Spain to include lyrics to National Anthem

Spanish King Felipe VI has sent out a nation-wide request seeking for song writers who can pen lyrics to the national anthem. In an address to the nation last night, the King had this to say:

“Greetings my dear subjects and fellow compatriots of this great nation. I, King Felipe find that it is necessary to speak to you about this issue that has been troubling me for years and I think that it's about high time that I bring it to the public’s attention.”

The Monarch went on:

“As you know, our country Spain is a proud nation with a great history of conquests and while I must admit that a lot of atrocities were committed by the Conquistadors, it is worth noting that we were not the only European power whose responsible for such acts. It is because of our country’s history of conquests that the Spanish language became one of the most commonly spoken languages in the world today. Second only to Chinese. The Spanish language and elements of our culture and customs are predominant in the majority of South and Central America. And it is because of the Spaniards that Central America and most of South America moved from being a primitive society to a more modernized and efficient one and because of this we are very proud.”

King Felipe continued:

“But apart from our proud history of military conquests, Spain has also been successful in other areas as well - most notably in sports. Our very own Rafael Nadal is today considered the greatest clay court player in the history of tennis and he has won a record nine French Open titles. It is a record that will most likely never be beaten by anyone else other than Nadal himself if he can win the tenth one when the men’s final is played on June 11th. And of course our great national football team, more commonly known as La Furia Roja once dominated on the world stage when they captured the World Cup in South Africa in 2010, sandwiched between consecutive Euro wins in 2008 and 2012 respectively. And even though they have since surrendered those titles, the team is still considered among the best in the world.”

The King proceeded:

“But in spite of all this, there is something quite disturbing that I observe whenever the national football team takes to the field before they play or when Rafael Nadal wins the French Open and that is the non-singing of the national anthem because it has no official lyrics which to me is very silly. What is even worse is when I hear proud Spanish spectators who want to sing along to the anthem but all they have to say is: “la la la.” Frankly speaking this is quite embarrassing and unacceptable. So it is on this note that I declare an open competition to all songwriters and lyricists throughout the country to write and submit appropriate lyrics to accompany the music of the national anthem. That said, only the ten best will be shortlisted with only one entry per songwriter and the winner will be declared on June 1st - ten days before our national football team takes the field away to Macedonia in their World Cup Qualifier. This leaves La Furia Roja just over a week to memorize the lyrics to the anthem. So they are all depending on you. And do remember my dear subjects; absolutely no nationalist lyrics will be tolerated. Your song will be discarded."

He concluded:

"The winning songwriter will be given a two million euro prize. He or she will also be awarded the Order of Arts and Letters of Spain and his or her name will go down in Spanish history forever. So all who want to be a part of Spanish history, this is your big chance. Thank you my dear subjects. Good night and may the best songwriter win.”