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Saturday, March 25, 2006

Flùir Na H-Alba


Should the hymn of rugby—‘Flower of Scotland’—become the “national” anthem?


imageBadge of the Scottish Rugby Assoc.

Photo: Proudly Scottish

Wins in swimming, boxing and bowls, among other sports, have sent Scottish athletes triumpantly to the podium at Melbourne’s Commonwealth Games this month. But many fans voiced dismay as their gold medalists were bathed in the strains of ‘Scotland the Brave.’

“To many Scots, ‘Scotland The Brave’ belongs in black and white reruns of The White Heather Club” (Scotland’s answer to the Lawrence Welk Show). There’s popular rumbling and now talk even among the Scottish political leadership that perhaps ‘Flower of Scotland’ (‘Flùir na h-Alba’ in Gaelic) should be made the official national anthem instead.

(‘God Save the Queen’ is really the national anthem, but Scots reasonably want their own theme song.)

‘Flower of Scotland’ doesn’t refer to the thistle, but to the soldiers of King Robert I (the Bruce), who crushed the English forces 700 years ago at the Battle of Bannockburn. This seems a worldwide metaphor—young men sent to war become flowers, whether the martyred red tulips of Iran, the poppies of World War I, or the more general blooms mourned in “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?”

Flower of Scotland” is actually a fairly recent tune, written by Roy Williamson of The Corries. It begins—

O Flower of Scotland,

When will we see your like again

That fought and died for

Your wee bit hill and glen.

And stood against him,

Proud Edward’s army, 

And sent him homeward

Tae think again.

…“Prince Edward” being King Edward I of England.


imageGordon Buloch and John Smit

Scotland v. S. Africa

Nov. 2005

Photo: Rugby News

From the historic battlefield, these militant lyrics have been redirected to the contemporary playing field. “The song is a particular favourite of Scottish national rugby union team fans, who first adopted it for the Lions tour of South Africa in 1974. The last two lines of each verse are generally sung with particular ferocity, especially before games against England.” The Scottish Football Association also opens its games with ‘Flower of Scotland.’

For those who have never seen rugby, we delightedly post these highlights of a recent Scotland-Italy match. It’s the primal game: no equipment, a lot of young men high on hormonal thistle and one testicle-shaped ball. Take it away, guys! (Actually, women play, too.)

We’re all for rugby and flowers but must ask, does ‘Flower of Scotland’ really make a good national anthem? Jack McConnell, first minister, has expressed some doubt. “Flower Of Scotland works at Murrayfield,” the rugby stadium,  “where it is very stirring and it lifts the crowd, lifts the team and I’m sure, to some extent intimidates the opposition,” McConnell said. He added that some have suggested Auld Lang Syne, “but Auld Lang Syne is a song for the end of an evening rather than the beginning of the evening.” McConnell’s personal favorite is Highland Cathedral.

It looks as if the whole matter will likely come before the Scottish Parliament though perhaps a scrum could better settle it.

Meanwhile, the Daily Record is holding a public opinion poll—a kind of cerebral scrum—on the matter. (We don’t think you need be Scottish to vote, either.)

Before casting your e-ballot, though, you might want to listen to the front-runners here, all played on the bagpipes by Roy Espiritu.

Highland Cathedral

Flower of Scotland

and

Scotland the Brave, which gets our wholehearted vote. It’s a rousing, familiar and original tune.

imageScotland fan at the Rugby World Cup

Townsville, Australia

Photo: BBC

Much as we wanted to vote for the “Flower,” we just couldn’t after learning “the third last note,” of ‘Flower of Scotland’ “is a flattened seventh, unplayable by bagpipes as the note is not within the bagpipe scale. In order to hit the correct note, a hole on the chanter has to be half-covered which is technically very difficult to achieve accurately and not within the normal conventions of bagpipe fingering.”

For the sake of rugby, thistles, and all things Scottish, let’s pick a song that abides by “the normal conventions of bagpipe fingering.”



Posted by Julie on 03/25 at 12:23 PM
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