"March On, Bahamaland" is the

national anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European n ...

the Bahamas The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to ...

. Timothy Gibson composed the music and authored the lyrics. It was adopted as the national anthem in 1973, when the country gained independence from the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. The previous anthem, "

God Save the King "God Save the King" is the national anthem, national and/or royal anthem of the United Kingdom, most of the Commonwealth realms, their territories, and the British Crown Dependencies. The author of the tune is unknown and it may originate in ...

", has been retained as the

royal anthem The anthem for a person, office or rank is music played on formal or ceremonial occasions in the presence of the person, office-holder, or rank-holder, especially by a military band. The head of state in many countries is honored with a prescribe ...

History

The Bahamas became a

crown colony A Crown colony or royal colony was a colony administered by The Crown within the British Empire. There was usually a Governor, appointed by the British monarch on the advice of the UK Government, with or without the assistance of a local Counci ...

within the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts esta ...

in 1717. Internal autonomy was eventually granted to the islands in 1964. Negotiations on independence commenced eight years later, when the

Progressive Liberal Party The Progressive Liberal Party (abbreviated PLP) is a populist and social liberal party in the Bahamas. Philip Davis is the leader of the party. History The PLP was founded in 1953 by William Cartwright, Cyril Stevenson, and Henry Milton Tay ...

emerged victorious in the 1972 elections after campaigning in favour of sovereignty. Consequently, a contest was held to determine an anthem for the forthcoming state. In the end, lyrics and music written by Timothy Gibson were selected. Gibson was a school music teacher and also wrote the music to the country's national song, " God Bless Our Sunny Clime", together with E. Clement Bethel. The song was officially adopted in 1973, the year the country gained independence. One of the first public occasions where the anthem was played was at the midnight flag hoisting ceremony held at

Clifford Park Clifford may refer to: People *Clifford (name), an English given name and surname, includes a list of people with that name *William Kingdon Clifford *Baron Clifford *Baron Clifford of Chudleigh *Baron de Clifford *Clifford baronets * Clifford fam ...

Nassau Nassau may refer to: Places Bahamas *Nassau, Bahamas, capital city of the Bahamas, on the island of New Providence Canada *Nassau District, renamed Home District, regional division in Upper Canada from 1788 to 1792 *Nassau Street (Winnipeg), ...

on 10 July 1973, marking the end of British rule over the Bahamas. Since the Bahamas continued to be a

Commonwealth realm A Commonwealth realm is a sovereign state in the Commonwealth of Nations whose monarch and head of state is shared among the other realms. Each realm functions as an independent state, equal with the other realms and nations of the Commonwealt ...

after independence, "God Save the Queen" was retained as the country's royal anthem. That anthem was twice played by mistake at the

1982 Commonwealth Games The 1982 Commonwealth Games were held in Brisbane, Australia, from 30 September to 9 October 1982. The Opening Ceremony was held at the QEII Stadium (named after Elizabeth II), in the Brisbane suburb of Nathan. The QEII Stadium was also the a ...

medal ceremony, when

Shonel Ferguson Shonel Laverne Ferguson MBE (born November 6, 1957, in Nassau) is a former track and field athlete from the Bahamas, who competed in the women's sprint and long jump events during her career. She is a three-time Olympian (1976, 1984 and 1988). ...

won gold in women's long jump. She stepped off the

podium A podium (plural podiums or podia) is a platform used to raise something to a short distance above its surroundings. It derives from the Greek ''πόδι'' (foot). In architecture a building can rest on a large podium. Podiums can also be used ...

on each occasion and expressed her wish that "March On, Bahamaland" be played. The officials realized that they did not have a recording of that song, so the Bahamian delegation sang their anthem themselves.

Lyrics

Source:

References

External links

Audio of "March On, Bahamaland", with information and lyricsarchive link

"March On, Bahamaland" MIDI
{{authority control Bahamian songs March music National anthems National symbols of the Bahamas North American anthems Year of song unknown