RetroFed Forum
Your home away from modern life.
Anthem lyrics
Post Reply
AuthorMessage
inari piefed.zip inari@piefed.zip
Joined: 2026-02-07
(edited) Quote

"Splendid boobs" is how the lyrics go
333   Original
themaninblack lemmy.world themaninblack@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-10
#2 · (edited) Quote Reply

Doubt, unless mention of battle is sufficient to make the list

EDIT: I was wrong. Here’s one of the verses that are not usually sung:

“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 washed out their foul footsteps' 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.”

4
Tyra lemmy.ml tyra@lemmy.ml
Joined: 2025-01-30
#3 · Quote Reply

Neither the Austrian nor the German national anthem mention blood?

6
zjti8eit lemmy.dbzer0.com zjti8eit@lemmy.dbzer0.com
Joined: 2023-10-29
#4 · Quote Reply

And this is how I learned there were 4 verses to the star spangled banner https://www.lyricsondemand.com/n/nationalanthemlyrics/usanationalanthemlyrics.html

33
Warl0k3 lemmy.world Warl0k3@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-10-11
#5 · (edited) Quote Reply

Neither the Austrian nor the German national anthem mention blood?

They both at mention a heart which... might be why they were included? But I think this map may just be AI or recaptioned from something else because thats a bit of a stretch to call blood.

edit: USA, China & mexico both overtly mention blood though... Maybe it really is the heart thing? Though if that were true then Canada should be on there too. Idkwtf

edit 2: and the Brazilian anthem is disappointing given the way it's brought up in the OP; it's not a crass use of it like "boob" but very much akin to "my heart beat in my breast" or "nurtured by your bosom". By that metric a ton of other countries also feature tiddy anthems.

14
SwingingTheLamp piefed.zip SwingingTheLamp@piefed.zip
Joined: 2025-12-27
#6 · Quote Reply

I am much disappoint. Looking it up, I find that Brazil has four songs: the national anthem, the anthem of the republic, the flag anthem, and the anthem of independence. None of them mention boobs, and one of them does mention blood.

88
Sharkticon lemmy.zip Sharkticon@lemmy.zip
Joined: 2025-12-21
#7 · Quote Reply

And this is how I learned there were 4 verses to the star spangled banner https://www.lyricsondemand.com/n/nationalanthemlyrics/usanationalanthemlyrics.html

Yeah its pretty fucked up.

2
cannedtuna lemmy.world cannedtuna@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-21
#8 · Quote Reply

And this is how I learned there were 4 verses to the star spangled banner https://www.lyricsondemand.com/n/nationalanthemlyrics/usanationalanthemlyrics.html

I thought verse two was: “Play ball!”

34
cannedtuna lemmy.world cannedtuna@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-21
#9 · Quote Reply

Yeah its pretty fucked up.

No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave

The fuck?

11
raman_klogius ani.social raman_klogius@ani.social
Joined: 2024-06-22
#10 · Quote Reply

Ok but this needs distinction between shedding the blood of enemies or shedding your mother's blood because you're born.

4
Riskable programming.dev riskable@programming.dev
Joined: 2023-06-23
#11 · Quote Reply

The US National Anthem is the only one in the whole world that mentions bombs.

16
MountingSuspicion reddthat.com MountingSuspicion@reddthat.com
Joined: 2023-06-12
#12 · Quote Reply

And this is how I learned there were 4 verses to the star spangled banner https://www.lyricsondemand.com/n/nationalanthemlyrics/usanationalanthemlyrics.html

I heard that we were able to identify spies because of this. Apparently they were taught the full anthem whereas Americans do not recite the full one. It's funny to imagine these spies thinking they're absolutely killing it and the Americans looking at each other like "we gotta get rid of them, huh".

16
GregorGizeh lemmy.zip GregorGizeh@lemmy.zip
Joined: 2023-08-15
#13 · Quote Reply

Neither the Austrian nor the German national anthem mention blood?

