Released 1984 | Genre Show tunes | |
Writer(s) Tim Rice, Björn Ulvaeus Composer(s) Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson | ||
"Anthem" is a song from the concept album and subsequent musical Chess by Tim Rice, Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus. The song describes the feelings of Soviet Russian challenger, Anatoly Sergievsky, when he defects. The song was originally sung by Tommy Körberg on the original concept album and as Anatoly in the original West End cast. It was later covered by various artists including Josh Groban on his album Stages and Kerry Ellis.
Contents
Plot
Distracted by the loss of Florence's love, Freddie flounders in the chess tournament, leaving himself just one more loss away from losing his title. Florence leaves Freddie, who sends The Arbiter a letter of resignation, resulting in Anatoly's becoming the new world champion. Anatoly immediately defects from the Soviet Union and seeks asylum at the British embassy. Florence, accompanies Anatoly, reflecting on their newfound romance. Walter tips off the press about this scandal. When the mob of reporters ambush Anatoly to ask why he is deserting his country, he tells them in this song that he will never truly leave his country because his land's only borders lie around his heart.
Kerry Ellis version
Kerry Ellis, stage actress and singer, recorded a version of this song. Ellis' version, produced by Brian May, was released as a single on 12 December 2010. It was the second single to be released from her debut album Anthems.
Other cover versions
The song has been covered by other music artists including: