National Anthems With Unusual Characteristics
Every country has a national anthem, but most people only know the words to their own. Behind these patriotic songs lie stories far stranger than the lyrics themselves. Some anthems began as movie soundtracks.
Others were written in prison cells using whatever materials the author could find. A few share melodies with songs from entirely different countries, creating awkward moments at international sporting events.
The history of national anthems reveals that composing a song to represent an entire nation is far more complicated than anyone might expect.
Greece and the Poem That Never Ends
The Greek national anthem holds a record that no other country can match. The original poem, written by Dionysios Solomos in 1823, contains 158 stanzas.
If you tried to sing the complete version, you would be standing for quite a long time. Fortunately for Greek citizens and visiting dignitaries, only the first two stanzas serve as the official anthem during ceremonies and sporting events.
Solomos composed the Hymn to Liberty during the Greek War of Independence against Ottoman rule, and the full text chronicles the entire struggle for freedom. The poem was set to music by Nikolaos Mantzaros in 1828, and it officially became the national anthem in 1864.
Cyprus later adopted the same anthem in 1966. The complete Hymn to Liberty gets performed at Olympic closing ceremonies as a tribute to Greece as the birthplace of the Games, though even then, you won’t hear all 158 stanzas.
Japan’s Thousand-Year-Old Lyrics
Japan’s anthem, Kimigayo, represents the opposite extreme. At just 32 characters in the original Japanese, sung across about 50 seconds, it ranks as one of the shortest national anthems in existence.
But the truly remarkable aspect involves the lyrics themselves. The words come from a waka poem written during the Heian period, sometime between 794 and 1185.
The author remains unknown, but the poem first appeared in a 10th-century anthology called the Kokin Wakashū. This makes Kimigayo’s lyrics the oldest of any national anthem in use today.
The current melody only dates to 1880, when court composers created it to replace an earlier tune by a British military band leader that the Japanese government found unsuitable. The anthem speaks of a reign lasting until pebbles grow into boulders covered with moss, a metaphor for an impossibly long span of time.
Uruguay’s Operatic Marathon
When Uruguay’s national anthem is performed in full, prepare to clear your schedule. The complete version runs about four to six minutes, making it the longest national anthem by performance time.
The 105 bars of music were inspired by Italian opera, which was enormously popular in South America during the 19th century. Composer Francisco José Debali borrowed liberally from works by Rossini and even included a direct musical quotation from Donizetti’s Lucrezia Borgia.
The poet Francisco Acuña de Figueroa wrote the martial lyrics in 1830, and the same writer also penned Paraguay’s national anthem. At most sporting events and official occasions, only the first verse and chorus get performed.
The full operatic experience remains reserved for those with considerable patience.
Spain’s Silent March
Four countries in the world have national anthems without any official lyrics. Spain’s Marcha Real is the most prominent among them. The anthem dates to 1761, making it one of the oldest in Europe, but the Spanish government has never permanently settled on words to accompany the march.
Various sets of lyrics appeared throughout history, but none stuck. The most recent attempt came in 2007 when a nationwide competition selected new words, but public criticism proved so intense that the government shelved the idea indefinitely.
Spain shares this wordless distinction with Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, and San Marino. For Spanish athletes on an Olympic podium, the moment involves simply standing in silence while the familiar tune plays.
South Africa’s Five-Language Challenge
South Africa’s national anthem might be the most linguistically ambitious in the world. The song combines two different pieces, Nkosi Sikelel’ iAfrika and Die Stem van Suid-Afrika, and switches between five languages within a single performance.
The first verse splits between Xhosa and Zulu. The second verse uses Sesotho. The third shifts to Afrikaans.
The fourth concludes in English. Adopted in 1997 after the end of apartheid, the anthem deliberately represents the diverse cultures within the nation.
Every South African who learns the anthem must memorize lyrics in multiple languages, regardless of which one they speak at home. The structure requires something like a neo-modal musical arrangement to accommodate all the linguistic transitions.
The Dutch Acrostic Secret
The Netherlands’ Wilhelmus holds the distinction of being the oldest national anthem melody still in use, dating to approximately 1572. But the clever construction of the lyrics makes it truly unusual.
The 15 stanzas form an acrostic, meaning the first letter of each verse spells out a hidden message. In this case, those letters spell “Willem van Nassov,” the Dutch name for William of Orange, the father of the nation.
The anthem tells the story of William’s leadership during the Dutch revolt against Spain, written in the first person as if William himself were singing. This acrostic structure means changing or shortening the lyrics would destroy the embedded tribute.
Andorra Speaks in First Person
Most national anthems refer to the country in collective terms. Andorra’s El Gran Carlemany does something different.
The tiny principality nestled between France and Spain adopted an anthem in 1921 that speaks as the nation itself, using first-person pronouns throughout. Lines like “I am the only remaining daughter of the Carolingian empire” give the song an unusual intimate quality.
