"This Land Is Your Land" would be a superb national anthem. It's inclusive and passionate at the same time. It was once a protest song, in its original version.

Most national anthems are by their very nature rather grandiose and martial, emphasizing the divisions of humanity...and most of them are anachronistic, out of date in the sentiments they proclaim.

As for the Canadian one, the words have been tinkered with quite a bit in an attempt to offend no one...which I find offensive! :-) But I'm not too excited about the issue. Who really cares?

I don't know what the words were in the old Soviet national anthem (probably the same old silly stuff as usual), but the music was really magnificent! I used to look forward to hearing it at Russia-Canada hockey games. They generally just played the music, rather than having a singer do it.

- LH