They were legendary as they gave rise to national songs, a comparison of which speaks volumes about relative national consciousness. We obviously share the disappointment of everyone that the Proms will have to be different but believe this is the best solution in the circumstances and look forward to their traditional return next year. The song doesn’t say precisely that but in sensitive times some may feel it does. Perhaps they’ve sent in the federal agencies available to US administrators — they call in the National Guard when the local police are the cause and targets of public dissent.I haven’t looked up the precise dates on Google, as I perhaps should have, but there were famous fires which blazed in and reduced the great cities of London and New York. The English song gets down to action.Boris Johnson, on being made aware of the BBC’s decision expressed his incredulity.In response to the lash of criticism, Lord Hall, director general of the BBC, conceded that this year there will be, at the conclusion of the Proms, instrumental or orchestral renditions of those anthems, but there will be no lyrics sung to them.
The summer storms have brought vast fires, the country is alight. And this week, the lyrics of songs — we should really call them anthems — have caused a public hoo-ha involving the BBC, its director general, Lord Hall, and prime minister Boris Johnson.. The BBC has ditched the lyrics of 'Rule Britannia!' for its traditional summer-ending concert amid a controversy over the song's celebration of the British Empire. The American one to a meaningless chant and an escape to richer climes in California in search of gold.His slightly disingenuous reason was that since the Proms this year will not have a Promenading audience thronging the floor of the Albert Hall, there will be no one to sing the lyrics. The first one celebrates the freedom of British citizens and the lyrics include the words:“Thine equal laws, by Freedom gainedHave ruled thee well and long;By Freedom gained, by Truth maintainedThine Empire shall be strong. They undoubtedly glorify empire and there certainly is a case, from the point of view of the colonised, or even from that of liberal minded contemporary Britons, for not bragging about it.The other anthem to come under fire from the
STORZ COUPLING IN ALUMINUM Factory same source and for the same reason was Rule Britannia whose lyrics include the chorus:“Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves!Britons never, never, never shall be slaves.”In the wake of the Black-Lives-Matter inspired movement to demolish the statues of slave-owners of the past and rewrite history to “deglorify” colonial adventures, the verses of this anthem have been deemed by some as racist. Blake is asking if there is any true Christianity in the land which has, in his time, fallen under the shadow of “dark satanic mills”.The song about the London fire goes:“London’s burning, London’s burningLook yonder, Look yonder!Fire, fire! Fire Fire!Pour on water!Pour on water!And the American song goes:“New York City is on fireHooda, doodaNew York City is on fireHooda dooda day!
Blow boys blowFor CalifornioThere’s plenty of goldSo I’ve been toldOn the banks of Sacramento”I think the contrast in national attitudes speaks through the lyrics.The Beeb, or ‘Auntie’, as the Brits call their public-service-minded forum, was caught between the latest progressive current of opinion, the ‘Woke’ consciousness, and BoJo’s political reading of the majority of the electorate’s mind. The popular concerts are known as the BBC Promenade concerts as the Albert Hall’s central ground floor space is cleared and, apart from those seated in the stalls, given over to a standing audience. In response to this trap a BBC spokesperson said: “For the avoidance of any doubt, these songs will be sung next year.The ‘Proms’ are played over several evenings and at the end, led by the performing orchestra, the audience bursts into renditions of Edward Elgar’s “Land of Hope and Glory”, of “Rule Britannia” and of William Blake’s “Jerusalem”.. He dodged the possibility of providing a socially distanced choir or even a single soprano or tenor to give voice to them. The poem, which has the grandeur to become a perpetual anthem, has nothing to do with insulting anyone."I think it's time we stopped our cringing embarrassment about our history," he told reporters. No pouring on water.In this 2014 file photo, the audience reacts during the Proms at Royal Albert Hall, London. “Don’t cut your nails at nightWas the superstitious frightTerrorising the dumb and dumber— Now thirteen is my lucky numberBlack cats crossing my wayPromise a bountiful dayThe Devil owns 666 —I long to learn his tricksO Bachchoo scorn beliefIn omens that augur grief!”— From Dil Deykey Dildo by BachchooMy friend who lives in California says there are fumes engulfing her house..
The controversy is occasioned by the tradition of three anthems being sung by the audience and sometimes by professional choirs to conclude the series of summer concerts in the Albert Hall sponsored by the BBC.”It’s called kicking the ball into the tall grass.”The objectors conclude that apart from the celebratory hubris of the lyrics, there is an implication that other nations can and have been slaves but Britons, through some virtue, have not and will never be. They don’t actually promenade but can shift about as they listen to the performance of various guest orchestras and conductors from around the world. Let’s hope the fumes will subside and her husband can take to the scorched golf course soon!The Californian emergency, like the Australian fires earlier in this era of climate change and sizzling seasons, are alarming — as are the locust storms I read about engulfing parts of Bharat Mata — but they are not new or unprecedented.As far as the third anthem mentioned in this list of possibly insulting lyrics is Blake’s Jerusalem and, gentle reader, I object to this objection with all my critical acumen — such as it is. The first two are patently patriotic songs.
