Wednesday, July 05, 2006

singin' the Azzuri...

This morning I did a silly thing. I got up at 5am to watch some football. I wanted to see Germany exact some revenge for Australia on the Italians. Or maybe I just wanted to hear some German singing. There are German people I love to hear sing, but in hindsight it was very unlikely that they would be in Dortmund for the game. And even if they were, I don't think I would hear them anyway.
So, about 2 hours of playing time after I got up a goal was finally scored. Unfortunately it was by the Italians. To make sure of it they scored a second one a minute later and the game was over... If only Australia had managed to last out 'til extra time last week, we might've won and found ourselves in the last eight, then beaten Ukraine, Germany, and whoever wins tomorrow and being world champs! What ifs and might've beens. If only... if.. if... If my Grandmother had wheels, she'd be an omnibus....
Still, the singing lasted the whole game, although it was more Italianate rather than Germanic at the end. But soccer songs sound much the same whoever sings them, I think. Thousands of people in full voice, though not a lot of harmony. Singing on the train in Berlin was a wonderful experience (see a previous blog), the feeling of adding your voice to a whole and creating a sound that's bigger than all of you. And the pride of singing for your country in a foreign land is special too.
One day however I will sing with a vaster crowd, inumerable. With people of all nations,including Germans and Italians, singing a song with one accord. We sang 'Ich will von deine Liebe singen, immer von deine Liebe singen' and in English 'I will sing of your love forever..' and 'our God is an Awesome God' and felt a touch of the hereafter in the here and now. But to sing 'Holy Holy..' with the angels will beat anything.

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