This episode is released on March 3 and that marks National Anthem Day in the United States, but this episode takes a journey across the pond to explore Scotland's unofficial national anthem, "Flower of Scotland." Patrick delves into the song's origins, crafted by Scottish songwriter Roy Williamson in the 1960s, and its rise to prominence amid Scotland's quest for national identity. The episode discusses the historical context of the Battle of Bannockburn, which inspired the anthem, and how it became a rallying cry for Scottish nationalism, particularly in the realm of rugby. Listeners will learn about the cultural significance of the song and its transition from a folk tune to a de facto anthem for Scotland. Through engaging storytelling, Patrick reflects on the emotional resonance of the lyrics and the unique journey that led "Flower of Scotland" to become a cherished symbol of Scottish pride and unity.

A couple of my favorite people come Scotland. James Clerk Maxwell, I did an undergrad in physics and have stood on this man's grave in Westminster. Billy Connelly, perhaps the funniest living person. And Michael Marshall of many things but I'll plug the Be Reasonable podcast, he is the most patient of men.

Here are my notes, hope you hear me again folks:

1. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-13520689 
2. https://web.archive.org/web/20090215011908/http://rsno.org.uk/cms/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=119&Itemid=1 
3. https://www.scotsman.com/sport/scottish-national-anthem-lyrics-and-origins-4280559 
4. https://web.archive.org/web/20060210055101/http://www.scottishtartans.org/tartan.html 
5. https://lyricstranslate.com/en/flower-scotland-flouer-o-scotland.html 
6. https://web.archive.org/web/20100829194041/http://www.corries.com/news.php 
7. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304090308/http://www.theballadeersscotland.com/scots/cft_01.htm 
8. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sportacademy/hi/sa/rugby_union/features/newsid_2650000/2650581.stm 
9. https://www.scotsman.com/whats-on/arts-and-entertainment/on-this-day-in-1990-flower-of-scotland-composer-roy-williamson-dies-1469958 
10. https://www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-70397 
11. https://www.historyscotland.com/history/corries-singer-roy-williamson-died-on-this-day-in-history/ 
12. https://www.heraldscotland.com/default_content/12431850.flower-scotland-first-choice-rsno-anthem-poll/ 
13. https://www.90min.com/posts/scotland-national-anthem-flower-of-scotland-lyrics-explained 
14. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/4837078.stm 
15. https://archive2021.parliament.scot/S4_PublicPetitionsCommittee/General%20Documents/PE1541_G_SFA_13.02.15.pdf 

https://www.jstor.org/stable/48578072

Hello, and welcome to the Anthems podcast. Hi, I'm Patrick, and I'm here to tell you the story of a song that helps to tell the story of a nation.

It kind of has nothing to do with the country and anthem that I'll be talking about, but my daughter let me know that it was the date, and it's a fun coincidence. So there you go. The country I'm talking about does have an official anthem, but it's God save the Queen, and this country is not England.

We are going to run into this situation three more times before we get to England, because I just decided that we're going to do that anyway.

This country is the country in the UK that is closest to England, and we're headed there on the show because my mother is taking a trip there on a plane, not like right now, but this year. So, at her request, we'll learn about Scotland.

But I didn't know that it was also going to be my first episode about a country with a de facto anthem. But first, what's a de facto anthem? And second, what does de facto even mean?

It strikes me that it's one of those terms that I learned about either reading it or in conversation, and only knew the meaning contextually in a dictionary. It means that something is a particular thing, even though it was not planned to be that thing.

So the working definition I had in my head wasn't, like, far off. Strikes me that a lot of anthems that are now official started off as de facto.

And it's another thing to add to the future list of stuff to read about.

It's also gotten me sufficiently far afield of my original reason for telling you about Flower of Scotland, which is an upcoming trip, that, despite the fact that I've been told about a great deal of it, all I can remember is that she'll be in Edinburgh at some point. Sorry, mom.

