Rule, Britannia!
Encyclopedia
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
patriotic song, originating from the poem "Rule, Britannia" by James Thomson and set to music by Thomas Arne in 1740. It is strongly associated with the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
, but also used by the British Army
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
.
Original masque
This popular British national air was originally included in AlfredAlfred (play)
Alfred is a sung stage work about Alfred the Great with music by Thomas Arne and a libretto by David Mallet and James Thomson. The work was initially devised as a masque in 1740 and was first performed at Cliveden, country home of Frederick, Prince of Wales, on 1 August 1740, to commemorate the...
, a masque
Masque
The masque was a form of festive courtly entertainment which flourished in 16th and early 17th century Europe, though it was developed earlier in Italy, in forms including the intermedio...
about Alfred the Great
Alfred the Great
Alfred the Great was King of Wessex from 871 to 899.Alfred is noted for his defence of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of southern England against the Vikings, becoming the only English monarch still to be accorded the epithet "the Great". Alfred was the first King of the West Saxons to style himself...
co-written by Thomson and David Mallet and first performed at Cliveden
Cliveden
Cliveden is an Italianate mansion and estate at Taplow, Buckinghamshire, England. Set on banks above the River Thames, its grounds slope down to the river. The site has been home to an Earl, two Dukes, a Prince of Wales and the Viscounts Astor....
, country home of Frederick, Prince of Wales
Frederick, Prince of Wales
Frederick, Prince of Wales was a member of the House of Hanover and therefore of the Hanoverian and later British Royal Family, the eldest son of George II and father of George III, as well as the great-grandfather of Queen Victoria...
(the eldest son of George II
George II of Great Britain
George II was King of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Archtreasurer and Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 11 June 1727 until his death.George was the last British monarch born outside Great Britain. He was born and brought up in Northern Germany...
and father of the future George III, as well as the great-grandfather of Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
), on 1 August 1740, to commemorate the accession of George II
George II of Great Britain
George II was King of Great Britain and Ireland, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Archtreasurer and Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire from 11 June 1727 until his death.George was the last British monarch born outside Great Britain. He was born and brought up in Northern Germany...
and the third birthday of the Princess Augusta.
Frederick, a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
prince who arrived in England as an adult and was on very bad terms with his father, was making considerable efforts to ingratiate himself and build a following among his subjects-to-be (which came to naught, as he died before his father and never became king). A masque linking the prince with both the medieval hero-king Alfred the Great
Alfred the Great
Alfred the Great was King of Wessex from 871 to 899.Alfred is noted for his defence of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of southern England against the Vikings, becoming the only English monarch still to be accorded the epithet "the Great". Alfred was the first King of the West Saxons to style himself...
's victories over the Vikings and with the current building of British sea power - exemplified by the recent successful capture of Porto Bello from the Spanish by Admiral Vernon
Edward Vernon
Edward Vernon was an English naval officer. Vernon was born in Westminster, England and went to Westminster School. He joined the Navy in 1700 and was promoted to Lieutenant in 1702 and served on several different ships for the next five years...
on 21 November 1739, avenging in the eyes of the British public Admiral Hosier's
Francis Hosier
Francis Hosier was a British Vice-Admiral. He was lieutenant in Rooke's flagship at the Battle of Barfleur in 1693. He captured the Heureux off Cape Clear in 1710 and distinguished himself in action with the Spanish off Cartagena in 1711...
disastrous Blockade of Porto Bello
Blockade of Porto Bello
The Blockade of Porto Bello was a failed British naval action against the Spanish port of Porto Bello in present day Panama between 1726 and 1727 as part of the Anglo-Spanish War. The British were attempting to blockade the port to stop valuable treasure convoys leaving for Spain...
of 1726–27 - went well with his political plans and aspirations.
Thomson was a Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...
and playwright, who spent most of his adult life in England and hoped to make his fortune at Court. He had an interest in helping foster a British identity, including and transcending the older English, Irish, Welsh and Scottish identities.
Thomson had written The Tragedy of Sophonisba (1730), based on the historical figure of Sophonisba
Sophonisba
Sophonisba was a Carthaginian noblewoman who lived during the Second Punic War, and the daughter of Hasdrubal Gisco Gisgonis...
- a proud princess of Carthage
Carthage
Carthage , implying it was a 'new Tyre') is a major urban centre that has existed for nearly 3,000 years on the Gulf of Tunis, developing from a Phoenician colony of the 1st millennium BC...
, a major sea-power of the ancient world, who had committed suicide rather than submit to slavery at the hands of the Romans
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
. This might have some bearing on the song's famous refrain "Britons never, never, never will be slaves!".
In 1751, Mallet altered the lyrics, omitting three of the original six stanzas and adding three others, written by Lord Bolingbroke. This version known as "Married To A Mermaid" became extremely popular when Mallet produced his masque of Britannia at Drury Lane Theatre
Theatre Royal, Drury Lane
The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a West End theatre in Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, a borough of London. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane. The building standing today is the most recent in a line of four theatres at the same location dating back to 1663,...
in 1755.
Independent history
The song soon developed an independent life of its own, separate from the masque of which it had formed a part. First heard in LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in 1745, it achieved instant popularity. It quickly became so well known that Handel quoted it in his Occasional Oratorio
Occasional Oratorio
An Occasional Oratorio is an oratorio by George Frideric Handel, based upon a libretto by Newburgh Hamilton after the poetry of John Milton and Edmund Spenser. Handel composed the Occasional Oratorio hastily in January and February of 1746 and premiered it immediately on 14 February 1746. It...
in the following year. Handel used the first phrase as part of the Act II soprano aria, "Prophetic visions strike my eye", when the soprano sings it at the words "War shall cease, welcome peace!" Similarly, "Rule, Britannia!" was seized upon by the Jacobites
Jacobitism
Jacobitism was the political movement in Britain dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, later the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Kingdom of Ireland...
who altered Thomson's words to a pro-Jacobite version.
