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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.
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
Should old acquaintance be forgot
And never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintance be forgot
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
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
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.
