That all-too-familiar patriotic ode that Shakespeare put into John of Gaunt's mouth in Richard II was glorious bluster – and Shakespeare's history plays are the most brilliant agitprop ever written, not to a say fine case of what Giovanni Giolitti, the Italian prime minister early last century, tellingly called "beautiful national legends".
The requisite speeches were delivered, and all shivered at attention as the local marching band wrestled gamely with the European Anthem (more familiar as Beethoven's "Ode to Joy").
The ode is deservedly and indelibly familiar, which enables us to appreciate the deflating distortions visited upon it in its latest incarnation.
Typically of Barry, familiar melodies are plundered, including Beethoven's Ode to Joy and It's a Long Way to Tipperary.
Then the harpist took her turn, and she, too, played well-loved music that was deeply familiar—"Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring," "Ode to Joy, Brahmss's "Lullaby". A woman in a blue cardigan knew the words to Brahms's "Lullaby," and sang along in a strong alto voice.
Fans of Le Guin's fiction will recognize some familiar themes in So Far So Good — particularly, reverent odes to animals (mythical and real) and the unfathomable mysteries of the natural world.
Whether or not you're familiar with the French-Canadian artist, this is a beautiful ode to her trailblazing work.
The alterations further transform the poem into bin Laden's own personal victory ode, wrought in a style that would be familiar to anyone versed in the golden age of Arabic literature.
The set is spiced with familiar numbers from the new album, older songs like Babylon, an ode to a suburban drag queen, and an amazing sampling of rockified blues numbers from Dolls favourites Sonny Boy Williamson and Willie Dixon.
When television commercials sample classical music, they tend to recycle a few woefully familiar pieces: the Pachelbel Canon, "Carmina Burana," "La donna è mobile," the "Ode to Joy".