However, Thomson's original words remained best-known. Their denunciation of "foreign tyrants" has some foundation as Britain's period of Parliamentary Commonwealth had decisively curbed royal prerogative
Royal Prerogative
The royal prerogative is a body of customary authority, privilege, and immunity, recognized in common law and, sometimes, in civil law jurisdictions possessing a monarchy as belonging to the sovereign alone. It is the means by which some of the executive powers of government, possessed by and...
, leading to the Bill of Rights
Bill of Rights 1689
The Bill of Rights or the Bill of Rights 1688 is an Act of the Parliament of England.The Bill of Rights was passed by Parliament on 16 December 1689. It was a re-statement in statutory form of the Declaration of Right presented by the Convention Parliament to William and Mary in March 1689 ,...
of 1689 and it was on the way to developing its constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy
Constitutional monarchy is a form of government in which a monarch acts as head of state within the parameters of a constitution, whether it be a written, uncodified or blended constitution...
, in marked contrast to the Royal Absolutism
Absolutism (European history)
Absolutism or The Age of Absolutism is a historiographical term used to describe a form of monarchical power that is unrestrained by all other institutions, such as churches, legislatures, or social elites...
still prevalent in Europe. Britain and France were at war for much of the century and hostile in between (see "Second Hundred Years' War
Second Hundred Years' War
The Second Hundred Years' War is a periodization used by some historians to describe the series of military conflicts between the Kingdom of England and France that occurred from about 1689 to 1815. The term appears to have been coined by J. R...
") and the French Bourbons were undoubtedly the prime example of "haughty tyrants", whose "slaves" Britons should never be.
According to Armitage "Rule, Britannia'" was the most lasting expression of the conception of Britain and the British Empire that emerged in the 1730s, "predicated on a mixture of adulterated mercantilism, nationalistic anxiety and libertarian fervour". He equates the song with Bolingbroke
Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke
Henry St John, 1st Viscount Bolingbroke was an English politician, government official and political philosopher. He was a leader of the Tories, and supported the Church of England politically despite his atheism. In 1715 he supported the Jacobite rebellion of 1715 which sought to overthrow the...
's On the Idea of a Patriot King (1738), also written for the private circle of Frederick, Prince of Wales, in which Bolingbroke had "raised the spectre of permanent standing armies that might be turned against the British people rather than their enemies." Hence British naval power could be equated with civil liberty, since an island nation with a strong navy to defend it could afford to dispense with a standing army
Standing army
A standing army is a professional permanent army. It is composed of full-time career soldiers and is not disbanded during times of peace. It differs from army reserves, who are activated only during wars or natural disasters...
which, since the time of Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell
Oliver Cromwell was an English military and political leader who overthrew the English monarchy and temporarily turned England into a republican Commonwealth, and served as Lord Protector of England, Scotland, and Ireland....
, was seen as a threat and a source of tyranny.
At the time it appeared the song was not a celebration of an existing state of naval affairs, but an exhortation. Although the Dutch Republic
Dutch Republic
The Dutch Republic — officially known as the Republic of the Seven United Netherlands , the Republic of the United Netherlands, or the Republic of the Seven United Provinces — was a republic in Europe existing from 1581 to 1795, preceding the Batavian Republic and ultimately...
, which in the 17th century presented a major challenge to English sea power, was obviously past its peak by 1745, Britain did not yet "rule the waves", although, since it was written during the War of Jenkins' Ear
War of Jenkins' Ear
The War of Jenkins' Ear was a conflict between Great Britain and Spain that lasted from 1739 to 1748, with major operations largely ended by 1742. Its unusual name, coined by Thomas Carlyle in 1858, relates to Robert Jenkins, captain of a British merchant ship, who exhibited his severed ear in...
, it could be argued that the words referred to the alleged Spanish aggression against British merchant vessels that caused the war. The time was still to come when the Royal Navy
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
would be an unchallenged dominant force on the oceans. The jesting lyrics of the mid-18th century would assume a material and patriotic significance by the end of the 19th century.
The melody was the theme for a set of variations for piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
by Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
(WoO
WoO
WoO is an acronym/abbreviation, derived from the German musical catalog phrase . WoO is a catalogue prepared in 1955 by Hans Halm and Georg Kinsky, listing all of the compositions of Ludwig van Beethoven that were not originally published with an opus number, or survived only as fragments.The...
79) and he also used it in "Wellington's Victory
Wellington's Victory
Wellington's Victory, or, the Battle of Vitoria, Op. 91 is a minor orchestral work composed by Ludwig van Beethoven to commemorate the Duke of Wellington's victory over Joseph Bonaparte's forces at the Battle of Vitoria in Basqueland on June 21, 1813...
", Op. 91.
Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
wrote a concert overture
Overture
Overture in music is the term originally applied to the instrumental introduction to an opera...
based on the theme in 1836.
Johann Strauss I
Johann Strauss I
Johann Strauss I , born in Vienna, was an Austrian Romantic composer famous for his waltzes, and for popularizing them alongside Joseph Lanner, thereby setting the foundations for his sons to carry on his musical dynasty...
quoted the song in full as the introduction to his 1838 waltz
Waltz
The waltz is a ballroom and folk dance in time, performed primarily in closed position.- History :There are several references to a sliding or gliding dance,- a waltz, from the 16th century including the representations of the printer H.S. Beheim...
Huldigung der Königin Victoria von Grossbritannien (Homage to Queen Victoria of Great Britain), Op. 103, where he also quotes the British national anthem
National anthem
A national anthem is a generally patriotic musical composition that evokes and eulogizes the history, traditions and struggles of its people, recognized either by a nation's government as the official national song, or by convention through use by the people.- History :Anthems rose to prominence...
God Save the Queen
God Save the Queen
"God Save the Queen" is an anthem used in a number of Commonwealth realms and British Crown Dependencies. The words of the song, like its title, are adapted to the gender of the current monarch, with "King" replacing "Queen", "he" replacing "she", and so forth, when a king reigns...
at the end of the piece.
