Wow… Another year down the drain, huh? What do you think we should discuss? New Year’s resolutions? The impending death of broadband television in 2009? No… Why Auld Lang Syne, of course! You know what I’m talking about. Everyone knows it or at least knows of it. It’s that song that everyone sings at the stroke of midnight on New Years Eve. It’s good song… I think. There’s something about that melody that puts you in a certain mood. A reflective mood. However, every single year all I’m able to do is sort of hum along and throw in a guess at a word here and there… Because I don’t know the words. In fact… I don’t think I know a single person who really knows them. There was awhile, I think, in which I was convinced the words were “In gaze of old man’s eyes” but that as much as I thought I knew. Ask people… See if they know. I betcha they won’t and if they say they do? Well… They’re filthy liars. This year was going to be different, though. I had a mission. I was going to see to it that I knew everything there was to know about Auld Lang Syne… Even if it was going to kill me.
“Kill me” is a little dramatic. And the truth is there really isn’t much to know about Auld Lang Syne. But thanks to Wikipedia I have it all here for you! Would you like to hear about it? Too bad, you don’t have a choice. In case you couldn’t tell, it’s an old Scottish drinking song, meant to be sung only in a smoky Scottish pub and only by the very drunk. “Auld lang syne” is translated literally into modern English as “old long since” or “days gone by” and I’m informed that Matthew Fitt, in his retelling of Scottish fairy tales, uses the phrase “In the days of auld lang syne” the same as we might use “Once upon a time”
The song was written by a Robert Burns sometime between 1759-1796. But that’s not really the case. Although it’s credited to Burns, the same phrase appears in poem by Robert Ayton, Allan Ramsay and James Watson (As well as older folk songs written before Burns’ time).
Apparently, there was an Irish rock band, by the delightful name of AER used the song as the intro and hook to their own song “Time Goes By.” The songwriter for the band supposedly got the idea thinking, “What can we do that Jimi Hendrix didn’t?” What they didn’t know was that Jimi Hendrix played Auld Lang Syne as the opening of his second set at Fillmore, East December 31, 1969-January 1, 1970. But it was made famous by 1920’s bandleader Guy Lombardo who is often credited with getting the song associated with New Year’s Eve. His used the song in his radio and television broadcasts starting in 1929.
On New Year’s Eve I looked all this information up online and then set the computer to sleep mode, waiting so that I might have the song’s lyrics in their entirety at my disposal once it came time. But when midnight finally rolled around the computer remained in sleep mode while I was downstairs playing God Of War II. Happy New Year…
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And auld lang syne?
p.s. - It’s funny, I always thought that the last line was “In days of old lang syne?” Isn’t that how everyone sings it? I guess it doesn’t matter… We’ve all replaced “Auld” with “Old” anyways, a change so minuscule it defies logic.
p.p.s. – I beat God Of War II… If anyone was interested.
Updated: Wednesday, 30 January 2008 4:32 PM PST
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