I thought it was God Save The Queen?

@Xuande Exactly. Its her anthem not ours.

@Amisja You trickster. :X

England's unofficial anthem, Jerusalem, is a good tune - even if the religious lyrics are a bit questionable!

@Jnei dark satanic mills...my home

@Jnei, @Xuande Seriously its not England's song. It is the Queens. Wales and Scotland have songs. We don't.

@Amisja Hence "unofficial"!

@Jnei Funny.? I always thought Jerusalem was in Israel

@Moravian In William Blake's time, Jerusalem was commonly used as a metaphor for heaven. What he's saying in his poem (which it was, known as "And did those feet in ancient times", before Hubert Parry set it to music in 1916, 108 years after the poem was published) is that had Christ have visited England with Joseph of Arimathea, as described in a story about his so-called silent years between his birth and baptism as an adult, it would have created something akin to heaven in England - rather than to the actual Jerusalem in Israel.

Incidentally, the poem isn't as religious as it first appears. Although Blake was a Christian, he was vehemently opposed to organised religion which he viewed as a tool employed by the ruling class to oppress everyone else; the heaven in England he yearns for is a new society of universal love and equality in which the masses are free and not forced to work dangerous, badly-paid jobs in the "dark Satanic Mills" of the Industrial Revolution. Blake was also a feminist, arguing that marriage was slavery for women, and advocated the legalisation of homosexuality - so, all in all, a pretty decent sort of chap in addition to being arguably the greatest artist England has ever produced.

(Pic: The Great Red Dragon and The Woman Clothed With Sun, 1805)

Thanks for filling me in on that Actually I was trying to be slightly facetious. It is certainly a rousing song but in this secular age is it appropriate ?.

@Moravian In view of the above explanation and the growing inequality in society, it could be seen as especially appropriate today.

@Jnei Sorry, don't get it.

How about "A new England" by Billy Bragg

But couldn't the music be less monotonous or bland?

@ipdg77 simple for the masses

And they have to be nationalistic or at least patriotic