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Auld Lang Syne
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"Auld Lang Syne" is a Scottish poem written by Robert Burns in 1788 and set to the tune of a traditional folk song (Roud # 6294). It is well known in many English-speaking countries and is often sung to celebrate the start of the new year at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Day.
The song's Scots title may be translated into English literally as "old long since", or more idiomatically, "long long ago" or "days gone by".
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Encyclopedia
"Auld Lang Syne" is a Scottish poem written by Robert Burns in 1788 and set to the tune of a traditional folk song (Roud # 6294). It is well known in many English-speaking countries and is often sung to celebrate the start of the new year at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Day.
The song's Scots title may be translated into English literally as "old long since", or more idiomatically, "long long ago" or "days gone by". The phrase "Auld Lang Syne" is also used in similar poems by Robert Ayton (1570–1638), Allan Ramsay (1686–1757), and James Watson (1711) as well as older folk songs predating Burns. In his retelling of fairy tales in the Scots language, Matthew Fitt uses the phrase "In the days of auld lang syne" as the equivalent of "Once upon a time." In Scots syne is pronounced like the English word sign and the trigonometric sine function.
History
Robert Burns sent a copy of the original song to the Scots Musical Museum with the remark, “The following song, an old song, of the olden times, and which has never been in print, nor even in manuscript until I took it down from an old man". Some of the lyrics were indeed "collected" rather than composed by the poet; the ballad "Old Long Syne" printed in 1711 by James Watson shows considerable similarity in the first verse and the chorus to Burns' later poem.
It is a fair supposition to attribute the rest of the poem to Burns himself.
There is some doubt as to whether the melody used today is the same one Burns originally intended, but it is widely used both in Scotland and in the rest of the world.
Singing the song on Hogmanay or New Year's Eve very quickly became a Scots custom that soon spread to other parts of the British Isles. As Scots (and other Britons) emigrated around the world, they took the song with them.
Canadian band leader Guy Lombardo is often credited with popularising the use of the song at New Year’s celebrations in America, through his annual broadcasts on radio and television, beginning in 1929. The song became his trademark. In addition to his live broadcasts, Lombardo recorded the song more than once. His first recording was in 1939. A later recording on September 29, 1947 was record issued as a single by Decca Records as catalog #24260.
However, earlier newspaper articles describe revellers on both sides of the Atlantic singing the song to usher in the New Year:
- "Holiday Parties at Lenox" (Massachusetts, USA) (1896) – The company joined hands in the great music room at midnight and sang “Auld Lang Syne” as the last stroke of 12 sounded and the new year came in.
- "New Year's Eve in London" (London, England) (1910) – Usual Customs Observed by People of All Classes… The passing of the old year was celebrated in London much as usual. The Scottish residents gathered outside of St. Paul's Church and sang “Auld Lang Syne” as the last stroke of 12 sounded from the great bell.
A manuscript of "Auld Lang Syne" is held in the permanent collection of The Lilly Library at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.
Lyrics
As detailed above, auld lang syne literally means "old long since", but a more idiomatic English translation would be something like "long long ago", "days of long ago", or "olden days". "For old times' sake" or "to the (good) old days" may be modern-day expressions, in common use as toasts, that capture the spirit of "for auld lang syne". Although the song begins with a question whether old times should be forgotten, the song is generally interpreted as a call to remember long standing friendships. Thomson’s Select Songs of Scotland was published in 1799 in which the second verse about greeting and toasting was moved to its present position at the end.
Most common use of the song involves only the first verse and the chorus. Confusion about the exact meaning of the words has led to a common use of "For the sake of" or "For the days of" in the last line, despite this not being part of the traditional lyric.
Complete lyrics | Burns’ original Scots verse | Scots pronunciation guide
(as Scots speakers would sound) | IPA pronunciation guide | English translation
(minimalist) |
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Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind ?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne ?
- CHORUS:
- For auld lang syne, my jo,
- For auld lang syne,
- We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
- For auld lang syne.
And surely ye’ll be your pint-stowp !
And surely I’ll be mine !
And we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.
- CHORUS
We twa hae run about the braes,
And pu’d the gowans fine ;
But we’ve wander’d mony a weary foot,
Sin auld lang syne.
- CHORUS
We twa hae paidl’d i' the burn,
Frae morning sun till dine ;
But seas between us braid hae roar’d
Sin auld lang syne.
- CHORUS
And there’s a hand, my trusty fiere !
And gie's a hand o’ thine !
And we’ll tak a right gude-willy waught,
For auld lang syne.
- CHORUS
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Shid ald akwentans bee firgot,
an nivir brocht ti mynd?
