La Marseillaise—Garde Republicaine with Mireille Mathieu
#365Songs: Aug 2
Can there be patriotism without war?
Must nationalism always be violent?
W.R. Inge once statesd that “a nation is a society united by delusions about its ancestry and by common hatred of its neighbors.”
Patriotism and nationalism, while not technically synonymous, seem equally defined by their violence.
Can there really be such a thing as a “good war?”
Karl Kraus once curmudgeonly wrote that “war is, at first, the hope that one will be better off; next, the expectation that the other fellow will be worse off; then, the satisfaction that he isn’t any better off; and, finally, the surprise at everyone’s being worse off.”
He was right about one thing, at least. That last line.
There is a scene in the movie Casablanca where the denizens of Rick’s Cafe break into “La Marseillaise,” the melody and French words of which seem to reign supreme among national anthems:
Allons enfants de la Patrie
Le jour de gloire est arrivé!
Contre nous de la tyrannie
L’étendard sanglant est levé
L’étendard sanglant est levé
Entendez-vous dans les campagnes
Mugir ces féroces soldats?
Ils viennent jusque dans vos bras
Égorger nos fils, nos compagnes!
Aux armes, citoyens
Formez vos bataillons
Marchons, marchons!
Qu’un sang impur
Abreuve nos sillons!
It honestly is a stirring song, with an exquisitely empowering rhythm and melody. Translated to the English, we do, of course, find the expected blood:
Arise, children of the Fatherland
Our day of glory has arrived
Against us the bloody flag of tyranny
is raised; the bloody flag is raised.
Do you hear, in the countryside
The roar of those ferocious soldiers?
They’re coming right into your arms
To cut the throats of your sons, your comrades!
To arms, citizens!
Form your battalions
Let’s march, let’s march
That their impure blood
Should water our fields.
Speaking of blood, do you happen to know the second verse of “The Star-Spangled Banner?” It goes a little something like this:
And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,
That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion
A home and a Country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash’d out their foul footstep’s pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
It would appear clear that the composers of these national anthems were finely attenuated to the cruel and galling realities of war’s eviscerating reality. And yet, ultimately, they exhort us not to stop war, but to make it. Curious.
It would also seem to be the case that concepts of patriotism and nationalism are deeply intertwined with the idea of the hero. For isn’t the one who fights for love of country a hero?
And what is it that motivates a patriotic, nationalist hero? Pride, I suppose?
Are you familiar with the rarely sung second verse of “La Marseillaise?” It goes a little something like this:
What does this horde of slaves
Of traitors and invented kings want?
For whom have these vile chains
These irons, been long prepared? (repeated)
Frenchmen, for us, ah! What outrage
What furious action it must arouse!
It is for us they dare plan
A return to the old slavery!
Axelle Saint-Cirel sang “La Marseillaise” at the opening of the 2024 Olympics as the rain poured down. Over time, hers may become the most iconic performance of them all.
But for now, that distinction may remain with Mireille Mathieu, who sung the anthem in 1989 at the 100th anniversary celebration of the Eiffel Tower. It is her voice that you can hear on the version I’ve recommended today.
As with the anthem of the United States, “La Marseillaise” dutifully ends on a flag:
Sacred love of the Fatherland,
Lead, support our avenging arms
Liberty, cherished Liberty
Fight with your defenders! (repeated)
Under our flags may victory
Hurry to your manly accents
So that your expiring enemies
See your triumph and our glory!
What I’ve always found so curious about our national anthem here in the United States is that it ends on a question:
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave
Based on everything we know about nationalists, heroes, and patriots, I’d say it does yet wave indeed.
Provided, of course, that we remain ready to kill for it.
~
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