Interestingly enough, and coincidentally, this anthem is the second country in a row with a distinctive traditional dress containing a deep history that makes the tartan more than a piece of clothing. Just don't wear the balmoral pattern without the express permission of the sovereignty.

As far as playing this anthem goes, I have not asked the king's permission to play the song that you are about to hear.

Matter of fact, I didn't ask anybody for permission about this one and it's the first time that I am playing the original version of something verse in official version of the song.

But there is no official version of the song, and in this case we get to listen to the very first public performance of the anthem before it became what it is, even if the three minute and eleven second long song didn't have the third verse yet.

Ophelau Scott will we see your legs again that fought and died yet Helen Glen and stood against him lode Edwards on me and sent them home omar they think again the hills are bare now autumn lives all land that's been lost now which those so dearly held that stood against him o dead words on me unsentim hope they think again will we see your lights again that fandaip yet awake and stood against him loaded words on me unsem homeward.

My initial reaction is enjoyment. It's another pretty simple song.

It's two guys, a bad ran and a bouzouki, very clearly an acoustic folk song, and it's mostly what I play when I'm playing music myself. So something like this is completely in my wheelhouse and definitely goes on the playlist.

In the words of one of the artists, it got an archaic treatment to make a new song sound kind of ancient. Not so bad. I said earlier that Scotland shares an island with England, or I think I did. But that tells us nothing about where it is, does it?

I'm not going to tell you about lochs either, as the geography term today, even though I found out that it means lakes too, and not just an ocean inlet like I thought I instead I want to talk about the highlands of Scotland. They were formed through the caledonian orogeny, with the cambrian and precambrian rock. An orogeny is a mountain building process.

My non geologist understanding is that two plates meet, one of them crumbles on compression and up pops a mountain range over like millions of years. So more info that doesn't do much to nail down where Scotland is, but makes it geologically interesting visually.

It's easy to find Italy on a map of Europe, then go northeast to the coast up to the larger of the two islands off the coast off the coast of Europe. The northern third of that, plus many smaller islands, comprise the country of Scotland.

About 77,900 km², or 30,078 sq mi, is land and almost exactly the same size as Lake Victoria. You can get to Scotland from Lesotho on a plane, but it's something of a slug.

First you take an hour and a half flight to a major airport in Johannesburg, and from there you go eight and a half hours to Qatar, and then it's another 11 hours to get to Edinburgh. Gotta tell you, 23 hours on a plane means that I'm not making that trip with Scotland.

The written history of the country starts when the Romans came along and tried to make their empire a little bit bigger. This time, though, we have some really specific entry points into the story of the anthem.

The first happens second in the actual historical timeline and involves the man responsible for flower of Scotland. The second part we'll get to after I tell you about Mister Roy Murdoch Buchanan Williamson.

This, understandably, led to a period of uncertainty in Roy's life, and that was ended by being sent to a boarding school. There he received a pretty good education and he also gained a love of rugby and sailing.

He was also banned from music class because it was discovered that he was playing the recorder by ear and not learning music. It's a monster that I have yet to defeat as well, so I get it.

Thankfully for Scotland and my narrative, this is also when Roy began to get seriously interested in music.

Williamson had always been a musical kind of guy and attended many concerts with his mother, while seeming to possess a natural ability to play instruments, particularly stringed ones. Soon after getting started with the guitar, he was performing live for an art school skiffle group.

Skiffle is a sort of pared down rhythmic folk blues, and the UK loved it in the mid fifties. In fact, it was some of what the quarry men played, although that band is better known for its members than its music.

There was a falling out in the group and Roy ended up working in a duo with Ronnie Brown, the aforementioned rugby Buddy. They were called the Quarries.

He also spent the sixties learning the bad rand, the concertina, the flute, the tin whistle, northumbrian pipes and like five different stringed instruments. Then he built two custom instruments called the combo lens, that developed a distinctive musical and performative style with them.

