I Vow to Thee, My Country
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I Vow to Thee, My Country is a British patriotic song and Anglican hymn. The lyrics were written by Cecil Spring-Rice in 1918 after World War I. In 1921, the music of "Jupiter" from Gustav Holst's Planets Suite was added. The tune is also known as Thaxted.
The first verse is a reference to Britain and the sacrifice of those who died during the First World War. The second verse is a reference to Heaven.
Spring Rice wrote the words for the hymn as a poem in 1908 whilst posted to the British Embassy in Stockholm. Then called ‘Urbs Dei’ or ‘The Two Fatherlands’, the poem described how a Christian owes his loyalities to both his homeland and the heavenly kingdom. At that time, the first verse glorified warfare in a manner common to the bellicose patriotism at the beginning of the Great War.
In 1912, he was sent to Washington DC as Ambassador to the United States of America where he worked to influence the administration of Woodrow Wilson to abandon neutrality and join Britain and her Empire in the war against Germany. After the Americans entered the war, Spring Rice was recalled to Britain. Shortly before his departure from the US in January 1918, he re-wrote and renamed Urbs Dei, significantly altering the first verse to concentrate on the huge losses suffered by British soldiers during the intervening years.
In 1925, Gustav Holst set the words to music, likely influenced by his daughter who had attended the same school, St Paul's Girls' School in London, as Spring Rice's daughter. The hymn became a common element at Armistice memorial ceremonies at this time.
In August 2004, the Right Reverend Stephen Lowe, Bishop of Hulme, called for the first verse of the hymn to be removed from Church of England services, calling it "totally heretical". He believed it placed national loyalties above religious ones and encouraged racism and an unquestioning support of governments. His words sparked a debate on the wider implications of the hymn.
Diana, Princess of Wales, requested this hymn be sung at her wedding, saying that it had "always been a favourite since schooldays". It was also sung at her funeral in 1997.
There is also a little-known third verse, dealing with the death of the 'country' mentioned in the first verse, which was not considered suitable for the English hymn-books and so was omitted. This arguably counters the argument by the Bishop of Hulme of its racism as it implies that the Earthly kingdom does not last, whereas the heavenly does.
[edit] Commercial uses
A variation of the tune is entitled "The World in Union", and is a theme for the Rugby World Cup.
The song appears in Voice of an Angel, the debut album of Charlotte Church. It also appears in the album 'G4 and Friends' by the X Factor group G4.
After winning the 2005 Ashes the English cricket team did backing vocals for the song, sung by Keedie, as a B-Side to the cricketing favourite Jerusalem.
The song is sung by the boys Choir Libera on their CD . Libera
[edit] Lyrics
- I vow to thee, my country, all earthly things above,
- Entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love;
- The love that asks no question, the love that stands the test,
- That lays upon the altar the dearest and the best;
- The love that never falters, the love that pays the price,
- The love that makes undaunted the final sacrifice.
- And there's another country, I've heard of long ago,
- Most dear to them that love her, most great to them that know;
- We may not count her armies, we may not see her King;
- Her fortress is a faithful heart, her pride is suffering;
- And soul by soul and silently her shining bounds increase,
- And her ways are ways of gentleness, and all her paths are peace.
