.. follower I’ve also had to endure on occasions
Listening to a raft of national anthems in a row, like at the Olympic Games for instance, is not that different to being an unwilling spectator at the Eurovision Song Contest. It’s not just Australia that needs to review its choice of song as a national anthem.
There was a moment some years back when John Williamson (whose version of I’ll Be Gone is included on the I’ll Be Gonz collection) gamely attempted to generate a popular movement to replace Advance Australia Fair with Waltzing Matilda at international rugby matches, but I’ve got a feeling he was finally banned by the authorities and the moment was lost, although I’m not convinced it didn’t peter out due to embarrassment as much as anything else – embarrassment ultimately that anybody could get that worked up about a song.
Personally I think Waltzing Matilda is a far better choice for an Australian anthem than Advance Australia Fair, even if it’s only on the grounds that it’s a maverick choice for an anthem. Mind you, Waltzing Matilda possibly gives away far too much about the national character and our murky history, not to mention celebrating a class-driven suicide, culturally incorrect in this day and age in Australia although far more acceptable in places like Japan whose tourists incidentally adore the song.
But, let’s take a closer look at Advance Australia Fair, a sentiment that for a start I would wager has never been expressed outside of this song. The original opening line, ‘Australia's sons let us rejoice’, has been modified to the more inclusive ‘Australians all let us rejoice’ but melodically-speaking is still a difficult opening line to sing and far more suited to a brass band.
The second ‘For we are young and free’ line has a certain schoolyard charm, but the claim that we are ‘young’ takes us back to the Terra Nullius days where the longest continuous occupation of a country by a people was totally ignored and discounted by a bunch of Johnny-come-latelys. And free? Give me a break. Australians would have to be the most regulated bunch on the planet. I’m not sure what the ratio is currently but we must be getting close to the ultimate objective of more than one bureaucrat for every citizen.
The ‘girt by sea’ line has been examined and lampooned endlessly and it’s odd that while other lyrics have been modified this one remains intact. The implication is that, unlike the citizens of some backward land-bound countries we Aussies can pop down to the seaside any old time and have a dip. Tell them that in Alice Springs.
I’m carping now I know, so I’ll go to the line which comes (twice) at the very climax of the song, the title line, the motif, the Advance Australia Fair line. The sentiment is arcane enough, but then you add the inevitable disparity in pronunciation provoked by singing ‘advance’ and any attempt by the crowd to sound unified degenerates into a shambles - not exactly what you’re looking for in an anthem.
The problem is this: most Australians in their everyday speech pronounce ‘advance’ with a short ‘a’ in ‘the second syllable, (as in ‘ad-vants’) but for some reason singing teachers continue to insist it should be pronounced ‘advahnce’ after the English model. The result is that the singer, or a recording of the singer (the most-often used recorded version features Julie Anthony, an Australian version of the over-elocuting Julie Andrews), is on his or her own enthusiastically singing Advahnce Australia Fair against the crowd droning 'advants orstrylia fair'.
For exactly the same reason as we’re not going to get a republic or a new flag anytime soon, a replacement for Advance Australia Fair as the national anthem is not about to be contemplated anytime soon.
It reminds me of an evening choir rehearsal at the Christchurch Cathedral when I was singing a solo piece and quite unintentionally sang the words ‘Virgin Mary’ with an American accent. There was a gasp from the choir, some guffaws from the baritones and titters from the probationers. The organ ground to a halt. Choirmaster and organist Charles Foster Browne’s apoplectic features peered down from the organ loft. He made some caustic reference to American popular music and I was made to repeat the piece, this time without the American accent. I guess it just goes to show that you can’t mess with the classics.

John Williamson sings Waltzing Matilda at the rugby