If thats a question, yes, germany does not use the first two verses of the national anthem any more. The nazis made those uncomfortable.

4
reader lemmy.zip reader@lemmy.zip
Joined: 2026-02-19
#14 · Quote Reply

good thing there's no new Zealand

11
inari piefed.zip inari@piefed.zip
Joined: 2026-02-07
#15 · Quote Reply

I am much disappoint. Looking it up, I find that Brazil has four songs: the national anthem, the anthem of the republic, the flag anthem, and the anthem of independence. None of them mention boobs, and one of them does mention blood.

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_National_Anthem#Lyrics

Em teu seio, ó liberdade

35
ceenote lemmy.world ceenote@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-16
#16 · Quote Reply

The US National Anthem is the only one in the whole world that mentions bombs.

Which is weird, since it was written in 1814, and I can't think of any bombs that burst in the air back then other than fireworks. Were they shooting fireworks in a battle?

-1
Warl0k3 lemmy.world Warl0k3@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-10-11
#17 · (edited) Quote Reply

No refuge could save the hireling and slave From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave The fuck?

This verse is referring to the british, not menial laborers or chattel slaves. "Hirelings" was (is?) an insulting term to describe a mercenary, and the implication is that they are either brigands who are only in it for a pittance wage, rubes who do it because of a loyalty to the monarchy and/or impressed soldiers of the british (a practice with many parallels to chattel slavery, for what that's worth). A modern version might call them "sheep" with a similar implication.

8
igmelonh lemmy.blahaj.zone igmelonh@lemmy.blahaj.zone
Joined: 2026-08-09
#18 · (edited) Quote Reply

Which is weird, since it was written in 1814, and I can't think of any bombs that burst in the air back then other than fireworks. Were they shooting fireworks in a battle?

The British Navy fired mortars — whose projectiles can explode midair — from bomb ships to bombard Fort McHenry, along with using Congreve rockets. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Baltimore

15
Warl0k3 lemmy.world Warl0k3@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-10-11
#19 · (edited) Quote Reply

The US National Anthem is the only one in the whole world that mentions bombs.

The only one that explicitly mentions them, yep. It's a recounting of the british attack on a US fort during the war of 1812, which was attacked by, among other things, british bomb ships (mortar carriers). The actual bombs being referenced would be called shells in the modern era. Interestingly many others refer to guns and cannons and incoming fire and etc. as well; China's makes explicit reference to being shelled (tho as I have had it explained, it's also a bit of quite clever wordplay: 冒着敌人的炮火,前进 can mean both "withstand their (physical) guns/cannons" and "stand up in the face of their (metaphorical) aggression")

12
cannedtuna lemmy.world cannedtuna@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-06-21
#20 · (edited) Quote Reply

This verse is referring to the british, not menial laborers or chattel slaves. "Hirelings" was (is?) an insulting term to describe a mercenary, and the implication is that they are either brigands who are only in it for a pittance wage, rubes who do it because of a loyalty to the monarchy and/or impressed soldiers of the british (a practice with many parallels to chattel slavery, for what that'...

Well, except Britain promised freedom to slaves that fought for their cause, so I still assume it means slaves in the literal sense.

Kinda fucked the US didn’t do the same given the whole fight for freedom bit…

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Americans_in_the_Revolutionary_War

1
ZombieCyborgFromOuterSpace piefed.ca ZombieCyborgFromOuterSpace@piefed.ca
Joined: 2025-12-21
#21 · Quote Reply

Of course it does. Brazil's gonna Brazil.

3
agamemnonymous sh.itjust.works agamemnonymous@sh.itjust.works
Joined: 2023-06-15
#22 · Quote Reply

And this is how I learned there were 4 verses to the star spangled banner https://www.lyricsondemand.com/n/nationalanthemlyrics/usanationalanthemlyrics.html

Same. I have never in my life heard anything after "O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave"

6
plateee piefed.social plateee@piefed.social
Joined: 2025-09-20
#23 · Quote Reply

I thought verse two was: “Play ball!”