The French organist-composer Alexandre Guilmant
Alexandre Guilmant
Félix-Alexandre Guilmant was a French organist and composer.- Short biography :Guilmant was born in Boulogne-sur-Mer...
included this tune in his Fantaisie sur deux mélodies anglaises for organ
Pipe organ
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each organ pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass...
Op. 43, where he also makes use of the song Home! Sweet Home!
Home! Sweet Home!
"Home! Sweet Home!" is a song that has remained well-known for over 150 years. Adapted from American actor and dramatist John Howard Payne's 1823 opera Clari, Maid of Milan, the song's melody was composed by Englishman Sir Henry Bishop with lyrics by Payne...
.
Arthur Sullivan
Arthur Sullivan
Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan MVO was an English composer of Irish and Italian ancestry. He is best known for his series of 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including such enduring works as H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado...
, Britain's leading composer during the reign of Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
, quoted from "Rule, Britannia!" on at least three occasions in music for his comic opera
Comic opera
Comic opera denotes a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending.Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a new operatic genre, opera buffa, emerged as an alternative to opera seria...
s written with W. S. Gilbert
W. S. Gilbert
Sir William Schwenck Gilbert was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his fourteen comic operas produced in collaboration with the composer Sir Arthur Sullivan, of which the most famous include H.M.S...
and Bolton Rowe. In Utopia Limited, Sullivan used airs from "Rule, Britannia!" to highlight references to Great Britain. In The Zoo
The Zoo
The Zoo is a one-act comic opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by B. C. Stephenson, writing under the pen name of Bolton Rowe. It premiered on 5 June 1875 at the St. James's Theatre in London , concluding its run five weeks later, on 9 July 1875, at the Haymarket Theatre...
(written with Rowe) Sullivan applied the tune of "Rule, Britannia!" to an instance in which Rowe's libretto quotes directly from the patriotic march. Finally, to celebrate the jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887, Sullivan added a chorus of "Rule, Britannia!" to the finale of HMS Pinafore
HMS Pinafore
H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the Opera Comique in London, England, on 25 May 1878 and ran for 571 performances, which was the second-longest run of any musical...
, which was playing in revival at the Savoy Theatre
Savoy Theatre
The Savoy Theatre is a West End theatre located in the Strand in the City of Westminster, London, England. The theatre opened on 10 October 1881 and was built by Richard D'Oyly Carte on the site of the old Savoy Palace as a showcase for the popular series of comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan,...
. Sullivan also quoted the tune in his 1897 ballet Victoria and Merrie England
Victoria and Merrie England
Victoria and Merrie England is an 1897 ballet by Arthur Sullivan, written to commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee – a remarkable sixty years on the throne. The ballet became very popular and ran for nearly six months.-Background:...
, which traced the "history" of England from the time of the Druids up to Victoria's Diamond Jubilee, an event the ballet was meant to celebrate.
The part of the tune's refrain that defiantly repeats "never, never, never", is among those claimed to have provided the theme on which Edward Elgar
Edward Elgar
Sir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM, GCVO was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos...
's Enigma Variations
Enigma Variations
Variations on an Original Theme for orchestra , Op. 36, commonly referred to as the Enigma Variations, is a set of a theme and its fourteen variations written for orchestra by Edward Elgar in 1898–1899. It is Elgar's best-known large-scale composition, for both the music itself and the...
are based. Elgar also quotes the opening phrase of Rule, Britannia! in his choral work The Music Makers, based on Arthur O'Shaughnessy
Arthur O'Shaughnessy
Arthur William Edgar O'Shaughnessy was a British poet of Irish descent, born in London.-Biography:At the age of seventeen, in June 1861, Arthur O'Shaughnessy received the post of transcriber in the library of the British Museum, reportedly through the influence of Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton...
's Ode
Ode (poem)
Ode is a poem written in 1874 by the English poet Arthur O'Shaughnessy. It is often referred to by its first line We are the music makers.The Ode is the first poem in O'Shaughnessy's collection Music and Moonlight. It has nine stanzas, although it is commonly believed to be only three stanzas long...
at the line "We fashion an empire's glory", where he also quotes La Marseillaise
La Marseillaise
"La Marseillaise" is the national anthem of France. The song, originally titled "Chant de guerre pour l'Armée du Rhin" was written and composed by Claude Joseph Rouget de Lisle in 1792. The French National Convention adopted it as the Republic's anthem in 1795...
.
"Rule, Britannia!" (in an orchestral arrangement by Sir Malcolm Sargent
Malcolm Sargent
Sir Harold Malcolm Watts Sargent was an English conductor, organist and composer widely regarded as Britain's leading conductor of choral works...
) is traditionally performed at the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's Last Night of the Proms, normally with a guest soloist (past performers have included Jane Eaglen
Jane Eaglen
Jane Eaglen is an English dramatic soprano particularly known for her interpretations of the works of Richard Wagner and the title roles in Bellini's Norma and Puccini's Turandot.-Background:...
, Bryn Terfel
Bryn Terfel
Bryn Terfel Jones CBE is a Welsh bass-baritone opera and concert singer. Terfel was initially associated with the roles of Mozart, particularly Figaro and Leporello, but has subsequently shifted his attention to heavier roles, especially those by Wagner....
, Thomas Hampson and Felicity Lott
Felicity Lott
Dame Felicity Ann Emwhyla Lott, DBE, FRCM is an English soprano.-Education:From her earliest years she was musical, having started studying piano at age 5. She also played violin and began singing lessons at 12. She is an alumna of Royal Holloway, University of London, obtaining a BA in French and...
). It has always been the last part of Sir Henry Wood's Fantasia on British Sea Songs
Fantasia on British Sea Songs
Fantasia on British Sea Songs or Fantasy on British Sea Songs is a piece of classical music arranged by Sir Henry Wood in 1905 to mark the centenary of the Battle of Trafalgar. It is a medley of British sea songs and for many years was seen as an indispensable item at the BBC's Last Night of the...
