I’ve always thought the US national anthem to be a bit of a dirge. Maybe it is because the anthem is generally heard being brutally slaughtered by some wailing Mariah Carey-wannabe, or worse, Mariah Carey herself.

On their recent historic visit to North Korea, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra performed a rendition of The Star Spangled Banner. Given North Korea’s position as the world’s last Stalinist dictatorship and the United States’ self-styled role as the world’s flagship democracy, it’s stirring stuff. So stirring in fact that I found myself singing along at one point which is saying something given nobody ever knows the words.