No, it's "Gentleman, start your engines!!"

8
SwingingTheLamp piefed.zip SwingingTheLamp@piefed.zip
Joined: 2025-12-27
#24 · Quote Reply

See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brazilian_National_Anthem#Lyrics Em teu seio, ó liberdade

That's not boobs. Every translation that I found had it as "bosom" in English, referring to the chest area. I mean, maybe some people have liberty in their tiddies, but that seems unusual.

47
TheRealKuni piefed.social TheRealKuni@piefed.social
Joined: 2025-07-29
#25 · Quote Reply

Same. I have never in my life heard anything after "O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave"

If you think about it, it ends in a question.

O say, does that Star-Spangled Banner yet wave,
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

Second stanza answers it.

On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep
Where the foe’s haughty host in dread silence reposes
What is that which the breeze o’er the towering steep
As it fitfully blows half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning’s first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines on the stream,
‘Tis the Star-Spangled Banner, O long may it wave,
O’er the land of the free, and the home of the brave!

6
Warl0k3 lemmy.world Warl0k3@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-10-11
#26 · (edited) Quote Reply

Well, except Britain promised freedom to slaves that fought for their cause, so I still assume it means slaves in the literal sense. Kinda fucked the US didn’t do the same given the whole fight for freedom bit… https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_Americans_in_the_Revolutionary_War

The song was written about the war of 1812, not the revolutionary war.

As the wikipedia article points out, during the revolutionary war most of the black Patriots were recruited from the north already as free men of color and were at the time lionized for their actions (albeit in predictably racist terms) - and abolition would take over the north quite quickly afterwards (most having some form of abolition well before 1800). The first continental congress also banned the import of slaves in 1774 (though abolitionists cheered it at the time and rightly so, it should be said that this was primairly a method of applying economic pressure to the british), and would set up the civil war by doing so.

7
inari piefed.zip inari@piefed.zip
Joined: 2026-02-07
#27 · Quote Reply

That's not boobs. Every translation that I found had it as "bosom" in English, referring to the chest area. I mean, maybe some people have liberty in their tiddies, but that seems unusual.

Right, but then the joke doesn't work :/

3
soupcon lemmy.blahaj.zone soupcon@lemmy.blahaj.zone
Joined: 2026-10-12
#28 · Quote Reply

That's not boobs. Every translation that I found had it as "bosom" in English, referring to the chest area. I mean, maybe some people have liberty in their tiddies, but that seems unusual.

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/portuguese-english/seio has breast as the first translation.

Also, even in English, "bosom" is generally taken to be the polite way to say breast 99% of the time even if it /can/ mean the chest area. I think you're just being contrarian.

33
Warl0k3 lemmy.world Warl0k3@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-10-11
#29 · (edited) Quote Reply

No, it's "Gentleman, start your engines!!"

True americans know that it's...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBYdJjcoo4A

The most patrioticly american moment ever on television.

8
Fleur_ aussie.zone Fleur_@aussie.zone
Joined: 2025-04-23
#30 · Quote Reply

The only blood in the Australian national anthem is the blood dripping from my ears after listening to it

22
mycodesucks lemmy.world mycodesucks@lemmy.world
Joined: 2024-03-08
#31 · Quote Reply

I thought verse two was: “Play ball!”

10
prettybunnys piefed.social prettybunnys@piefed.social
Joined: 2025-06-10
#32 · Quote Reply

Which is weird, since it was written in 1814, and I can't think of any bombs that burst in the air back then other than fireworks. Were they shooting fireworks in a battle?

Lobbing fused rounds has been a thing as long as we’ve been lobbing things that explode.