, except that for many years up until 2000, the Sargent arrangement has been used. However, in recent years the inclusion of the song and other patriotic tunes has been much criticised—notably by Leonard Slatkin
Leonard Slatkin
Leonard Edward Slatkin is an American conductor and composer.-Early life and education:Slatkin was born in Los Angeles to a musical family that came from areas of the Russian Empire now in Ukraine. His father Felix Slatkin was the violinist, conductor and founder of the Hollywood String Quartet,...
—and the presentation has been occasionally amended. For some years the performance at the Last Night of the Proms reverted back to Sir Henry Wood's original arrangement. When Bryn Terfel
Bryn Terfel
Bryn Terfel Jones CBE is a Welsh bass-baritone opera and concert singer. Terfel was initially associated with the roles of Mozart, particularly Figaro and Leporello, but has subsequently shifted his attention to heavier roles, especially those by Wagner....
performed it at the Proms in 1994 and 2008 he sang the third verse in Welsh
Welsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
. The text is available at Rule Britannia .
Rule, Britannia! is often written as simply Rule Britannia, erroneously omitting both the comma and the exclamation mark, which changes the interpretation of the lyric by altering the grammar. Richard Dawkins
Richard Dawkins
Clinton Richard Dawkins, FRS, FRSL , known as Richard Dawkins, is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and author...
recounts in The Selfish Gene
The Selfish Gene
The Selfish Gene is a book on evolution by Richard Dawkins, published in 1976. It builds upon the principal theory of George C. Williams's first book Adaptation and Natural Selection. Dawkins coined the term "selfish gene" as a way of expressing the gene-centred view of evolution as opposed to the...
that the repeated exclamation "Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rule the waves!" is often rendered as "Rule, Britannia! Britannia, rules the waves!", changing both the meaning and inflection of the verse. This addition of a terminal 's' to the lyrics is used as an example of a successful meme
Meme
A meme is "an idea, behaviour or style that spreads from person to person within a culture."A meme acts as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols or practices, which can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals or other imitable phenomena...
.
Maurice Willson Disher notes that the change from "Britannia, rule the waves" to "Britannia rules the waves" occurred in the Victorian era, at a time when the British did rule the waves and no longer needed to be exhorted to rule them. Disher also notes that the Victorians changed "will
Shall and will
Shall and will are both modal verbs in English used to express propositions about the future.-Usage:These modal verbs have been used in the past for a variety of meanings...
" to "shall
Shall and will
Shall and will are both modal verbs in English used to express propositions about the future.-Usage:These modal verbs have been used in the past for a variety of meanings...
" in the line "Britons never shall be slaves."
Original lyrics
This version is taken from The Works of James Thomson by James Thomson, Published 1763, Vol II, p. 191, which includes the entire original text of Alfred.1
- When Britain first, at Heaven's command
- Arose from out the azure main;
- This was the charter of the land,
- And guardian angels sang this strain:
- "Rule, Britannia! rule the waves:
- "Britons never will be slaves."
2
- The nations, not so blest as thee,
- Must, in their turns, to tyrants fall;
- While thou shalt flourish great and free,
- The dread and envy of them all.
- "Rule, Britannia! rule the waves:
- "Britons never will be slaves."
3
- Still more majestic shalt thou rise,
- More dreadful, from each foreign stroke;
- As the loud blast that tears the skies,
- Serves but to root thy native oak.
- "Rule, Britannia! rule the waves:
- "Britons never will be slaves."
4
- Thee haughty tyrants ne'er shall tame:
- All their attempts to bend thee down,
- Will but arouse thy generous flame;
- But work their woe, and thy renown.
- "Rule, Britannia! rule the waves:
- "Britons never will be slaves."
5
- To thee belongs the rural reign;
- Thy cities shall with commerce shine:
- All thine shall be the subject main,
- And every shore it circles thine.
- "Rule, Britannia! rule the waves:
- "Britons never will be slaves."
6
- The Muses, still with freedom found,
- Shall to thy happy coast repair;
- Blest Isle! With matchless beauty crown'd,
- And manly hearts to guard the fair.
- "Rule, Britannia! rule the waves:
- "Britons never will be slaves."
Lyrics as sung
Although the lyrics are usually set out as above, the lines as set to the music are sung in contemporary time according to either of the following variants:Traditionally rendered,
- When Britain fi-i-irst, at heaven's command,
- Aro-o-o-ose from out the a-a-a-zure main,
- Arose, arose, arose from out the a-azure main,
- This was the charter, the charter of the land,
- And guardian a-a-angels sang this strain:
- Rule Britannia!
- Britannia rule the waves
- Britons never, never, never shall be slaves.
- Rule Britannia!
- Britannia rule the waves.
- Britons never, never, never shall be slaves.
- The nations, no-o-o-o-ot so blest as thee,
- Must i-i-i-i-in their turn, to ty-y--yrants fall,
- Must in their turn, to ty-y-rants fall,
- While thou shalt flourish, shalt flourish great and free,
- The dread and e-e-e-e-nvy of them all.
- Rule Britannia!
- Britannia rule the waves.
- Britons never, never, never shall be slaves.
- Rule Britannia!
- Britannia rule the waves.
- Britons never, never, never shall be slaves.
And now commonly rendered in alternate form:
- When Britain fi-i-irst, at heaven's command,
- Aro-o-o-o-ose from out the a-a-a-zure main,
- Arose, arose from out the azure main,
- This was the charter, the charter of the land,
- And guardian a-a-angels sang this strain:
- Rule Britannia!
- Britannia rule the waves
- Britons never, never, never will be slaves.
- Rule Britannia!
- Britannia rule the waves.
- Britons never, never, never will be slaves.