The anthem pays tribute to Charlemagne, whom legend credits with founding Andorra, and the first-person perspective makes the historical connection feel almost personal.
China’s Movie Theme
The People’s Republic of China uses a national anthem that began as a movie soundtrack. March of the Volunteers was composed in 1935 as the theme song for Children of Troubled Times, a patriotic film about Chinese resistance against Japanese invasion.
Tian Han wrote the lyrics, and Nie Er composed the music. The song became popular beyond the film and was adopted as the provisional national anthem when the People’s Republic was founded in 1949.
During the Cultural Revolution, the anthem fell out of favor because Tian Han had been imprisoned, but it was eventually restored and officially confirmed through constitutional amendment. Nie Er, the composer, drowned in Japan shortly after completing the piece, dying at just 23 years old.
Algeria’s Anthem Written Without Paper
The circumstances of its creation make Algeria’s Kassaman one of the most dramatic origin stories among national anthems. Poet Moufdi Zakaria wrote the lyrics in 1955 while imprisoned by French colonial forces in Barberousse Prison.
According to widely told accounts, he had no access to paper or writing instruments. The story goes that Zakaria wrote the revolutionary verses on his cell walls using his own blood. The anthem was adopted when Algeria gained independence in 1962 and remains notable for directly referencing France, the former colonial power, in decidedly unflattering terms.
A 2023 presidential decree specified that all five stanzas must be performed at events attended by the president.
Mexico’s Reluctant Poet
The Mexican national anthem owes its existence to an unusual form of motivation. In 1853, President Antonio López de Santa Anna announced a contest to write lyrics for a new national anthem. Poet Francisco González Bocanegra considered himself a writer of love poems and refused to enter.
His fiancée, Guadalupe González del Pino, disagreed with his self-assessment. According to the story, she lured him into a room in her parents’ house, locked the door, and refused to let him out until he produced an entry.
Four hours later, Bocanegra slipped ten stanzas of Italian octaves under the door. His submission won the competition, and the anthem was first performed on the eve of Independence Day in 1854.
Bocanegra married his persistent fiancée that same year.
The Star-Spangled Banner’s Drinking Club Origins
The melody of the American national anthem has an unexpected source. Francis Scott Key wrote the famous lyrics in 1814, but he matched them to a pre-existing tune called “To Anacreon in Heaven.”
This song served as the constitutional anthem of the Anacreontic Society, an 18th-century gentlemen’s club of amateur musicians in London. The club was named after the ancient Greek poet Anacreon, known for his verses about wine and love.
The original lyrics describe a gathering of musicians petitioning the Greek poet to be their patron. While often described as a drinking song, the tune was actually performed after dinner concerts at elegant venues.
The melody’s wide vocal range, challenging even for trained singers, was designed to showcase musical skill rather than facilitate group singing at pubs.
Liechtenstein and Britain’s Shared Tune
When Liechtenstein plays its national anthem, Oben am jungen Rhein, at international events where Britain is also present, confusion sometimes follows. The tiny Alpine principality uses the exact same melody as God Save the King.
During the 19th century, the British anthem tune spread across German-speaking nations as a popular musical framework. Prussia, Bavaria, Saxony, and Switzerland all used the melody for their anthems at various points.
Liechtenstein adopted it in the 1850s and never changed. Switzerland eventually replaced their version in 1961, leaving Liechtenstein as the only remaining country besides Britain still using the tune.
The lyrics, celebrating the Rhine River and the ruling prince, have nothing to do with the British original.
Bosnia’s Unfortunate Resemblance
Dusan Sestic might qualify as the unluckiest anthem composer in history. In 1998, needing money, he entered a contest for a new Bosnian national anthem meant to heal ethnic divisions after the civil war.
He didn’t particularly want to win, hoping only to place second or third and collect some prize money. His composition took first place, and his troubles began immediately.
Ethnic Serbs labeled him a traitor for writing Bosnia’s anthem. Bosniaks and Croats resented that an ethnic Serb had composed their national song.
Then, in 2009, someone noticed his composition bore a striking resemblance to the opening music of the 1978 comedy film Animal House. Accusations of plagiarism followed.
Sestic defended himself, suggesting he might have unconsciously absorbed the melody as a young man. The anthem remains in use, still without official lyrics despite multiple attempts to adopt them.
When Music Crosses Borders
The borrowing and sharing of anthem melodies reveals something about how these songs actually work. They need to be simple enough for crowds to sing, dignified enough for state occasions, and stirring enough to evoke patriotic feeling.
Meeting all these requirements while creating something entirely original proves remarkably difficult. Countries have adopted movie themes, gentlemen’s club songs, and melodies from neighboring nations.
Poets have been locked in rooms and imprisoned revolutionaries have used their own blood as ink. The stories behind national anthems often prove more compelling than the songs themselves, each one a small window into a moment when a nation tried to capture its identity in music.
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