8
Successful_Try543 feddit.org Successful_Try543@feddit.org
Joined: 2024-06-22
#33 · (edited) Quote Reply

If thats a question, yes, germany does not use the first two verses of the national anthem any more. The nazis made those uncomfortable.

@tyra@lemmy.ml

Yet, neither of the 3 verses of the Deutschlandlied mentions blood.
The first mentions only geographic terms ("von der Maas bis an die Memel, von der Etsch bis an den Belt") and brotherly connection for protection and defence.
The second verse mentions women, loyality, wine and singing.
Only the third verse, on unity, right and freedom, is considered the national anthem of the Federal Republic.

Edit: Austria is painted in red on the map despite their "Bundeshymne" (federal hymn) doesn't contain the word "Blut" ('blood').

2
wieson feddit.org wieson@feddit.org
Joined: 2024-06-24
#34 · Quote Reply

If thats a question, yes, germany does not use the first two verses of the national anthem any more. The nazis made those uncomfortable.

The first two stanzas of "the song of the Germans" doesn't mention it either I think.
The third stanza (which is the national anthem in its entirety) is more aspirational than a look back on history.
"Unity and Justice and Freedom... Let's strive for that... May it blossom in the light of this happiness" and so on.

Austria is painted red tho.

2
garbagebagel lemmy.world garbagebagel@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-09-29
#35 · Quote Reply

That's not boobs. Every translation that I found had it as "bosom" in English, referring to the chest area. I mean, maybe some people have liberty in their tiddies, but that seems unusual.

I have never heard the word bosom refer to anything but boobs. Its like a polite term for titties.

17
ElectricVocalist jlai.lu Mubelotix@jlai.lu
Joined: 2023-07-02
#36 · Quote Reply

That's not boobs. Every translation that I found had it as "bosom" in English, referring to the chest area. I mean, maybe some people have liberty in their tiddies, but that seems unusual.

The translation is wrong. I don't know where that anthem comes but in french, sein means core. In its "sein" means at its core, deeply rooted

8
inari piefed.zip inari@piefed.zip
Joined: 2026-02-07
#37 · (edited) Quote Reply

The translation is wrong. I don't know where that anthem comes but in french, sein means core. In its "sein" means at its core, deeply rooted

"Seio" in Portuguese means "breast" and is used to refer to boobs.

3
phlegmy sh.itjust.works phlegmy@sh.itjust.works
Joined: 2024-06-29
#38 · Quote Reply

The only blood in the Australian national anthem is the blood dripping from my ears after listening to it

Your ears are girt by blood?

5
JayDee lemmy.world JayDee@lemmy.world
Joined: 2024-11-08
#39 · (edited) Quote Reply

I have never heard the word bosom refer to anything but boobs. Its like a polite term for titties.

It's used quite often to mean chest. It's a fill in for saying "breast", which is usually meaning "inside one's chest, near to their heart".

There's a quote attributed to Albert Einstein though I found no source to which is "Anger dwells only in the bosom of fools", which shows this application.

Shakespear also has Isabella say in Measure for Measure, act 2 scene 2 "Go to your bosom: knock there, and ask your heart what it doth know.", which seems most accurately to be describing the chest more vaguely.

I think that these two show how 'in [one's] bosom' often poetically means 'near [one's] heart", or 'close to [one's] chest'. The chest isn't the point of sentence, it's more a reference point for describing the actual subject location.

19
Jiral lemmy.world Jiral@lemmy.world
Joined: 2026-06-06
#40 · Quote Reply

The Austrian anthem doesn't mention blood anywhere. It mentions "heart", as in "in the heart of Europe"

19
Tja programming.dev Tja@programming.dev
Joined: 2023-12-18
#41 · Quote Reply

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/portuguese-english/seio has breast as the first translation. Also, even in English, "bosom" is generally taken to be the polite way to say breast 99% of the time even if it /can/ mean the chest area. I think you're just being contrarian.

And the second is heart, which is much more fitting in the context.

