This morning I stumbled on an economics blog which claimed bluntly, and without much argument, that the Soviet national anthem was the best ever:
I'm not saying this claim is wrong (the version in The Hunt for Red October is pretty stirring too, though the accents sound dodgy), it just needs some more investigation and comparison. Let's open this up to our readers. Which country do you think has the best anthem, and why? Send your submissions to sroggeveen@lowyinstitute.org along with one or two sentences explaining your choice, and a link to a YouTube clip.
Just to open up the topic a bit further, I recommend this New Yorker piece on Whitney Houston's spine-tingling rendition of 'Star-Spangled Banner' at the 1991 Super Bowl:
As for 'Advance Australia Fair', Australians seem to have an ambivalent relationship with this tune. It's belted out with gusto at sporting events, but do we really love it? For me, only when it's sung by Wolverine: