Stand up for Singapore songs

JUST when everyone thought it was impossible, the folks behind this year's National Day Parade achieved a breakthrough: they managed to create a theme song that Singaporeans didn't hate.

Seriously, when was the last time an August 9 ditty wasn't flayed? Certainly not in this decade.

The re-worked We Are Singapore - composed in 1987 by Canadian ad man Hugh Harrison - features a new first verse by the ridiculously likable Charlie Lim: a feat in itself, when you consider how terribly peeved Singaporeans would've been, had the classic been butchered.

If the aim was to modernise a 31-year-old propaganda piece and turn it into a more relatable track for today's youth, Lim's additions seem right for the times. This is especially evident in the verse's closing lines: "How easy we …