h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Families, friends and colleagues of Australians and New Zealanders killed in the US terrorist attacks gathered in New York on Friday to pray, grieve and comfort each other.

Episcopal, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu and Jewish faiths. They sang and spoke of peace and justice, of grief and comfort, of a quest for meaning in the inferno that engulfed the US on September 11. Clerics stood together and jointly bowed to the altar before filing out as the congregation sang the Ode to joy from Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.

The worshippers stood to jointly sing their national anthems. Australians led in singing, "Our land abounds in nature's gifts of beauty rich and rare. . ." The New Zealanders followed, guiding the congregation through 'God Defend New Zealand ... from the shafts of strife and war...'

Most people then had to refer to their programmes to follow the less familiar lyrics of America's Star-Spangled Banner. Their voices seemed to hesitate slightly as they came to the "rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air ..."

The US anthem is you have to admit, at least a bit stimulating,... one of the best. The French have a pretty good one too.

Rockets shooting off and canons blasting holes in things are great stuff for singing in rugby stadiums if you have any.

I agree. Both the Aussie and Kiwi anthems are pathetic.

Better choices are the unofficial ones. Waltzing Matilda for Aus and Ten Guitars (Englebert Humperdink's version) for NZ.

Yeh... We have "Oh Canada". It is actually a song written in French and I think sounds better in French. A bit slow like "God Save The Queen", we should mix it up a bit, add a scratch, some drums, throat singing from the arctic peoples, multiculturalism rules man..