And Flower of Scotland is written about and inspired by the events surrounding the battle of Bannockburn. We'll hear about that battle from the Middle Ages.

While Roy playing the bouzouki, and myself the bad rain in front of Ruthven barracks in the north of Scotland. It gave it a somewhat archaic treatment, perhaps to make a new song sound a bit more ancient.

From there, the song became very popular, and I think it might be the only anthem that someone listening to this show might have seen at a concert, just as part of a set list.

Unless traditional sounding music is an anathema to you. Or maybe you just don't like this song, which is fine too, because sometimes you don't.

The song became popular in concert with the rise of the Scottish National Party or the SNP.

Despite the original patriotic and not exactly political intent of the tune, the rousing call for scottish nationhood in the song, along with both members of the band actually supporting the SNP in the seventies led to the song being perceived as a party anthem, whether or not they had intended it to be one. What really made the flower of Scotland famous, though, was scottish rugby guy mister Billy Steele of the British Lions.

He took the song with him on the victorious tour of South Africa that the team had. The Scots on the team were so into the song that they talked everybody on the team, including english and irish folks, to sing it.

When they got voted as team of the year, they sang it live on the BBC.

That year, the Scottish Rugby Union decided that they needed a new song before the games because it turns out the Scottish arent huge fans of God save the Queen, with several sources referring to the pre game atmosphere as hostile.

The fans wanted something that was undeniably scottish, and enough people remembered the success of the team with Roy's song as the game opener that the league heeded the call. I suspect that if the team had not won against the English at Murray Field that year, the song might not have been chosen.

Williamson was proud of the song's rise to rugby anthem he played in college and continued to be a great fan of the sport throughout his life.

That's the song that, if you're in the western world, might be the only bagpipe tune that you know. But that was the victory anthem for the country in the Commonwealth Games.

But that's another rat's nest of reading and history that I just can't touch, even though it sounds like a fascinating thing to find out.

So the parliament asked the Scottish Football association for their fans input, finding overall that only about 55% of respondents were in favor of officially recognizing the song as the anthem.

A couple of months later, the matter was officially closed as something that shouldn't be led by the government, but rather decided informally over time.

And that represents the latest information I was able to find on the Internet regarding the state of Scotland's national anthem, leaving us with Flower of Scotland as the reigning de facto anthem for the nation. So on to the song itself.

Musically speaking, Flower of Scotland is, as originally conceived, a fairly straightforward and nearly simple scottish folk song. It's a verse chorus format song typically played in bb major.

Honestly, I'm going to read the lyrics out in the original English, and then I get to tell you about a 14th century battle that has nothing to do with William Wallace O flower of Scotland.

When will we see your like again that fought and died for your wee bit of hill and glen and stood against him proud Edward's army and sent him homeward tae think again the hills are bare now and autumn leaves lie thick and still o'er land that is lost now which those so dearly held death stood against him prowed Edward's army and sent him homeward tae think again those days are past now and in the past they must remain but we can still rise now and be the nation again and then the chorus the song is directly inspired by the battle of Bannockburn, my so called second entry point into the timeline.

I mean, as far as battle goes, it's a pretty good one, but it's straying off the intended path for me. So broad strokes here.

King Edward went north to invade Scotland and deal with them once and for all with something on the order of 20,000 troops, more than twice the size of Bruce's amassed defenders, and they were absolutely trounced by the Scottish. Edward escaped with his life, but more than 10,000 english soldiers didn't.

It seems like an impossible number to die in a mostly on foot, hand to hand combat situation.

Immediately following the battle, it led to the surrender of two castles that were strategically important to England.

In that document, the british crown finally recognizes independent Scotland and acknowledges Bruce and his heirs as the rightful rulers of the nation. But our de facto anthem isn't just about the battle, at least based on the lyrics and how it feels.

