You might or might not be used to belting out patriotic songs. But no coronation street party is complete without a lusty singalong. To give you a few ideas of what to sing next weekend (it's been a while, after all, since our last coronation), check out our top ten list of patriotic songs below.
Best songs for Coronation street parties
I Vow to Thee, My Country
It started life as a poem by Sir Cecil Spring Rice, who served as Ambassador to the USA and encouraged Woodrow Wilson’s administration to join in the First World War against Germany. But it is arguably the music - namely the central melody from the ‘Jupiter’ movement of Holst’s 1917 suite The Planets - that makes the hymn 'I Vow to Thee, My Country' so famous.
According to his daughter Imogen, Holst was very ‘over worked and over weary’ when he agreed to set the poem to music: in addition to his composing commitments, he was director of music at St Paul’s Girls’ School in Hammersmith. So, said Imogen: ‘he felt relieved to discover the words “fitted” the tune from Jupiter.’
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2. Rule, Britannia!
If you want a bit of punch in your pageantry, you’ve got to have 'Rule, Britannia!' In recent times, Thomas Arne’s rousing 1740 song has come under fire from those concerned about its links to colonialism and slavery.
In September 2020, the BBC even announced that it would not have it sung at the The Last Night of the Proms. But the result was a backlash that even involved members of parliament, with then-Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden saying: ‘Confident, forward-looking nations don’t erase their history, they add to it.’
The BBC later reversed its decision, saying its original plan was inspired by Covid-19 restrictions. The song is an institution.
Land of Hope and Glory
The tune came from Edward Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance No.1, and was fitted, in 1902, to lyrics by A.C Benson on the suggestion of King Edward VIII, who believed the melody would make a great song.
The result was one of the most famous British songs of all time: a pillar of British patriotism, which still manages to make grown men weep. It also forms a basis for a football chant
Here are the lyrics to 'Land of Hope and Glory'.
Jerusalem
The hymn Jerusalem was probably the most famous thing that Hubert Parry ever composed. This beautiful hymn takes its words from a poem by William Blake, which caught the composer’s attention when it was included as a patriotic poem in a 1916 collection for a country at war.
Usually performed in an 1922 arrangement by Edward Elgar, it’s a fixture at The Last Night of the Proms, a staple at weddings, and just the sort of thing to get the lungs going at a coronation party.
There’ll be Bluebirds over the White Cliffs of Dover
The singer Vera Lynn - commonly known as the ‘Forces’ Sweetheart’ - made this song famous when she sang it in 1942. But it was written by Walter Kent following the Battle of Britain in 1940, when the Royal Air Force and German Luftwaffe had been fighting over southern England (hence the ‘White Cliffs of Dover’).
At a time when neither America nor the Soviets had yet joined the war, it boosted morale with its promise of a time when the war would be over and peace would rule over the white cliffs. It still serves as a symbol of hope.
We’ll meet again
Dame Vera Lynn’s signature song, ‘We’ll meet again’ captured the optimism of wartime Britain when the singer recorded in 1939. Although some might see it as a product of its time, the song had something of a renaissance during the pandemic in 2020, thanks to the Queen herself, who, in her television address to the nation, referenced its very human message: ‘We will be with our friends again. We will be with our families again. We will meet again.’
So we could easily imagine crooning this one at a street party, or at least once we're a few sheets to the wind.
There’ll always be an England
Written by Ross Parker and Hughie Charles on the cusp of the outbreak of the Second World War, ‘There’ll always be an England' is perhaps the most overtly patriotic song in Vera Lynn’s discography.
Such an uninhibited outpouring of love for England might seem quite unEnglish in an ironic sort of way. But if you can’t do it at a coronation party then when can you?
Abide with Me
Though universal in its appeal and message, many of us associate William Henry Monk’s hymn 'Abide with Me' with Britishness and British ceremony: it was, after all, sung at the funeral of King George V, as well as the wedding of Queen Elizabeth II, not to mention every FA Cup Final since 1927. So it's very possible we’ll hear a few renditions of it over the next weekend.
Over the Hills and Far Away
Dating back to at least the 17th century, this song has evolved a great deal over the years, and has been sung in several different versions - the only consistent elements being the title and tune.
Of these versions, the most likely candidate for a coronation street party goes like this: ‘When duty calls me I must go | To stand face another foe | But part of me will always stray | Over the hills and far away.’
I Love this Land
It’s only three years since Vera Lynn died at the age of 103. Throughout her long career she remained one of the country’s most powerful symbols of resilience. Even in 2009, aged 92, she topped the British album chart, outselling both the Arctic Monkeys and the Beatles.
So perhaps it’s fitting that the last song on this list should be her last single: ‘I Love this Land’ – released in 1982 to mark the end of the Falklands War.
