They were not the easy-to-remember National Day anthems that I had learnt in my primary and secondary school days, such as Stand Up For Singapore, Count On Me, Singapore or We Are Singapore.

Instead, I recalled the sentimental ballad More Than Words, by the American band Extreme, along with other ballads popular at the time.

They reminded me of those occasions I heard them being played in an army cookhouse. The soothing tunes were a palliative to the hard training I was undergoing as a national serviceman.

I also sang Chinese pop star Faye Wong's I'm Willing (Wo Yuan Yi), which I have come to associate with Singapore's tropical thunderstorms. I once heard the wistful tune during a downpour and felt moved somehow as I watched the white sheet of rain blurring the view from the window.

You see, I had seen only light rain in Boston. I missed Singapore's heavy storms.

And no National Day song I knew then could evoke the same memories.

But that was then.

National Day songs have been changing with the times since Canadian composer-producer Hugh Harrison penned the rousing anthems of Stand Up For Singapore (1984), Count on Me, Singapore (1986) and We Are Singapore (1987). This year's selection on the airwaves is a case in point.

In the sentimental ballad There's No Place I'd Rather Be, home-grown singer Kit Chan tells of roaming the world from Cairo to Mumbai, LA to UK, only to realise she would rather be home with her family and friends.

The song taps into the softer, less overtly nationalistic theme of what Singapore means to its people as a home, one that had worked so well in the 1998 song Home, also sung by Kit Chan.

Subsequent songs - Where I Belong (2001) by Tanya Chua and My Island Home (2006) by Kaira Gong - played on the same idea of longing for home. Home was chosen again as the theme song in 2004, and rearranged for children's voices, because it had caught on with the masses.

Home hits the right notes, I reckon, not only because it is about home, but also because its words and tune communicate intimate sentimentality and beauty, never mind that it is a National Day song.

The second theme song for this year, Will You?, belongs to the other well-established repertoire of rousing, nationalistic anthems of the 1980s, as well as Together (2000), One United People (2003) and Reach For The Skies (2004).

It is fast-paced, with eight lead singers belting out questions: Will you swim the current? Will you scale new heights? Will you make it happen? Will you let your dreams take flight?

By posing questions instead of making declarative statements, Will You? is supposed to convey a less in-your-face feel.

Both of this year's theme songs also do not mention the 'S' word - Singapore - a noticeable trend in most of the songs written since 2000.

Will these newer, more subtle National Day songs resonate with Singaporeans?

People, especially children, do sing these songs with feeling during National Day, but it could be because of the judicious use of instrumentation, rhythms and climaxes, which can achieve a momentary high the same way movie music does in a film.

What about those verses or tunes that are unforgettable? For example, the opening lines to We Are Singapore: 'There was a time when people said that Singapore won't make it, but we did.'

For music has this ability to stick in one's memory, in the same way that it helps children remember the alphabet, or consumers an advertising slogan. But it does not mean the song resonates with me.

Or does a National Day song strike a chord because it evokes memories and expresses certain feelings?

That is the category to which More Than Words or I'm Willing belong. I sang these songs, but I could not recall half of the lyrics, nor did the words mean much to me.

The songs are sweet by association with my memories.

In the same vein, national songs of other countries acquire significance with time, as they become associated with historical events, traditions and the like.

Britain's unofficial national anthem, Rule Britannia, is more than two centuries old, while Australia's Waltzing Matilda, over one century.

To me, a National Day song would really resonate if I will sing it and mean every word I sing.

It helps if the lyrics are not contrived.

(In this year's ballad, Kit Chan sings: 'I've crossed the River Kwai, yet still I don't know why...' I do not think the River Kwai registers with most Singaporeans.

Another verse in the same song works far better: 'And even though I've roamed the world, it's still my home I long to see.' I can imagine Singaporeans uttering these words as increasing numbers of them study, work and live abroad.)

Whether a song resonates or not also has to do with what one thinks about one's country. For surely one cannot sing wholeheartedly about something which one does not believe in or appreciate.

So even though the songs have become more subtle and sophisticated at tugging at one's heartstrings, I do not think I can yet sing with conviction that Singapore 'will always be a part of me'.

Or that it is 'where dreams are born every day'.

Or that 'I never will forget her, nor will she forget me'.

Perhaps someone who has seen more of the world, or lived longer, can.

If what they see is true, then I hope that day comes for me. Then I will have reason to sing that song about Singapore.

chinlian@sph.com.sg