- Still more maje-e-estic shalt thou rise,
- More dre-e-e-e-eadful from each foreign stroke,
- More dreadful, dreadful from each foreign stroke,
- Loud blast above us, loud blast that tears the skies
- Serves but to ro-o-o-ot thy native oak.
- Rule Britannia!
- Britannia rule the waves.
- Britons never, never, never will be slaves.
- Rule Britannia!
- Britannia rule the waves.
- Britons never, never, never will be slaves.
Variations:
Never, never, never is sometimes sung as a single "never" over the same melodic phrase (an example of a melisma
Melisma
Melisma, in music, is the singing of a single syllable of text while moving between several different notes in succession. Music sung in this style is referred to as melismatic, as opposed to syllabic, where each syllable of text is matched to a single note.-History:Music of ancient cultures used...
); this being the original arrangement by Arne.
In popular culture
- Richard WagnerRichard WagnerWilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
wrote an overture called "Rule Britannia" in 1837. - Ron GoodwinRon GoodwinRonald Alfred Goodwin was a British composer and conductor known for his film music. He scored over 70 films in a career lasting over fifty years....
incorporated the tune into his Miss MarpleMiss MarpleJane Marple, usually referred to as Miss Marple, is a fictional character appearing in twelve of Agatha Christie's crime novels and in twenty short stories. Miss Marple is an elderly spinster who lives in the village of St. Mary Mead and acts as an amateur detective. She is one of the most famous...
theme for the film Murder Ahoy!Murder Ahoy!Murder Ahoy! is the last of four Miss Marple films, made by MGM and starring Margaret Rutherford. As in the three previous films, Margaret Rutherford plays Miss Jane Marple, Bud Tingwell is Inspector Craddock and Stringer Davis plays Mr Stringer.The film was made in 1964 and directed by George...
starring Margaret RutherfordMargaret RutherfordDame Margaret Taylor Rutherford DBE was an English character actress, who first came to prominence following World War II in the film adaptations of Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit, and Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest...
. - In Jules VerneJules VerneJules Gabriel Verne was a French author who pioneered the science fiction genre. He is best known for his novels Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea , A Journey to the Center of the Earth , and Around the World in Eighty Days...
's The Begum's Fortune, "Rule, Britannia!" is raucously sung by drunken British characters, representing what the writer (and other French people at the time) regarded as a grasping British greediness. - The first bars of the chorus are commonly heard in American popular culture as a sort of leitmotifLeitmotifA leitmotif , sometimes written leit-motif, is a musical term , referring to a recurring theme, associated with a particular person, place, or idea. It is closely related to the musical idea of idée fixe...
accompanying the appearance of a British icon, such as the Royal NavyRoyal NavyThe Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
, the Union FlagUnion FlagThe Union Flag, also known as the Union Jack, is the flag of the United Kingdom. It retains an official or semi-official status in some Commonwealth Realms; for example, it is known as the Royal Union Flag in Canada. It is also used as an official flag in some of the smaller British overseas...
(or Union Jack), a member of the British Royal FamilyBritish Royal FamilyThe British Royal Family is the group of close relatives of the monarch of the United Kingdom. The term is also commonly applied to the same group of people as the relations of the monarch in her or his role as sovereign of any of the other Commonwealth realms, thus sometimes at variance with...
, or any United KingdomUnited KingdomThe United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
representative of social or military rank. This force is sometimes parodied by changing the lyrics to "Rule Britannia, Britannia waives the rules (or waves the rules. by juxtaposition, even in non-American parodies)" - A punk rockPunk rockPunk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
version of the song is sung in Derek JarmanDerek JarmanMichael Derek Elworthy Jarman was an English film director, stage designer, diarist, artist, gardener and author.-Life:...
's film JubileeJubilee (1977 film)Jubilee is a 1977 cult film directed by Derek Jarman. It stars Jenny Runacre, Ian Charleson, and a host of punk rockers. The title refers to the Silver Jubilee of Elizabeth II in 1977.-Plot:...
. - Rule Britannia is the ironic title of a novel by Daphne du MaurierDaphne du MaurierDame Daphne du Maurier, Lady Browning DBE was a British author and playwright.Many of her works have been adapted into films, including the novels Rebecca and Jamaica Inn and the short stories "The Birds" and "Don't Look Now". The first three were directed by Alfred Hitchcock.Her elder sister was...
, actually expressing the anger of Britons (specifically, of the CornishCornish peopleThe Cornish are a people associated with Cornwall, a county and Duchy in the south-west of the United Kingdom that is seen in some respects as distinct from England, having more in common with the other Celtic parts of the United Kingdom such as Wales, as well as with other Celtic nations in Europe...
) at being dominated by the United States. - Ruled BritanniaRuled BritanniaRuled Britannia is an alternate history novel by Harry Turtledove, first published in hardcover and paperback by Roc Books in 2002.-Plot introduction :The book is set in the year 1597, in an alternate universe where the Spanish Armada is successful...
is an alternate history novel by Harry TurtledoveHarry TurtledoveHarry Norman Turtledove is an American novelist, who has produced works in several genres including alternate history, historical fiction, fantasy and science fiction.- Life :...
, describing a Britain conquered by the Spanish ArmadaSpanish ArmadaThis article refers to the Battle of Gravelines, for the modern navy of Spain, see Spanish NavyThe Spanish Armada was the Spanish fleet that sailed against England under the command of the Duke of Medina Sidonia in 1588, with the intention of overthrowing Elizabeth I of England to stop English...
. - An excerpt of the song was used as the ring entrance music for the tag team the British BulldogsBritish BulldogsThe British Bulldogs were the team of cousins Davey Boy Smith and Tom Billington , professional wrestlers who competed through most of the 1980s in both North America, England, and Japan and is by many considered one of the top tag-teams in history.-Early years :In the 1970s, Dynamite Kid and Davey...
