Advancing Fair Australia, or The Other National Anthem

It's weird for me to be watching the Olympics in Australia. That regular old pride I feel during the Games, I realized, is intensified this time. The reasons for this are perhaps obvious. Suddenly, the U.S. isn't always on. The post-match/race/game interviews aren't with Americans. When an American wins, Channel 7 isn't very interested in sticking around for the medal ceremony and, thus, the Star-Spangled Banner.

Ah, the national anthem.

You know when you're doing something and a familiar song comes on and you either a) stop what you're doing and sing along to it or lip sync as the case may be or b) acknowledge silently to yourself that there is indeed a familiarity with the song and you just continue doing whatever it was you were doing?

Yesterday, I experienced B. The television was tuned to the Olympics, but, because either field hockey or handball or rhythmic gymnastics were on, I wasn't paying attention. The now-familiar "Advance Australia Fair," the national anthem of Australia, began to play in honor of the latest gold

medallist.

It's a familiar tune, of course, not because of the Olympics, but because I've been here a while now and I've heard it enough. When I first heard it, months ago when I first got here, I believed fully that it would never seep in. Such subtle changes in notes and what not. How odd it was, I thought, and, (gasp!) new! And, of course, I would never -- could never -- feel as comfortable with it as I do the Star-Spangled Banner, the words of which I must say I still tend to mangle every once in a while when I'm partaking in the aforementioned A. (That o'er always throws me off. Is it pronounced "oar" or as it looks "o-er"? One syllable or two?)

It wasn't until after a couple of notes that I stopped and considered the fact that I'm pretty used to the Australian anthem. I'm not saying I'm totally comfortable with it, but I will say that it's pretty ingrained. I've heard it enough. I hum along. And sometimes, much to the girl's dismay, I mumble along until the last, extended, word of the line is sung and then I sing that word as though I know what I'm doing. Until the next line begins and I begin mumbling again.

I am determined to memorize this so that I can actually lip sync or sing it. But I will never let it stand above the one I grew up with.