VOTERS THROUGHOUT the Middle East are choosing between finalists in the pan-Arab Pop Idol amid great stirrings of pride and rivalry as Palestinians and Libyans face off. Ammar Hassan, a music teacher from the West Bank, sang a song that included the words: “When Jerusalem was captured . . . Love retreated . . . And war settled in people’s heart”. So, not exactly Kylie.
There is a global tradition of tunes starting life as popular songs, but becoming patriotic ones over time. America probably leads the modern field in this musical narcissism: the great popular songwriter, Irving Berlin, seemed to write a loin-stirrer a day before breakfast. This is celebrated in Irving Berlin’s God Bless America And Other Songs For A Better Nation by Hal Leonard, who is also the publisher. In 1942 Berlin even wrote a song rather unpromisingly entitled I Paid My Income Tax Today. And for those whose toes are already tapping, it includes the line: “You see the bombers in the sky, Rockefeller helped to build them, so did I.”
Songs Sung Red, White and Blue: The Stories Behind America’s Best-Loved Patriotic Songs is by the splendidly named Ace Collins (Harper Resource). He assesses 32 tunes, everything from The Star-Spangled Banner to Yankee Doodle, which was originally written by a British poet to bait Americans during the War of Independence. Collins certainly knows the things that make his countrymen go weak at the knees: One of his other books is about Lassie, the fabled sheep dog.
The British have them, too — patriotic songs that is. Rule Britannia, lyrics by James Thomson, an 18th-century poet, was a direct response to the threat of French invasion, as was the official national anthem, which is included in the Encyclopedia of National Anthems (Sovereign Press) by Xing Hang, a hefty volume that reproduces the official tunes from 193 sovereign nations. It also includes the sheet music, for piano, as well as the lyrics in both English and the original language.
There is, of course, also a strong tradition of patriotism in folk songs, which often speak to a different sense of national pride, one derived from people rather than statehood. The greatest exponent of radical, social patriotisim in the 20th century was Woody Guthrie, composer of This Land Is Your Land. His life is celebrated in This Land Was Made For You And Me: The Life And Times of Woody Guthrie (Viking) by Elizabeth Partridge. Popular songs, it seems, become patriotic ones almost by an accident of timing, exposure and maturity. In 200 years’ time, they’ll probably be wondering about the origins of Candle in the Wind as a rallying call for the nation. Who was Sir Elton John?
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