(Davey Boy SmithDavey Boy SmithDavey Boy Smith was a British professional wrestler, better known as "The British Bulldog" Davey Boy Smith, who was born in Golborne in North West England, United Kingdom. Smith is known for his appearances with Stampede Wrestling, the World Wrestling Federation and World Championship Wrestling...
and Tom "Dynamite KidDynamite KidThomas Wilton Billington , best known by the ring name Dynamite Kid, is a retired British professional wrestler who competed in the World Wrestling Federation, Stampede Wrestling, All Japan Pro Wrestling and New Japan Pro Wrestling in the mid- to late-1980s...
" Billington) in the 1980s, and again, when Davey Boy Smith returned in the 1990s, while in the World Wrestling FederationWorld Wrestling EntertainmentWorld Wrestling Entertainment, Inc. is an American publicly traded, privately controlled entertainment company dealing primarily in professional wrestling, with major revenue sources also coming from film, music, product licensing, and direct product sales...
. Davey Boy's son D.H. SmithHarry Smith (wrestler)Harry Smith is a Canadian professional wrestler of English descent. He is currently working for Inoki Genome Federation and is best known for his tenure in WWE, where he won the Unified Tag Team Championship along with Tyson Kidd before being released from his contract on August 5, 2011...
would also use it as his entrance music. - "Rule, Britannia!" is sometimes mistaken for the British national anthemGod Save the Queen"God Save the Queen" is an anthem used in a number of Commonwealth realms and British Crown Dependencies. The words of the song, like its title, are adapted to the gender of the current monarch, with "King" replacing "Queen", "he" replacing "she", and so forth, when a king reigns...
. This is probably because it is used so often in popular culture to represent Britain that it has become more associated with it than the actual national anthem. - The chorus tune was deliberately misquoted in an episode of the 1960s Batman TV seriesBatman (TV series)Batman is an American television series, based on the DC comic book character of the same name. It stars Adam West as Batman and Burt Ward as Robin — two crime-fighting heroes who defend Gotham City. It aired on the American Broadcasting Company network for three seasons from January 12, 1966 to...
, in which Batman and Robin visited Britain. - John Lennon sings part of "Rule, Britannia!" in the film A Hard Day's Night
- "Rue Brittania" (note the missing l) is the title of a story arc in The Rocky and Bullwinkle ShowThe Rocky and Bullwinkle ShowThe Rocky & Bullwinkle Show is an American animated television series that originally aired from November 19, 1959 to June 28, 1964 on the ABC and NBC television networks...
covering episodes 117 through 124, wherein Bullwinkle bears the inscription "Rue Brittania" on his foot. - It is used in Sid Meier's Civilization IVCivilization IVSid Meier's Civilization IV is a turn-based strategy, 4X computer game released in 2005 and developed by lead designer Soren Johnson under the direction of Sid Meier and Meier's studio Firaxis Games. It is the fourth installment of the Civilization series...
for Queen Victoria's and Winston Churchill Theme. - Ruling Britannia: Failure and Future of British Democracy by the ScottishScottish peopleThe Scottish people , or Scots, are a nation and ethnic group native to Scotland. Historically they emerged from an amalgamation of the Picts and Gaels, incorporating neighbouring Britons to the south as well as invading Germanic peoples such as the Anglo-Saxons and the Norse.In modern use,...
journalistJournalistA journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and authorAuthorAn author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
Andrew MarrAndrew MarrAndrew William Stevenson Marr is a Scottish journalist and political commentator. He edited The Independent for two years until May 1998, and was political editor of BBC News from 2000 until 2005....
was published in 1996. - The dystopiaDystopiaA dystopia is the idea of a society in a repressive and controlled state, often under the guise of being utopian, as characterized in books like Brave New World and Nineteen Eighty-Four...
n alternate history noveletteNoveletteA novelette is a piece of short prose fiction. The distinction between a novelette and other literary forms is usually based upon word count, with a novelette being longer than a short story, but shorter than a novella...
"The Greatest Danger" by Lee Allred is set in The DominationThe DominationThe Domination of Draka is a dystopian alternate history series by S. M. Stirling. It comprises a main trilogy of novels as well as one crossover novel set after the original and a book of short stories...
of the Draka timeline, created by S. M. StirlingS. M. StirlingStephen Michael Stirling is a French-born Canadian-American science fiction and fantasy author. Stirling is probably best known for his Draka series of alternate history novels and the more recent time travel/alternate history Nantucket series and Emberverse series.-Personal:Stirling was born on...
, in which the monstrous Drakas conquer the world and reduce everybody else to chattel slavery. In one episode of the story, the people of GuernseyGuernseyGuernsey, officially the Bailiwick of Guernsey is a British Crown dependency in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy.The Bailiwick, as a governing entity, embraces not only all 10 parishes on the Island of Guernsey, but also the islands of Herm, Jethou, Burhou, and Lihou and their islet...
defy their Draka captors by singing "Britons never, never will be slaves!", words quite literal in this context. - "Rule, Britannia!" is the theme song of Lord British, the avatar of Richard GarriottRichard GarriottRichard Allen Garriott is a British-American video game developer and entrepreneur.He is also known as his alter egos Lord British in Ultima and General British in Tabula Rasa...
in the Ultima series of computer games. In Ultima 7, it is usually heard when the main hero of the game wanders near Lord British Castle. - British folk metal band SkycladSkyclad (band)Skyclad are a British heavy metal band with heavy folk influences in their music. They are considered one of the pioneers of folk metal. The etymology behind the term "skyclad" comes from a pagan/wiccan term for ritual nudity, in which rituals are performed with the participants metaphorically clad...
has incorporated parts of the chorus as a wordplay in their song "Think Back and Lie of England", ("Cruel Britannia ruled the waves..."), which unlike "Rule, Britannia!" is anti-patriotic. - In the Adult SwimAdult SwimAdult Swim is an adult-oriented Cable network that shares channel space with Cartoon Network from 9:00 pm until 6:00 am ET/PT in the United States, and broadcasts in countries such as Australia and New Zealand...
show Sealab 2021Sealab 2021Sealab 2021 is an American animated television series. It was shown on Cartoon Network's adult-oriented programming block, Adult Swim. It premiered on November 23, 2000 and the final episode aired on April 25, 2005...
episode "Let them Eat Corn" two British arms dealers sing a song about their new teeth sung to a rock version of the song. - In Paul Revere's Ride (2005) by David Del TrediciDavid Del TrediciDavid Del Tredici, born March 16, 1937 in Cloverdale, California, is an American composer. According to Del Tredici's website, Aaron Copland said David Del Tredici "is that rare find among composers — a creator with a truly original gift...
