This morning, as I was watching England trounce Iran in the World Cup, the English fans in the stands started singing God Save the King. God Save the King is the national anthem of the United Kingdom.
Here are the lyrics now that they have a King instead of a Queen.
God save our gracious King!
Long live our noble King!
God save the King!
Send him victorious,
Happy and glorious,
Long to reign over us:
God save the King!
O Lord our God arise,
Scatter his enemies,
and make them fall:
Confound their politics,
Frustrate their knavish tricks,
On thee our hopes we fix:
God save us all!
Thy choicest gifts in store,
On him be pleased to pour;
Long may he reign:
May he defend our laws,
And ever give us cause,
To sing with heart and voice,
God save the King!
If you're me, and be thankful you aren't, you're more familiar with the Ren & Stimpy parody song The Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen. That jam was based on God Save the Queen, which is now God Save the King. MuchMusic played this one on high rotation.
But wait a minute... that melody... didn't the Yanks steal it for America (My Country, 'Tis of Thee)? Of course they did... Samuel Francis Smith wrote this American patriotic ditty in 1831.
Here are the lyrics.
My country, 'tis of thee,
Sweet land of liberty,
Of thee I sing;
Land where my fathers died,
Land of the pilgrims' pride,
From ev'ry mountainside
Let freedom ring!
My native country, thee,
Land of the noble free,
Thy name I love;
I love thy rocks and rills,
Thy woods and templed hills;
My heart with rapture thrills,
Like that above.
Let music swell the breeze,
And ring from all the trees
Sweet freedom's song;
Let mortal tongues awake;
Let all that breathe partake;
Let rocks their silence break,
The sound prolong.
Our fathers' God to Thee,
Author of liberty,
To Thee we sing.
Long may our land be bright,
With freedom's holy light,
Protect us by Thy might,
Great God our King!
Something stinks here... God Save the King dates back to 1744 while My Country Tis of Thee only showed up in 1831. My Country Tis of Thee is as much a parody of the UK anthem as The Royal Canadian Kilted Yaksmen. Ren & Stimpy for the win!
Here are those glorious lyrics.
Stimpy: Our country reeks of trees!
Our yaks are really large.
And they smell like rotting beef carcasses.
And we have to clean up after them
And our saddle sores are the best
We proudly wear womens' clothing
And searing sand blows up our skirts
Ren & Stimpy: And the buzzards, they soar overhead
And poisonous snakes will devour us whole
Our bones will bleach in the sun
And we will probably go to hell
And that is our great reward
For being the-uh roy-oy-al Canadian Kilted Yaksmen
(Stimpy: Come on everybody!)
Chorus: Our country reeks of trees
Our yaks are really large
And they smell like rotting beef carcasses
And we have to clean up after them
And our saddle sores are the best
We proudly wear womens' clothing
And searing sand blows up our skirts
And the buzzards, they soar overhead
And poisonous snakes will devour us whole
Our bones will bleach in the sun
And we will probably go to hell
And that is our great reward
For being the-uh roy-oy-al Canadian Kilted Yaksmen
