“I’m a creep, I’m a weirdo.”

~Bangladesh’s National Anthem, Basically

For the past few weeks we’ve been looking at various National Anthems, and judging their lyrics in our own judgey way. We started off with those anthems that we deemed to be particularly “metal” because that’s by far the most fun thing to read, but there are all sorts of National Anthems out there. Some are origin stories. Some are proud. Some are, meh, boring (sup Canada).

But, notably, a lot are surprisingly depressing. Let’s all get sad together, shall we?

The National Anthems Of The World Series: Part 3- The Most Depressing National Anthem Lyrics

Armenia

Sample Lyrics:

Everywhere death is one

Man one time will die,

But it is wished that for his nation’s

Freedom he will sacrifice

Well that’s a bummer right out of the gate. Now, we now that Armenia has incredibly depressing food, but we didn’t realize it was that bad. We’re pretty sure that this is the only anthem that specifically makes a point to say, “Everyone you know and love, yourself included, will someday die.” That’s some straight up Flaming Lips shit. And that’s arguably not even the most depressing part of that song. That belongs to the following line.

Here it is brother, a flag

That I worked with my hand

At nights, I did not sleep

I washed it with tears

Jesus Christ, Armenia.

Bangladesh

Sample Lyrics: 

Oh mother mine, words from your lips

Are like nectar to my ears.

Ah, what a thrill!

If sadness, O mother mine,

Casts a gloom on your face,

My eyes are filled with tears!

What is the deal with all these countries singing about crying in their National Anthems? And this is how the anthem ends! So, comparison time, America ends their anthem with, “For the land of the free and the home of the brave” while Bangladesh ends theirs with, “My eyes are filled with tears!” Man.  Just, man.

Poland

Sample Lyrics: 

A father, in tears,

Says to his Basia:

“Listen, our boys are said

To be beating the tarabans.”

March, march…

Poland also decides to end their National Anthem with tears, but this time it’s not even the singer crying. Poland actually ups the ante by making it a father crying. That’s some Cat in the Cradle shit right there. For a country that tends to get hella patriotic, you’d think they’d go with something a bit more uplifting, but here we are.

Burma/Myanmar

Sample Lyrics: 

Until the world ends up shattering, long live Burma!

We love our land because this is our real inheritance.

Until the world ends up shattering, long live Burma!

We love our land because this is our real inheritance.

We will sacrifice our lives to protect our country,

This is our nation, this is our land and it belongs to us.

Burma literally calls their national anthem “Til the End of the World” which, again, maybe it’s just us, but talking about the world ending seems like just a downer all around.

Well, hold on, we’ve got one more round of depressing anthems ahead of us, before we close things off with countries that have, just, the lowest self-esteem. Stay tuned!