, "Rule, Britannia!" is set in counterpoint against "Yankee Doodle", representing the Battles of Lexington and Concord that began the American Revolution. - Also used in Finnish, Norwegian, Danish and Swedish TV ads for Premiership Football on Canal+Canal+Canal+ is a French premium pay television channel launched in 1984. It is 80% owned by the Canal+ Group, which in turn is owned by Vivendi SA. The channel broadcasts several kinds of programming, mostly encrypted...
. - The song is regularly sung by fans of English football clubs Millwall FC, Swindon FC and Chelsea F.C.Chelsea F.C.Chelsea Football Club are an English football club based in West London. Founded in 1905, they play in the Premier League and have spent most of their history in the top tier of English football. Chelsea have been English champions four times, FA Cup winners six times and League Cup winners four...
It is also sung by fans of LinfieldLinfield F.C.Linfield F.C. , is a semi-professional, Northern Irish football club, whose home ground is Windsor Park in Belfast, which is also the home of the Northern Ireland international team....
in Northern Ireland and Rangers in Scotland because of its unionistBritish unionismBritish unionism is a political ideology favouring the continued existence of the United Kingdom as a sovereign state, consisting of four constituent countries, England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland....
connotations. - In the 1987 James Bond film The Living DaylightsThe Living DaylightsThe Living Daylights is the fifteenth entry in the James Bond series and the first to star Timothy Dalton as the fictional MI6 agent 007. The film's title is taken from Ian Fleming's short story, "The Living Daylights"...
, "Rule, Britannia!" must be whistled to activate the stun gas feature of Bond's key ring. - In the Keeping Up AppearancesKeeping Up AppearancesKeeping Up Appearances is a British sitcom created and written by Roy Clarke for the BBC. Centred on the life of eccentric, social-climbing snob Hyacinth Bucket , the sitcom portrays a social hierarchy-ruled British society...
episode "A Barbecue at Violet's", "Rule, Britannia!" is one of the songs in Hyacinth's "party game" - Featured in the film The Italian Job (1969).
- Robert NewtonRobert NewtonRobert Newton was an English stage and film actor. Along with Errol Flynn, Newton was one of the most popular actors among the male juvenile audience of the 1940s and early 1950s, especially with British boys...
and Stanley HollowayStanley HollowayStanley Augustus Holloway, OBE was an English stage and film actor, comedian, singer, poet and monologist. He was famous for his comic and character roles on stage and screen, especially that of Alfred P. Doolittle in My Fair Lady...
's characters in David LeanDavid LeanSir David Lean CBE was an English film director, producer, screenwriter, and editor best remembered for big-screen epics such as The Bridge on the River Kwai , Lawrence of Arabia ,...
's This Happy BreedThis Happy BreedThis Happy Breed is a play by Noël Coward. It was written in 1939 but, because of the outbreak of World War II, it was not staged until 1942, when it was performed on alternating nights with another Coward play, Present Laughter. The two plays later alternated with Coward's Blithe Spirit...
sing this song several times in the film. - The piece has appeared in two episodes of the animated series SpongeBob SquarePantsSpongeBob SquarePantsSpongeBob SquarePants is an American animated television series, created by marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg. Much of the series centers on the exploits and adventures of the title character and his various friends in the underwater city of "Bikini Bottom"...
. Squidward's watch plays the song in one episode, and Squidward sings a song to the tune of this song in "Dunces and Dragons". - This song appeared as the title card music to an episode of The Fairly OddParentsThe Fairly OddParentsThe Fairly OddParents is an American-Canadian animated television series created by Butch Hartman about the adventures of Timmy Turner, who is granted fairy godparents named Cosmo and Wanda. The series started out as cartoon segments that ran from September 4, 1998 to March 23, 2001 on Oh Yeah!...
. - Rule, Britannia! is played in the first Austin PowersAustin Powers: International Man of MysteryAustin Powers: International Man of Mystery is a 1997 American science fiction/action-comedy film and the first film of the Austin Powers series. It was directed by Jay Roach and written by Mike Myers who also stars in the title role. Myers also plays Dr. Evil, Austin Powers' arch-enemy...
film because Mike MyersMike Myers (actor)Michael John "Mike" Myers is a Canadian actor, comedian, screenwriter, and film producer of British parentage...
believed it was a film cliche to play the song whenever any film changed its setting to Britain. - It appears, in a strangulated form, in an exhibition of British artifacts in Flushed AwayFlushed AwayFlushed Away is a 2006 computer animated British film directed by David Bowers and Sam Fell. It is a partnership between Aardman Animations of Wallace and Gromit fame, and DreamWorks Animation, and is Aardman's first completely computer-animated feature as opposed to the usual stop-motion.The film...
, along with a somewhat more musical version of Land of Hope and GloryLand of Hope and Glory"Land of Hope and Glory" is a British patriotic song, with music by Edward Elgar and lyrics by A. C. Benson, written in 1902.- Composition :...
. - Since 1971, Arsenal fans have sung a song called Good old Arsenal, which is based on the tune of Rule, Britannia!.
- A parody of "Rule, Britannia!" ("Britons, ever, ever, ever will be slaves") is chanted by Germans in Andrew Roberts's political satire The Aachen Memorandum, which depicts a future Europe in which Britain has been split into separate states and merged into a United States of Europe.
