It all got quite religious when a digital music channel Music Choice yesterday asked listeners to vote for an English national anthem ('God Save The Queen is, of course, the British national anthem, though don't expect the Scots to join in). The overall winner with 51% of the vote was William Blake's hymn 'Jerusalem' - and it was followed by 'Abide with Me' and 'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot'. All three songs have associations with key English sport events of course ('Abide With Me' is traditionally played before the start of the FA Cup Final and the other two are favourites of supporters' of the England rugby team), which probably explains their popularity. Given that 'Candle In The Wind' comes in at 5 frankly we've no problem with 'Jerusalem'. The ten favourites were:
1. Jerusalem
2. Abide With Me
3. Swing Low Sweet Chariot
4. All You Need Is Love
5. Candle In The Wind
6. The Italian Job
7. Great Escape
8. Angels
9. Vindaloo
10. Wonderwall
Announcing the top 10 Music Choice executive Simon Bell commented: "It's odd that England doesn't have its own national anthem so we thought it would be intersting to see what the English public would want. Now the public have spoken, let's hope Jerusalem will be adopted as the true English national anthem."
Xfm's drive time show undertook a similar poll yesterday - their listeners opted for The Beatles' 'Penny Lane'.