It is said to almost be a second anthem for Great Britain. Its popularity took off almost immediately after it was composed in 1740 by Thomas Arne...on lyrics written by James Thomson. George Frederich Handel composed a patriotic oratorio that included these lyrics...."Prophetic visions strike my eye....War shall cease....Welcome peace." Beethoven toyed with it....as did Richard Wagner and Sullivan....of Gilbert and Sullivan. It is truly very stirring when...."Rule.....Britania.....Britania Rules The Waves is sung.
The following is not stirring.....but rather unnerving.....a song in the middle of the Liza Minnelli musical.....Cabaret.....odd in that it won eight Academy Awards....but not Best Picture. Michael York and another man are sitting in a German countryside cafe when....another man....a young man as you see....breaks out into this song. The movie was released on September 13, 1972....six days before I got out of the army. I remember it well....as well as seeing the University of Pittsburgh Theater Arts Department choose it as their yearly offering at the Stephen Foster Memorial theater ....probably in 1975. The movie....and the play....have always....unnerved me!
Both nations....Great Britain and Germany....were rising to their apogee....or perceived apogee at the time. That seems to be where we in America perceive ourselves to be today. Certainly we thought that we were on February 4, of 2020....when Donald Trump gave the State of the Union address to an at times deliriously cheering Republican audience. God had other plans as the coronavirus was about to change the course of world history. Indeed....God gives warnings of such arrogance in Malachi 1:4....concerning the descendants of Esau....in Edom...."If Edom says, 'We are shattered but we will rebuild the ruins.' the LORD of hosts says, 'They may build, but I will tear down....'."
Music is powerful....that surely is no surprise to any readers here....but it is God who installs kings....and deposes kings....and raises nations....and brings nations down.
