Text, and information courtesy of Leslie Nelson-Burns at http://www.contemplator.com/sea/index.html. Midi file sequenced by unknown.
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 and God arise,
Scatter his enemies,
And make them fall.
Confound their politics,
Frustrate their knavish tricks,
On Thee our hopes we fix
God Save the King
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.
Nor on this land alone,
But be God's mercies known
From shore to shore.
Lord, make the nation see
That men should brothers be,
And form one family
The wide world o'er.The words and tune of God Save the King are anonymous. They may date back to the seventeenth century. The lyrics and tune are sometimes credit to Henry Carey (1740). The tune first appeared in this form in 1744. It became popular in 1745, the second year of the Jacobite Uprising. After the Battle of Prestonpans, the bandleader of Theatre Royal, Drury Lane arranged the tune and played it at the end of the night - which other theatres picked up and which became customary. The tune became a rallying cry for the House of Hanover. It came to be referred to as the National Anthem at the beginning of the nineteenth century.
The tune is also sung in America as America (My Country Tis of Thee) and was also sung in the German Reich as Heil Dir in Seigerkranz.
It should now, of course, be sung as God Save the Queen, in honor of Queen Elizabeth II.
Related Links
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| Some information and lyrics From Fireside
Book of Folk Songs See Bibliography for full information. |
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