Song of the Day - 23rd April

Happy St. George's Day!

Of all the 77 songs in this collection, the one I am sharing with you today is one of my favourites. It almost wrote itself, seemingly springing from my pencil fully-formed! I wrote the whole thing in a single day - the quickest of all of them. I had visions the entire time of a whole football pitch of England fans singing this. Before you laugh, football took Nessun Dorma to its heart in 1990 - and that was chosen simply for the fact that the lyrics contain the word "vincerò" meaning "I will win" in Italian.

So, if there are any people out there on whichever committee chooses football theme tunes - check this one out for England's next big tournament!

I stole a tiny snippet of a very famous (public domain) hymn tune for part of this song - see if you can spot it!

St. George was not actually English. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the Roman army. Of Cappadocian Greek origin, he became a member of the Praetorian Guard for Roman emperor Diocletian, but was sentenced to death for refusing to recant his Christian faith.

The poem I have set is called The Englishman by G. K. Chesterton (1874 - 1936). Chesterton was a huge figure, both literally—standing 6 feet 4 inches (1.93 m) tall and weighing around 20 stone 6 pounds (130 kg; 286 lb)—and figuratively, in British late 19th and early 20th century literature. He wrote around 80 books, several hundred poems, some 200 short stories, 4,000 essays (mostly newspaper columns), and several plays.

He was a literary and social critic, historian, playwright, novelist, journalist, BBC broadcaster, Catholic theologian and apologist, debater, and mystery writer. He was a columnist for the Daily News, The Illustrated London News, and his own paper, G. K.'s Weekly; he also wrote articles for the Encyclopædia Britannica, including the entry on Charles Dickens and part of the entry on Humour in the 14th edition (1929).

This song is being beta tested by the Elmbridge Choir.

The Englishman

By G. K. Chesterton

St George he was for England,

And before he killed the dragon

He drank a pint of English ale

Out of an English flagon.

For though he fast right readily

In hair-shirt or in mail,

It isn't safe to give him cakes

Unless you give him ale.

St George he was for England,

And right gallantly set free

The lady left for dragon's meat

And tied up to a tree;

But since he stood for England

And knew what England means,

Unless you give him bacon

You mustn't give him beans.

St George he is for England,

And shall wear the shield he wore

When we go out in armour

With battle-cross before.

But though he is jolly company

And very pleased to dine,

It isn't safe to give him nuts

Unless you give him wine.