Here's another good one I just found. (I can't answer my own question so I have to put it in a comment somewhere.)

Finland national anthem:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSlAuPOUew4

Some people have proposed replacing it with Finlandia:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XojVmivqDrA

And surely South Africa has to be in the running.... wow...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pVfhd1tLdU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXKur2FAN7g

I wondered if people would just all choose their own anthems!

Objectively, I like the way the Canadian anthem starts, but then for me it all gets a bit too Disneyfied.

Hard to rate it as the best in comparison to things like the Marsellaise.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4K1q9Ntcr5g

I'm Canadian and I love my country's anthem too, but I still get shivers when the patrons of Rick's Cafe in Casablanca sing La Marseillaise to drown out the singing of the German occupiers. I agree with philipy (except for the Disneyfied part).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iYbEPZVVIA

Yep, great scene.

But I like the Canadian National anthem. The Marsellaise is a fine anthem for France, totally inappropriate for Canada though. In the context of singing it in Rick's cafe it's great but singing it at a baseball game remembering how your ancestors overthrew the despotic King and his cake hating wife, meh.

No one is suggesting that Canada should adopt the Marsellaise. :)

Though for all I know there are people in Quebec that would love it.... :)

But I didn't ask what you love, or what would be a good anthem for Canada. I asked what's the best / worst / most appropriate / least appropriate national anthem.

It'll be interesting to see if people can put aside their emotional attachments to evaluate the music itself.

I agree it's hard to have words for an anthem that make equal sense at a major state occasion and a baseball game. And it's hard for a country that has had the same anthem for hundreds of years, like France, to have lyrics that aren't somewhat out of touch with the 21st century.

Anyway, I like your answer, and I really appreciate the effort you put into finding vids for us. So far this is the best answer.

The point I was trying to make was that anthems can't really be looked at in the abstract. They attempt to define a country is a song. They try to encapsulate the history and hope of a group of people.

The Unofficial Quebec National anthem.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdf9aqRk--0
another song that Quebec Nationalists have taken close to their heart, performed in French by the Russian Red Army Choir
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-0daqEDLZg

both of these have no meaning for you and I but are extremely meaningful to many people of Quebec.

and the Monarchists would string me up if I didn't include the anthem of Her Majesty Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, Ireland and the British Dominions beyond the Seas Queen, Defender of the Faith, Duchess of Edinburgh, Countess of Merioneth, Baroness Greenwich, Duke of Lancaster, Lord of Mann, Duke of Normandy, Sovereign of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath, Sovereign of the Most Ancient and Most Noble Order of the Thistle, Sovereign of the Most Illustrious Order of Saint Patrick, Sovereign of the Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George, Sovereign of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, Sovereign of the Distinguished Service Order, Sovereign of the Imperial Service Order, Sovereign of the Most Exalted Order of the Star of India, Sovereign of the Most Eminent Order of the Indian Empire, Sovereign of the Order of British India, Sovereign of the Indian Order of Merit, Sovereign of the Order of Burma, Sovereign of the Royal Order of Victoria and Albert, Sovereign of the Royal Family Order of King Edward VII, Sovereign of the Order of Mercy, Sovereign of the Order of Merit, Sovereign of the Order of the Companions of Honour, Sovereign of the Royal Victorian Order, Sovereign of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of Jerusalem.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnuoGOo3Bew&feature=player_embedded
I must admit I luvs our Queen and her the U.K. has a great anthem too.

Maybe anthems can't be looked at "in the abstract" by you. :)

Btw, I also asked which anthems were most appropriate etc.

Maybe you'd like to argue that say "Holland has the best anthem because it captures the flatness of the landscape and is suitably bland and boring." No offence to the Dutch, I don't even know their anthem. :)

But you're like a guy whose answer to "The Most Beautiful Woman" is "my wife". Yes, we all know where you're coming from with that. But unless you're say Brad Pitt, we will also feel you have not understood the spirit in which the question was asked.

Please include a video if you want to have a shot at getting Best Answer. :)

Updated with video.

Nice rendition, thanks.

Low sound quality on the video, but this might be the best or most moving version of the Star Spangled Banner ever. Buckingham Palace after 9/11.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m24KmSCBbxM

Would you add a video or audio clip of India's anthem?

Here's one I think has a lot of passion. But I'm not familiar enough to know for sure...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3TtgYuaVFk

Haha yes! Good choice :)

So which is the best? The German?

And how about choosing a vid for us?

I'll add a vid for you. This is a rather good version of the German anthem:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFp0RsVCWQ0

Surely the US hasn't been any more involved in wars than most countries?

But it's quite a good point still. Anthems that sound like "Everything's so pretty, and we're all so lovely and nice" don't really fit so well with the history of most nations.