- "Rule Britannia!" is whistled by two RAF pilots in the French film La Grande VadrouilleLa Grande VadrouilleLa Grande Vadrouille is a 1966 Franco-British comedy film about how the crew of a Royal Air Force B-17 shot down over Paris must then make their way through German-occupied France with the main help of two French citizens with very different mindsets.For over forty...
. - Used several times in Dan SimmonsDan SimmonsDan Simmons is an American author most widely known for his Hugo Award-winning science fiction series, known as the Hyperion Cantos, and for his Locus-winning Ilium/Olympos cycle....
's book The TerrorThe Terror (novel)The Terror is the name of a 2007 novel by American author Dan Simmons. The novel is a fictionalized account of Captain Sir John Franklin's lost expedition of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror to the Arctic to force the Northwest Passage in 1845 - 1848... - Michael FlandersMichael FlandersMichael Henry Flanders OBE, was an English actor, broadcaster, and writer and performer of comic songs. He is best known to the general public for his partnership with Donald Swann performing as the duo Flanders and Swann....
& Donald SwannDonald SwannDonald Ibrahím Swann was a British composer, musician and entertainer. He is best known to the general public for his partnership of writing and performing comic songs with Michael Flanders .-Life:...
parodied both this song and British composer Benjamin BrittenBenjamin BrittenEdward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
in "Guide to Britten", where the terminal line is "So rule Brittania, while Britten rules the staves, all the music-loving public are his slaves." - In the television series FrasierFrasierFrasier is an American sitcom that was broadcast on NBC for eleven seasons, from September 16, 1993, to May 13, 2004. The program was created and produced by David Angell, Peter Casey, and David Lee in association with Grammnet and Paramount Network Television.A spin-off of Cheers, Frasier stars...
, the episode "Whine Club" includes a parody entitled "Hail, Corkmaster!", sung as part of the inauguration of the wine club's new president. - In the book "Ice Station" written by Matthew Rielly one of the main antagonists Trevor Barnaby has a habit of saying "Rule,Britannia" to his enemies moments before their death
The music used for the Alma Mater of Winston Churchill High School in San Antonio, Texas
- In the DC ComicsDC ComicsDC Comics, Inc. is one of the largest and most successful companies operating in the market for American comic books and related media. It is the publishing unit of DC Entertainment a company of Warner Bros. Entertainment, which itself is owned by Time Warner...
FlashpointFlashpoint (comics)Flashpoint is an American comic book crossover story arc published by DC Comics. Consisting of an eponymous core limited series and a number of tie-in titles, the storyline premiered in May 2011...
event, at the end of issue 3 of "Flashpoint: Lois LaneLois LaneLois Lane is a fictional character, the primary love interest of Superman in the comic books of DC Comics. Created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, she first appeared in Action Comics #1 ....
& The Resistance". As the battle against the conquering Amazons reached its climax, Resistance member Grifter asked UK heroine Britannia how "that song about her went again", referring to "Rule, Britannia!", to which she replied "I think the line you're looking for is... "Britons never, never, never shall be slaves", before charging into one last battle. - On The Bill Handel Show radio program based in Los Angeles, CA when discusing stories regarding the British Royal Family, the "Queen" makes a guest appearance whose intro begins with a deep doorbell with resounding "Rule, Britannia!" in the background as the Queen provides her royal non-sequitor address.
Mentions in other songs
- "Rule Britannia!" is made reference to in David Bowie's song "Life on Mars".
- Pink FloydPink FloydPink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
's song, "Waiting for the WormsWaiting for the Worms"Waiting for the Worms" is a song from the 1979 Pink Floyd album The Wall. It is preceded by "Run Like Hell" and followed by "Stop".-Overview:...
", from the album The WallThe WallThe Wall is the eleventh studio album by English progressive rock group Pink Floyd. Released as a double album on 30 November 1979, it was subsequently performed live with elaborate theatrical effects, and adapted into a feature film, Pink Floyd—The Wall.As with the band's previous three...
includes the lyrics "would you like to see Britannia rule again, my friend?" - During the fadeout of Pink FloydPink FloydPink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
's song "Not Now JohnNot Now John"Not Now John" is a song from Pink Floyd's 1983 album, The Final Cut. The track is the only song from the album featuring the vocals of David Gilmour, found in the verses, with Roger Waters singing the refrains and interludes. The song was released as a single in modified form, with the word...
", from the album The Final CutThe Final CutThe Final Cut may refer to:*The Final Cut , a 1983 album by Pink Floyd*"The Final Cut" , a song by Pink Floyd*The Final Cut , a 1983 "video EP" by Pink Floyd*The Final Cut , an industrial music group...
, Roger WatersRoger WatersGeorge Roger Waters is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. He was a founding member of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd, serving as bassist and co-lead vocalist. Following the departure of bandmate Syd Barrett in 1968, Waters became the band's lyricist, principal songwriter...
can be heard shouting "Rule Britannia! Britannia rules the waves!" - The Pirates Of The Caribbean movie, includes the song theme "Rule Britannia!" in the first movie of the series - Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black PearlPirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black PearlPirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is a 2003 adventure fantasy film based on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney theme parks. It was directed by Gore Verbinski and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer...
. It is performed on the first appearance of the British fort in the movie.
External links
- Renee Fleming sings "Rule, Britannia!" at Last Night of the Proms (2010).
- Married To A Mermaid
- Piano version (9KB, MIDI file)
- Band version (121KB, MP3MP3MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
file) - BBC Symphony Orchestra, Bryn Terfel, Last Night of the Proms, Live 1994 copyright BBC and Teldec Classics GmbH, (4:27 min, ca 4 MB, MP3 file, which has four verses, the third sung in WelshWelsh languageWelsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
) - Beethoven Haus Bonn, Variationen über das englische Volkslied "Rule Britannia" für Klavier (D-Dur) WoO 79