How not to sing any national anthem

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Tom

Tom

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I was both shocked and ashamed to hear this rendition of the Welsh national anthem sung before a boxing match by my namesake. He couldn't get either the melody or the lyrics right and, as someone commented, many words were just made up on the spot. Musically, this is on a par with Rozanne Barr's 1990 screaming of our national anthem, although she at least managed to get the words right.

Here's how it should sound, sung by Ivor Emanuel, born and raised in the village of Pontrhydyfen, birthplace of Richard Burton, a mile or so away from where I grew up.

Movie buffs may recall Ivor Emanuel leading the "opposing chant", Men of Harlech, in the movie Zulu, co-starring Stanley Baker.
 
Tom, it really upsets me when I hear so-called singing stars making up their own rendition of our national anthem.  Why on earth do they have to ruin what is a beautiful tune?  And that doesn't even address the words that are wrong.  Off soapbox.

ArdraF
 
I totally agree with both of you. It bugs the hell out of me when those so called singers sing it the way they want just to prove that they can do crazy things with their voices. I just wish they would sing it like it was when it was written.
 
The big surprise to me was Tom Jones not knowing the lyrics of his national anthem. It was news to me that he didn't speak Welsh, but many Welsh-born folks who don't speak Welsh still know the words of the anthem.

While recently looking around for Welsh folks songs to rearrange, I was looking at the web site for one of the ukulele clubs in Wales. I'd previously had communictions with their Music Director, and we'd exchanged music to play on uke. He's an Englishman, and I wouldn't expect him to speak Welsh or even be able to pronounce many Welsh words. While looking at his song book, I found a few Welsh songs where he's substituted phonetic lyrics, presumably for his own benefit and that of band members who don't speak Welsh. Very creative but, since I know the Welsh lyrics, I found it tough to follow the phonetics.
 
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