Alternate national anthems

"We are right and you are wrong".
A song about a criminal is the leading song of a country settled by criminals, Waltzing Matilda.
 
Marching Through Georgia

This would be the ultimate "We won, you lost--and don't you forget it" song to remind the traitors of the consequences of rebellion. I could see that one being brought in if there was a possibility of some part of the south thinking of trying again, perhaps due to Europe fishing in troubled waters during an even nastier reunification. I happen to LOVE this song...

One nation I'd love to see an anthem for: The Duchy of Grand Fenwick!
 
I for one find North Korea's anthem to be really awesome. Maybe a united Korea anthem may use it's tune and add a different lyrics to it.
 
The GDR notoriously had a national anthem ("Auferstanden aus Ruinen") whose lyrics (specifically "Deutschland, einig Vaterland") eventually became politically embarrassing, so that only its tune could be played on official occasions. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auferstanden_aus_Ruinen


There is a poem by Brecht which might have been intended as an alternate candidate for GDR national anthem. Though probably not, because Becher's was officially commissioned; nevertheless it at least shows what Brecht thought a national anthem should be. It was published as "Kinderhymne" but in the typescript the title was just "Hymne" (anthem). Like Becher's lyrics, Brecht's were set to music by Eisler, but also fit Haydn's music that was used for "Deutschland über Alles." Brecht's anthem is clearly intended as a counter to "Deutschland über Alles"--note the third stanza.

Anmut sparet nicht noch Mühe
Leidenschaft nicht noch Verstand
Daß ein gutes Deutschland blühe
Wie ein andres gutes Land.

Daß die Völker nicht erbleichen
Wie vor einer Räuberin
Sondern ihre Hände reichen
Uns wie andern Völkern hin.

Und nicht über und nicht unter
Allen Völkern wolln wir sein
Von der See bis zu den Alpen
Von der Oder bis zum Rhein.

Und weil wir dies Land verbessern
Lieben und beschirmen wir's
Und das liebste mag's uns scheinen
So wie andern Völkern ihrs

The translation in Brecht's *Poems 1913-1956* (edited by John Willett) is as follows:

Grace spare not and spare no labor
Passion nor intelligence
That a decent German nation
Flourish as do other lands.

That the people give up flinching
At the crimes which we evoke
And hold out their hand in friendship
As they do to other folk.

Neither over nor yet under
Other peoples will we be
From the Oder to the Rhineland
From the Alps to the North Sea.

And because we'll make it better
Let us guard and love our home
Love it as our dearest country
As the others love their own.

(Some people actually did suggests this as the new German national anthem at the time of reunification, but of course they did not prevail...)
 
1871- President Ulysses S. Grant signs a Congressional law declaring that "Battle Cry of Freedom" is the new National Anthem of the United States.
1956- British Prime Minister Anthony Eden signs an Act of Parliament drafting a new national anthem that gives as much lip service to Parliament and to the UK itself as to the Monarch. The song has the exact same tune as the contemporary National Anthem Of The Soviet Union. Eden defends his action against accusations of Communism by saying "It was the only Badass-sounding National Anthem I could find that wasn't La Marseillaise or Battle Cry of Freedom".
1966- Chinese President Mao Zedong decrees that March of the Volunteers will be replaced by "Song Of The Middle Realm", a Mandarin Translation of La Larseillaise. When President Charles De Gaulle of France finds out, he reluctantly approves.
1985- Pope John Paul II, after listening to Battle Hymn of the Republic on the radio, issues a Papal Bull declaring it the National Anthem of the Vatican, and the unofficial anthem of the Catholic Church. It is adopted 3 months later (under the title "Battle Hymn of the Church") as the Church's official anthem by the College of Cardinals.
2000s to today- AH.Com members deliberate what would make alternate national anthems. One post says Dixie would make a good CSA Anthem had it survived the Civil War, while another says that a certain popular patriotic drinking song by Francis Scott Key would make a wonderful "Badass-sounding" national anthem.
 
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