven't had this much fun since I read the suggestions for the 1912 "Name Australia's Capital City" survey. We know it now as Canberra, but how much better would it have been as Sydmeladperbrisho or Meladneyperbane?