Glasgow to hear English anthem

Published on Tuesday 13 January 2009 19:08

SCOTS have agonised for years over what song could provide a suitable national anthem. Opinions have swung from the Corries' rousing Flower of Scotland, with its defiance of the English armies, to more traditional words like Robert Burns's A Man's a Man for A' That.

But when one of England's leading acoustic bands heads to Glasgow for the Celtic Connections festival this month, they will bring with them a song billed increasingly as a national tune for the English. The single Roots, from the band Show of Hands, written by frontman Steve Knightley, has been played at rugby and football clubs, extensively on BBC radio, at St George's Day celebrations and even Druids' gatherings.

"I've lost St George and the Union Jack. That's my flag too and I want it back," the lyrics state. It is hardly a call to arms, however. Roots bemoans the lack of English musical heritage and identity against that of Celtic and other nations.

"And we oughta be ashamed of all we walk, Of the way we look, at the way we talk, without our stories or our songs," the song says.

Knightley was inspired to write Roots after the former culture minister, Kim Howells, said his idea of hell was listening to second-rate English folk singers in the pub.