Auld Lang Syne is world famous for two main reasons:
- It’s famous for being sung on New Year’s Eve in English speaking countries around the world, from the USA, to the Philippines, Zimbabwe, India and to Singapore.
- It’s famous for being one of the most popular songs whose words people don’t know!
So let’s solve several mysteries: Why do we sing Auld Lang Syne on New Year’s Eve, what on earth *are* the lyrics and equally as important – what do they mean?
What words are we actually singing?
Lyrics in Scottish Dialect (first verse & chorus):
(restored but not created by Robert Burns, 1788)
Should old acquaintances be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne?
For auld lang syne, my dear
For auld Lang syne,
We’ll tak a cup o kindness yet,
For auld lang syne!
Lyrics Translation in more understandable English:
Should old acquaintances be forgotten
and never remembered?
Should old acquaintance be forgotten
From days gone by (literally: “for old long ago”)?
From days gone by, my dear
From days gone by,
We will take a cup of kindness yet
From days gone by!
Why do we sing Auld Lang Syne on New Year’s Eve?
Auld Lang Syne is a Scottish song about remembering old friends and all the good times they brought. You can see why this theme would have been appropriate to sing on New Years Eve, where we often remember all the good times we’ve had over the past year.
Before 1929, Auld Lang Syne was mostly famous within Scotland and the Scottish community.
A Canadian musician by the name of Guy Lombordo had heard the song sung amidst the Canadian Scottish community in London, Ontario.
He liked it so much that he and his band played Auld Lang Syne as one of their regular songs.
It is said that in 1929, Lombordo and his band were playing for a New Year’s Eve party in New York City, and at the stroke of midnight they played Auld Lang Syne. The band’s dispersal of the song soon spread to the radio and TV as their New Year’s Eve piece and this was the start of a new worldwide New Year tradition.
Related Posts
Why do we have the New Year’s Kiss at midnight?
Unusual New Year Traditions from Around the World
Related Products
Pretty nice post. I just stumbled upon your blog and wanted to say that I have really enjoyed browsing your blog posts. In any case I’ll be subscribing to your feed and I hope you write again soon!
Thanks for that awesome post!
Hola guys! This website was a amazing read, I’ll email this website to others!
That is a good blog. I currently bookmarked it for future reference. Thank you Ccleaner
this post is very interesting thx!
Thank you for sharing. I like very much. I will come back again.
Bookmarked this page! Your blog is nice i’m impressed by the knowledge that you just have on this blog. It shows how well you perceive this subject. many thanks for share excellent knowledges.
Thanks for taking the time to write about this. i show pride in learning such things and telling my friends
. Please continue updating this blog with such great data! I actually have found it terribly helpful!
I’m not that much of a internet reader to be honest but your sites really nice, keep it up! I’ll go ahead and bookmark your website to come back in the future. Cheers
Hello, this is really a really fascinating web blog and ive loved reading numerous from the articles and posts contained upon the website! Sustain the fantastic job done and I hope to go through a whole lot a lot more exciting articles or blog posts inside the time to come.
Great info! Keep up the great work. ~The Funny Shirt Guy~
Interesting post! I checked on the internet and found most people will agree with what you’ve said here.
I did appreciate reading this. Thanks!
I genuinely love how your site is easy on my eyes as well as how well the facts are written
Very interesting points you have mentioned , thankyou for posting .
I really liked the article, and the very cool blog
Shuid auld acquaintains be fuirgot,
An ne’er brocht tae myn?
Shuid auld acquaintains be fuirgot,
Fuir the sake au auld lang syne?
Fuir auld lang syne, mae quine,
Fuir auld lang syne,
Wih’ll tak a cup au kindness yet,
Fuir the sake au auld lang syne!
*fixed