Shid ald akwentans bee firgot,
an ald lang syn?
- CHORUS:
- Fir ald lang syn, ma deer,
- fir ald lang syn,
- Wil tak a cup o kyndnes yet,
- fir ald lang syn.
An sheerly yil bee yur pynt-staup!
an sheerly al bee myn!
An will tak a cup o kyndnes yet,
fir ald lang syn.
- CHORUS
We twa hay rin aboot the braes,
an pood the gowans fyn;
Bit weev wandert monae a weery fet,
sin ald lang syn.
- CHORUS
We twa hay pedilt in the burn,
fray mornin sun til dyn;
But seas between us bred hay roard
sin ald lang syn.
- CHORUS
An thers a han, my trustee feer!
an gees a han o thyn!
And we’ll tak a richt gude-willie-waucht,
fir ald lang syn.
- CHORUS
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Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind ?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and old times since ?
- CHORUS:
- For auld lang syne, my dear,
- for auld lang syne,
- we'll take a cup of kindness yet,
- for auld lang syne.
And surely you’ll buy your pint cup !
And surely I’ll buy mine !
And we'll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
- CHORUS
We two have run about the slopes,
and picked the daisies fine ;
But we’ve wandered many a weary foot,
since auld lang syne.
- CHORUS
We two have paddled in the stream,
from morning sun till dine ;
But seas between us broad have roared
since auld lang syne.
- CHORUS
And there’s a hand my trusty friend !
And give us a hand o’ thine !
And we’ll take a right good-will draught,
for auld lang syne.
- CHORUS
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dine = dinner time
Melody
The tune to which "Auld Lang Syne" is now universally sung is a pentatonic Scots folk melody, probably originally a sprightly dance in a much quicker tempo.
English composer William Shield seems to quote the "Auld Lang Syne" melody briefly at the end of the overture to his opera Rosina, which may be its first recorded use. The contention that Burns borrowed the melody from Shield is for various reasons highly unlikely, although they may very well both have taken it from a common source, possibly a strathspey called The Miller's Wedding or The Miller's Daughter. The problem is that tunes based on the same set of dance steps necessarily have a similar rhythm, and even a superficial resemblance in melodic shape may cause a very strong apparent similarity in the tune as a whole. For instance, Burns' poem "Coming Through the Rye" is sung to a tune that might also be based on the Miller's Wedding. The origin of the tune of God Save the Queen (q.v.) presents a very similar problem, and for just the same reason, as it is also based on a dance measure. (See the note in the William Shield article on this subject.)
Use
At New Year
"Auld Lang Syne" is usually sung each year at midnight on Hogmanay (New Year's Eve) in the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Malta, South Africa, Hong Kong, Singapore, Canada, and English-speaking areas of India, Bangladesh and Pakistan, and signifies the start of a new year.
In Scotland, it is often sung at the end of a céilidh or a dance. It is common practice that everyone joins hands with the person next to them to form a great circle around the dance floor. At the beginning of the last verse, everyone crosses their arms across their breast, so that the right hand reaches out to the neighbour on the left and vice versa. When the tune ends, everyone rushes to the middle, while still holding hands. When the circle is re-established, everyone turns under the arms to end up facing outwards with hands still joined. Outside of Scotland the hands are often crossed from the beginning of the song at variance with Scottish custom.
The Scots practice was demonstrated by the Queen at the Millennium Dome celebrations for the year 2000. The English press berated her for not "properly" crossing her arms, unaware that she was correct.
Other than New Year
- In the United Kingdom, it is played at the close of the annual Congress (conference) of the Trades Union Congress.
- The song is sung at the end of the Last Night of the Proms by the audience (rather than the performers) and so it is not often listed on the official programme.
- The song is played at the Passing Out Parade of Young Officers in the Royal Navy as the march up the steps of the Britannia Royal Naval College. The song is played at the beat of slow march after the tune "Will ye no come back?".
- Since 2007, the melody has been used as an introduction to the mass chorus of America the Beautiful that is played by the twelve finalist corps at the Finals Retreat at the Drum Corps International World Championships. Coincidentally, "Auld Lang Syne" and "America the Beautiful" have the same metre, and the lyrics can be sung interchangeably.
- The song is the official corps song for the Kilties drum and bugle corps.
In non-English speaking countries
- In Thailand, it is used for Samakkkhi Chumnum (Together in unity), sung after sports. At New Year the melody is used with words with a similar meaning to the Scots. There, it is commonly believed to be a Thai traditional song.
- In both the Indian Armed Forces and Pakistani Military, the band plays this song during the graduating parade of the recruits, while in Pakistan generally it is sung (or the melody played) at farewell events.