7
ElectricVocalist jlai.lu Mubelotix@jlai.lu
Joined: 2023-07-02
#42 · Quote Reply

"Seio" in Portuguese means "breast" and is used to refer to boobs.

Yes, seio can mean breast in Portuguese, but that's clearly not what it means in this context. It's being used figuratively to mean "within" or "at the heart of", just like sein in French.

A word having multiple meanings doesn't make them interchangeable. Translating seio as "boobs" here is simply a mistranslation, regardless of whether it makes a funny joke.

10
Successful_Try543 feddit.org Successful_Try543@feddit.org
Joined: 2024-06-22
#43 · Quote Reply

The first two stanzas of "the song of the Germans" doesn't mention it either I think. The third stanza (which is the national anthem in its entirety) is more aspirational than a look back on history. "Unity and Justice and Freedom... Let's strive for that... May it blossom in the light of this happiness" and so on. Austria is painted red tho.

Austria is painted red tho.

Despite their "Bundeshymne" does not contain the word "Blut".

2
Floodedwomb lemmy.world Floodedwomb@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-09-05
#44 · Quote Reply

I heard that we were able to identify spies because of this. Apparently they were taught the full anthem whereas Americans do not recite the full one. It's funny to imagine these spies thinking they're absolutely killing it and the Americans looking at each other like "we gotta get rid of them, huh".

The full length is the poem, the anthem is just the first verse.

5
Wildmimic anarchist.nexus Wildmimic@anarchist.nexus
Joined: 2025-09-05
#45 · Quote Reply

The Austrian anthem doesn't mention blood anywhere. It mentions "heart", as in "in the heart of Europe"

Yep, unless they count Austrias "secret anthem" by Reinhardt Fendrich - I am from Austria, which references blood.

10
inari piefed.zip inari@piefed.zip
Joined: 2026-02-07
#46 · Quote Reply

Yes, seio can mean breast in Portuguese, but that's clearly not what it means in this context. It's being used figuratively to mean "within" or "at the heart of", just like sein in French. A word having multiple meanings doesn't make them interchangeable. Translating seio as "boobs" here is simply a mistranslation, regardless of whether it makes a funny joke.

This is a meme sub

-1
Akasazh lemmy.world Akasazh@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-24
#47 · Quote Reply

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/portuguese-english/seio has breast as the first translation. Also, even in English, "bosom" is generally taken to be the polite way to say breast 99% of the time even if it /can/ mean the chest area. I think you're just being contrarian.

'bosom' is unisex tho, men have chests too, but not boobies

8
EtnaAtsume lemmy.world EtnaAtsume@lemmy.world
Joined: 2023-07-07
#48 · Quote Reply

I am much disappoint. Looking it up, I find that Brazil has four songs: the national anthem, the anthem of the republic, the flag anthem, and the anthem of independence. None of them mention boobs, and one of them does mention blood.

You mean my unsourced internet meme was misleading, uninformed, or otherwise inaccurate? The idea of it! Next you'll tell me not to form an opinion on headlines alone!

16
soupcon lemmy.blahaj.zone soupcon@lemmy.blahaj.zone
Joined: 2026-10-12
#49 · Quote Reply

And the second is heart, which is much more fitting in the context.

You might read it that way, but it doesn't make the other reading wrong the way that user SwingingTheLamp was suggesting.

-3
soupcon lemmy.blahaj.zone soupcon@lemmy.blahaj.zone
Joined: 2026-10-12
#50 · Quote Reply

'bosom' is unisex tho, men have chests too, but not boobies

Ok, try complimenting a man on his bosom and see how he reacts.

1
ddh lemmy.sdf.org DarkDarkHouse@lemmy.sdf.org
Joined: 2023-06-10
#51 · Quote Reply

Ok, try complimenting a man on his bosom and see how he reacts.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosom_of_Abraham_(song)

6
Post Reply Page 1 of 3   Goto page 1, 2, 3 Last »
Back to top