The lyrics of most national anthems, besides not being very memorable, are occasionally puzzling when you pay attention. This can be hard: the Romanian anthem only has 11 verses, but the Greek one boasts a whopping 158. (Okay, they only sing 3 of them.) Here are the answers.

1. The Netherlands: 'A prince I am, undaunted, Of Orange, ever free, To the _______________ I've granted a lifelong loyalty.'
   
   • King of Spain (You had to have been there.)
2. France: 'To arms, citizens, Form your battalions, Let's march, let's march! Let _____________ water our furrows!'
   
   • Impure blood (Ditto.)
3. Spain: '______________'
   
   • Dum-de-dum-dum-dum (No lyrics, a wise move.)
4. Belgium: 'Prosper, O land, in ___________; Always be yourself and serve no other…'
   
   • unbreakable unity (There is nothing about waffles.)
5. Sweden: 'I know that you are and will become what you were, Yes, I want to live, I want to ___________.'
   
   • Die in the North. (Ask Milla.)
6. Austria: 'Land of mountains, land by the river, Land of fields, land of cathedrals, Land of __________, with a promising future!'
   
   • Hammers (Ask Tavaron, we don't get the hammers, either.)
7. Hungary: 'Long torn by ill fate Bring upon it a time of relief This nation has suffered for all ______of the past …'
   
   • Sins (This gets our vote for 'most honest national anthem'. Everybody's done something they should apologise for.)
8. Slovenia: 'May all peoples thrive that yearn to see the day when wheresoever the sun walks,
   strife shall be banished from the world. When every kinsman shall be free and not a ______ but a neighbor shall the adjoining-land's dweller be!'
   
   • Devil (Also a worthy thought.)
9. Romania: 'Priests, lead with your _________, for our army is Christian…'
   
   • Crucifixes (We refuse to make any vampire jokes at this point.)
10. Greece: [To Liberty] 'I recognize you by the fearsome _________________'
    
    • Sharpness of your sword (This is a great poem. It also exists as a choral poem – the whole thing.)

Eleutheria is Greek for liberty. It can also be a girl's name. Let's hope Eleutheria's bf never gets the idea to sing this to her as a serenade.

Makes ours sound almost sensible.

Dmitri Gheorgheni

20.05.19 Front Page

Back Issue Page