Key Points
- In many English-speaking countries, the song Auld Lang Syne is associated with farewelling the past year.
- The lyrics originally formed a poem written in Scots, an early Scottish language or dialect, by Robert Burns.
- The song has been played during significant moments in history, and the tune has been repurposed many times.
Soon after the clock strikes midnight at many New Year’s Eve gatherings throughout English-speaking countries, there’s a good chance one particular song will be played.
Auld Lang Syne is associated with ringing in the new year and farewelling the past one in places including Scotland — where it originated — along with Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada.
Revellers often sing along to the few words they know, but not many know about the history of the song itself.
Auld Lang Syne’s lyrics
The lyrics to Auld Lang Syne come from a poem written by the Scottish poet Robert Burns in the 1700s, with Burns “collecting” some of its words from earlier works.
It was written in Scots, an early Scottish language or dialect, and the song’s title translates to ‘old long since’. It’s understood to be about reflecting on days gone by and the friendships had.
Should old acquaintance be forgot
And never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot
In the days of auld lang syne?
The words of Auld Lang Syne were sung as a folk song and it became a favourite during Scottish celebrations of the last day of the year, known as Hogmanay.
Auld Lang Syne is traditionally played after the ball drops at midnight on New Year’s Eve in Times Square in New York. Source: AAP
University of Edinburgh musicologist Morag Grant, who has researched the song and its place in society, described it as “a song about the ties that bind us to others across the years”.
A farewell song
Grant found that many different groups traditionally sang “the song at times of parting”.
According to Grant, some of the earliest reports of the song’s use at parting come from US college graduations in the 1850s.
In more recent times, it has been played at funerals, in New York’s Times Square when the ball drops to mark a new year, and at the end of camping trips taken by Scout groups. It was even played at the closing ceremony of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympic Games.
It was notably played at the ceremony where the UK officially handed Hong Kong over to China in 1997, and in 2020 by members of the European Parliament when the final vote for Britain to leave the European Union was completed.
The tune of Auld Lang Syne around the world
People in parts of India and Bangladesh may be familiar with the melody of Auld Lang Syne as it was used for the Bengali folk song Purano shei diner kotha, a song with a similar theme that translates to Memories of the Good Old Days.
In Japan, the tune of Auld Lang Syne is used to accompany a song with different lyrics called Hotaru no Hikari (meaning Light of a Firefly). That song is often played at graduation ceremonies, and is also played to indicate that a shop is about to close for the day.
The tune of Auld Lang Syne was also used in a South Korean song called Aegukga, often translated as The Patriotic Song. In 1948, the year the country’s government formed, Aegukga became South Korea’s national anthem. However, by that point, a new melody had replaced the Auld Lang Syne tune.
The Dutch are familiar with the tune as well, as it is used for the national football team’s song Wij Houden Van Oranje or We Love Orange.
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We’ll take a cup of kindness yet,
And surely you’ll buy your pint cup!
And surely I’ll buy mine!
And we’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet,
We two have run about the slopes,
And picked the daisies fine;
But we’ve wandered many a weary foot,
We two have paddled in the stream,
From morning sun till dine;
But seas between us broad have roared
And there’s a hand my trusty friend!
And give me a hand o’ thine!
And we’ll take a right good-will draught,
For auld lang syne.