In fact, I don't think the song would be as popular and as good as it was or is if it was only about a battle.

And I suspect that I'd be talking about a different tune entirely if I didn't have this other set of anthem esque qualities that I'm still trying to figure out how to define clearly. The song begins by addressing the country metaphorically as a flower and expressing a longing for something in the past.

There are the aforementioned specific references to Bannockburn, but there are some broader references to the people, and it's a pretty good patriotic rallying cry. Roy uses symbolism and imagery to invoke the natural beauty of the country and the strength and resilience of the scottish people.

It's fun that completely without meaning to write a national anthem, he kind of nailed the assignment. The lyrics evoke a range of emotions such as praise, nostalgia, and determination.

He evokes a celebration of history and culture that expresses longing for some restoration of glory. It very much has the sometimes overt nationalistic sentiment that I've come to expect in an anthem.

It is pretty good and largely organic choice for this tune, and I suspect it will win out in the end. The song is not without its criticisms, though, and I'm not surprised that an unsettled thing has humans debating about it.

But maybe it would be a surprise if there were a thing that we universally agreed on. Fun thought, but that's another one that requires an entire podcast.

One of the criticisms that rings a little hollow for me because it's an anthem, is the song refers to things in the past and not aspirations for the future of the country and the people. Lots of anthems do that, like a bunch of them.

The great past accomplishments that shall be lived again by the nation works well as material for a national anthem, as far as I can tell.

One that is more to the point is that the song has some odd vocal timing going on, with a little bit of a pause and some short lines, making it easy for the thing to get away from you if you're not paying attention.

It's not a big deal for a solo performer or a practice group, but I've seen videos of a few crowds of soccer fans that just completely lose the thing. But that's fine though, because I am not a trained singer either, and those people were probably having an amazing time at the game.

However, I do know that I have told you everything I can tell you about this anthem. It was, again, a different kind of a story, told in what I hope is becoming a familiar and evolving style of narrative, something or other.

Well, I've learned a lot this time, as usual, and I hope you have as well. That is literally the goal here, because why else would I be doing this? Even if it strikes me that here we don't really get that grand of a tale.

Roy wrote a song that checked off a lot of boxes for him and a lot of boxes for national anthems.

He really loved his country and he wrote music that honors the musical traditions and that comes through especially strongly in the flower of Scotland. But despite being about a great victory in war, there is not a revolution that serves as our backdrop.

We're not learning about a country that existed because of Napoleon or Stalin or Hitler or the Romans.

It's just something that rugby players were really into, and maybe a bunch of people were relieved that it wasn't God save the queen and that it had words to accompany the music. So let's get through the credits and I'll get to writing for the next one.

The writing, recording and production for the show are done by me, and I wrote and played the theme music and used it with my permission. Unless otherwise noted, the anthems I play are public domain or some other equivalently free to play license.

And indeed, here I am noting that I did not get permission to play that song. I'm hoping to sail through any potential trouble because I'm using it in an educational context and I'm definitely not making any money.

Guys, my sources and the specific items I mentioned in the show are contained in the notes for the show, and the most direct way to get to the notes for the show is@anthemspodcast.com you can find me on Facebook and WhatsApp as the Anthems podcast, although I realize I have no idea what WhatsApp actually is. Or maybe someday somebody will make a TikTok for me. Kids like anthems, right?

So for now, I try to get the episodes shared on whatever platform I can with the hashtag hash anthemspod, and it would be cool if you hashtag stuff like that too.

You can email me corrections, comments, concerns, suggestions, ideas, instructions on how to do awesome things and even ask me questions@anthemspodcastmail.com.

Or maybe tell the person that makes you coffee some facts about a song you've learned from me. I bet they like facts, too. And also, I've decided that I'll take requests because I can't think of a reason not to.

So if you have any, probably the best way to get them to me is through the email@anthemspodmail.com. but even if you just keep listening every now and then, thank you and I hope you enjoyed it.