- In Bangladesh and Bengali parts of India, the melody was the direct inspiration for the popular Bengali song "Purano shei diner kotha" (About the old days) composed by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, and forms one of the more recognizable tunes in Rabindra Sangeet (Rabindra's Songs), a body of work of 2,230 songs and lyrical poems that form the backbone of Bengali music.
- In Japan, the Japanese students' song Hotaru no hikari ("Glow of a Firefly") uses the "Auld Lang Syne" tune. The words are a series of images of hardships that the industrious student endures in his relentless quest for knowledge, starting with the firefly’s light, which the student uses to keep studying when he has no other light sources. It is used as a graduation song and a funeral song in Taiwan and Hong Kong, symbolising an end or a goodbye. In Japan it is used in graduation ceremonies, and many stores and restaurants play it to usher customers out at the end of a business day.
- Before the composition of Aegukga, the lyrics of Korea’s national anthem were sung to the tune of this song until composer Ahn Eak-tai composed a new melody to the existing lyrics. Like Japan and Taiwan, it is now used in South Korea as a graduation song and a farewell song to friends or at funerals.
- In Indonesia, the melody is used as a farewell song that is commonly sung during graduation or farewell parties.
- In the Philippines, it is sung at celebrations such as graduations, New Year and Christmas Day.
- In Denmark, the song was translated in 1927 by the famous Danish poet Jeppe Aakjær. Much like Robert Burns' use of dialect, Aakjær translated the song into the Danish dialect sallingbomål, a dialect from the northern part of western Jutland, south of the Limfjord, often hard for other Danes to understand. The song Skuld gammel venskab rejn forgo ("Should auld acquantaince be forgot" — Scots / "Should old acquaintance be forgotten" — English), is an integral part of the Danish Højskole tradition, and often associated with more rural areas and old traditions. Also, the former Danish rock group Gasolin modernised the melody in 1974 with their pop ballad Stakkels Jim ("Poor Jim").
- In France, Brazil, Portugal, Spain, Greece, Poland, and Germany this song is used to mark a farewell. In France, the melody is used with French words and the parting song is entitled Ce n’est qu’un au revoir ("This is only a goodbye", i.e., a temporary parting, as opposed to a definitive "Farewell"). In Portugal, Poland, Germany and Russia, the tune is used by the Scouts movement for their farewell song at the end of summer camps or just to say goodbye after events. The Polish song with other lyrics is titled Ogniska juz dogasa blask, the Russian one ????????? ?? ?????, ??????. The German version is titled Nehmt Abschied Brüder and the Portuguese one Canção do Adeus.
- In Italy, this melody is very well known by Italian football supporters since the 1970s. It is often sung in stadiums during the matches, especially after the kick-off. Many Italian supporters of different regions and cities adopted this tune and arranged its lyrics according to their teams. These are the lyrics sung by A.S. Roma supporters: La nostra fede mai morrà/canteremo noì ultrà/e insieme a te saremo allor/forza Roma vinci ancor ("Our faith will never die/we, the ultrà, will sing/then we'll be with you/come on Roma, win again"). The tune is used for the Dutch football song, Wij houden van Oranje ("We love Orange").
Use in films
- It has been used in a number of films, with its first use in the 1942 re-release of the Charlie Chaplin film The Gold Rush with added sound, the song is sung at a New Year's Eve party. It is not certain if the same song was sung when the original silent film was released in 1925.
- The song has been used in the film Waterloo Bridge - under the name of The Farewell Waltz - (1940), starring Vivien Leigh and Robert Taylor. It is arguably one of the most memorable and best-loved sequences of the film.
- It was also used in the Triad Trilogy Infernal Affairs uses the tune in the second film when a triad has finished killing a gang boss.
- In the Samuel Fuller film The Steel Helmet, the film's main character, Sgt. Zack, requests that the song be played by "Fat Paul" on a portable organ. The group of American soldiers is shocked to find out, after a South Korean boy who has accompanied them recognizes and sings Korean lyrics to the tune, that the melody also serves as the South Korean national anthem.
- More recently, towards the end of Ghostbusters II, the people of New York City sing "Auld Lang Syne", which weakens the evil Viggo the Carpathian's power enough to be defeated.
- The song was played in When Harry Met Sally, the New Year's party in which Harry states he never fully understood what the song meant and says "I mean, 'Should old acquaintance be forgot'? Does that mean that we should forget old acquaintances, or does it mean if we happened to forget them, we should remember them, which is not possible because we already forgot?".
