As the old year draws to a close, we gather to welcome in the new. There are a variety of traditions associated with celebrating the New Year, depending on who you are and where you’re from. Maybe you eat black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day, enjoy a toast as the clock strikes midnight, or make resolutions for the coming year. You might also sing a few bars of “Auld Lang Syne”—and even if you don’t, you’ve almost certainly heard the song before. But how much do you actually know about this traditional New Year’s song?
The Origins of “Auld Lang Syne”
The modern version of “Auld Lang Syne” was first written down by the poet Robert Burns in 1788. Even then, however, Burns referred to it as “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.”
As such, no one really knows how far back oral versions of the song might go. In 1711, James Watson “formally printed” an “excellent and proper new ballad” that had previously been distributed via broadsides under the title “Old Long Syne.” This older version of the song features considerable lyrical difference from Burns’ later version, but opens with a variation on the same familiar refrain, which is almost certainly the most recognizable portion of the song: “Should Old Acquaintance be forgot, and never thought upon,” in this case.
This “new ballad” was, itself, probably derived from the words of the poet Francis Sempill, who lived in the mid-17th century and had passed away by the time the poem saw print in 1711. Others have ascribed the poem to Sir Robert Aytoun, who was once private secretary to Queen Mary, also known as Henrietta Maria of France. Nor is this iteration of “Old Long Syne” alone. There are other early songs and poems which begin with similar verses, including a 1724 poem by Allan Ramsay.
Words and Music
When Burns submitted his version of the song to James Johnson for inclusion in the Standard Collection of Scottish Songs known as the Scots Musical Museum, it had a different melody than the one we associate with it today. Like the version we now know, it was a traditional Scottish melody, dating back to the turn of the 18th century, though Burns deemed it “mediocre” and suggested that the poetry of the song was “enough to recommend any air.”
This version first saw print in 1796, but the modern melody of the song was not cemented for a few more years. The first recognizable modern version of “Auld Lang Syne” as we sing it today was printed in 1799, when Burns’ words were set to another traditional Scottish tune, this one dating back to the middle of the 17th century, when it was used for dancing.
Written in a pentatonic scale (with five notes per octave), the music which we currently associate with “Auld Lang Syne” had been printed before, but was first associated with the words of Burns’ poem in the second volume of George Thomson’s Select Songs of Scotland. Since then, it has become the de facto version of the song.
Meaning and Tradition
The original Burns version of “Auld Lang Syne” is written in Scots English, though the song has generally been translated into standard English throughout the Anglophone world, with the exception of the title and chorus, in which the Scots spelling “Auld Lang Syne” has prevailed. From the Scots, the title translates literally to “old long since,” and is usually understood to refer to “old times” or “days gone by.”
The lyrics, as recorded by Burns, describe friends reminiscing about old times and having a drink together, making it a perfect song for the celebration of the New Year, as it looks both backward and forward with warmth and sentiment and not a little melancholy. Today, the song is sung all over the world at New Year’s, “evoking a sense of belonging, fellowship, and nostalgia,” according to Scotland.org.
In Scotland, the last day of the year is a celebration known as Hogmanay, which is often marked with fireworks and other customs that will be familiar to New Year’s revelers the world over. On Hogmanay, “Auld Lang Syne” is sung near the end of New Year’s gatherings, accompanied by a traditional dance. In this dance, at the beginning of the song’s final verse, everyone joins hands with their arms across their chest, so that their right hand is clasped with the person on their left, and vice versa. Then, when the tune ends, everyone rushes to the middle of the floor, still holding hands, then turns under their arms so that they end the song facing outward, with their hands still joined.
Other Uses of “Auld Lang Syne”
Though today this classic song is inextricably associated with New Year’s Eve, it wasn’t written specifically as a New Year’s song and can be (and often is) sung at various other functions celebrating endings and new beginnings, including graduations, funerals, the end of Scouting jamborees, and the last lowering of the Union Jack when a former British colony attains independence, to name just a few.
The singing of “Auld Lang Syne” on New Year’s Eve became a Scots custom not long after the song was first published, and it spread throughout the British Isles and, from there, around the world. Though Anglophone countries are where “Auld Lang Syne” is most popular, it is also sung all over the globe, having been translated into dozens of languages.
The pentatonic scale of the song’s current melody matches many traditional Asian songs, which has helped “Auld Lang Syne” to enjoy considerably popularity in countries such as Japan, India, China, South Korea, and others. In India, the tune inspired a Bengali folk song composed by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, the title of which translates roughly to “Memories of the Good Old Days.”
In Japan, the same melody with different lyrics is known as “Hotaru no Hikari” or “Light of the Fireflies” and is played at New Year’s Eve and graduations, as well as over the PA systems of bars, restaurants, and department stores to let customers know that it is closing time. A version of “Auld Lang Syne” was even sung in Mandarin Chinese at the end of the closing ceremony of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing.
