Sailors in this country — even before it was Canada — have been marching to the stirring, patriotic sounds of Heart of Oak for more than 200 years.
But the official march of the Royal Canadian Navy looks set to get its marching orders in the name of wokeism. The navy’s top brass have been looking for several years to replace the tune with something more inclusive, reported the Globe and Mail Thursday.
Themes in the song are apparently too upsetting for senior leaders who want to address the “micro-aggressions of exclusion at each mess dinner, parade and concert,” according to a briefing note seen by the paper.
Ah, yes. We wouldn’t want the men and women of the navy subject to something so harmful as microaggressions.
Most of the sailors probably don’t give a hoot about the lyrics to the march and the top brass shouldn’t either.
To concentrate on the words is to miss the more important aspect of the march: tradition. Tradition is important because it reminds us of our history, good and bad; it fosters continuity, bonding, fellowship and belonging.
Are the words outdated? Of course — they were written in the 18th century. But that doesn’t make the march irrelevant.
Heart of Oak is perhaps the most famous work of the 18th-century English composer William Boyce. The lyrics were written by 18th-century English actor David Garrick for his pantomime Harlequin’s Invasion and performed for the first time in London in 1760.
It is the official march of the British Royal Navy as well as Canada’s.
The first verse appears to be particularly troublesome for the navy heads:
“Come, cheer up, my lads, ’tis to glory we steer,
To add something more to this wonderful year;
To honour we call you, as free men not slaves,
For who are so free as the sons of the waves?”
The “wonderful year” was 1759. The song celebrates a number of British victories at the time, including the Battle of the Plains of Abraham outside Quebec City.
Vice-Admiral Angus Topshee, commander of the navy, told the Globe and Mail that it wasn’t such a wonderful year if you were francophone or Indigenous. True, but that’s the thing with wars: there tends to be winners and losers. Are there to be no commemorations? Like inept and concussed hotel owner Basil Fawlty, are we not to mention “the war”? And do we really need to be this fragile and sensitive about an event that happened 265 years ago?
Also upsetting is the word “slaves” because, apparently, it’s a painful reminder that the British navy was still involved in the slave trade in 1759. But might not the word also conjure up the memory that Britain abolished slavery in 1807?
And if we are talking about slavery and the navy, might the word not also remind us of that other age-old tradition: the press gang where men were forced into service against their will? Or are we not to mention that as well?
Then there are all those masculine references in the lyrics: “my lads,” “sons of the waves,” “jolly Tars are our men” and “steady, boys, steady.”
A 2021 briefing note seen by the Globe said the lyrics reveal the demographics of the navy at that time (no women) and do not “reflect the Royal Canadian Navy or its evolving values.”
To repeat: the march was written in the 18th century, so yes, it probably doesn’t reflect today’s navy. But if it’s evocative of the history of the navy, then that is not a bad thing.
Do we really need to interpret all song lyrics literally? Just because the song does not mention women specifically does not mean it is deliberately exclusive and sexist. If everything must be reflective of “today” then there would be no traditions at all.
It’s doubtful that sailors today are called “jolly Tars” but that’s not a good enough reason to ban the song.
Meanwhile, the Royal Canadian Navy has more pressing matters to concentrate on.
It was only last year that Topshee said that the navy was in “critical shape” with some occupations suffering shortages of 20 per cent.
The navy’s Halifax-class frigates are at the end of their lives but will have to serve another 15 years because we can’t build ships fast enough.
Canada’s ageing, leaking submarines spend more time out of the water than in it. The navy’s new patrol ships have problems with significant flooding.
As Topshee told the Globe, replacing Heart of Oak is not his most urgent priority.
Frankly, it shouldn’t even be on the agenda. Let’s get the ships fixed, the sailors hired and the woke nonsense sent to the bottom of the sea.
National Post