- In the 2008 film Sex and the City, a recording by Scottish singer Mairi Campbell is used during a montage depicting the characters actions at New years. The recording is notable for its use of the original melody as opposed to the commonly performed melody sung today. It is also in contrast to the joyous and jubilant arrangements commonly heard on celebratory occasions, as it consists merely of an acoustic guitar and strings accompanying Campbell's vocals.
- The American PBS television series Great Performances 2006/7 program titled "Garrison Keillor’s New Year’s Eve Special" had the audience sing an adaptation of the lyrics with a humorous last verse: "I think of all the great, high hearts I had when I was young / And now who are these sad old farts I find myself among?"
Some notable performances
- A somewhat different use of the song as a farewell occurred in October 2000, when it was played as the body of former Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau left Parliament Hill in Ottawa for the last time, going to Montreal for the state funeral.
- On the sinking of the Japanese ship Montevideo Maru in World War II, carrying 1,053 Australians (mostly POWs), the Australians in the water sang this for their trapped mates as the ship went down. Surviving Japanese crewman Yosiaki Yamaji reflected on this moment as realising what big hearts the Australian soldiers had.
- According to the book "Freedom at Midnight"(1975) by Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins, the song was played to accompany the departure of the final British troops from India through Mumbai's "Gateway to India" in 1948, as the British flag over the Gateway was ceremonially lowered for the last time. Similarly it was used at the British hand-over of Hong Kong in 1997.
- In Pakistan, the tune was played at the formal resignation of President Pervez Musharraf as the country's Chief of Army Staff.
Covers and renditions
- Cliff Richard sang the Lord's Prayer to the melody of Auld Lang Syne in his Christmas song "The Millennium Prayer".
- Dan Fogelberg recorded a hit song called "Same Old Lang Syne", on his 1981 album The Innocent Age. The song was about encountering an old lover not on New Year's Eve, but on Christmas Eve.
- Canadian band Barenaked Ladies performed a rendition of the song "Auld Lang Syne" on their 2004 CD Barenaked for the Holidays.
- Billy Joel sang and released Auld Lang Syne in his live CD titled "2000 Years - The Millenium Concert", and is known to play the song both lyrically or piano solo in his concerts during holiday seasons.
- Die Toten Hosen recorded a version of Auld Lang Syne for their Christmas album "Wir warten auf's Christkind...". It was also released on their second "greatest hits" album "Reich & sexy II: Die fetten Jahre".
- Kenny G recorded a saxophone version of the song in 1999 to commemorate the Millenium. An EP release of the tune contained that version along with long-play and radio-length versions that played under audio snippets from a number of political speeches and news bulletins of the 20th Century.
- Bobby Darin recorded a Christmas version in 1960, titled "Christmas Auld Lang Syne", while the song You're a Grand Old Flag by George M. Cohan, the first line "Should auld acquaintance be forgot" is part of the song's chorus, and is also cited in the song's instrumental introduction.
- Boney M recorded a dance-pop cover in 1986.
- "Dick Clark's New Years Rockin Eve" uses Auld Lang Syne as its "theme" song. The show has two versions which are both performed by Kyle Warren, Jerry Adamowitz, and Mike Weiland on keyboard, bass, and drums respectively.
- "Straight No Chaser" included the song in their album "Holiday Spirits (Bonus Track Version)", as a bonus track.
- Relient K included the song in their album "Deck the Halls and Bruise Your Hands."
- The University of Virginia uses this tune to their fight song, the "Good Ole Song", which is played at every football game after every point scored by the home team. It is then accompanied by a chant, Wahoo-wah, wahoo-wah, Uni-V Virginia, Hoo-rah-ray, hoo-rah-ray, ray-ray-U-V-A.
- In the movie 'Forrest Gump' plays the Song, too. (In the year 1972)
Die Roten Rosen version
Die Toten Hosen recorded a rendition of "Auld Lang Syne" for their Christmas album Wir warten auf's Christkind..., and released it as the second single from the album under the alias Die Roten Rosen. While the first two verses remain the same the rest of the lyrics are about drinking and having fun.
Music video
The music video was directed by Sven Offen & DoRo. It shows the band performing, having fun at a pub and clips of a ski trip.
Track listing
- "Auld Lang Syne" - 2:32
- "Morgen wird alles anders..." (
Tomorrow everything will be different) - 3:45 "Standort Deutschland" (roughly Germany as an economical target) - 3:26 "The Little Drummer Boy" (unplugged) – 2:42 "Auld Lang Syne" (unplugged) – 3:17 "Auld Lang Syne" (CD-Rom Track)
Charts
| Year | Country | Position |
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| 1999 | Germany | 29 |
External links
Variant lyrics
The World Burns Club at The Mudcat Cafe's "Digital Traditions"
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