Auld Lang Syne
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"Auld Lang Syne" (Template:IPA)Template:Efn<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> is a Scottish song. In the English-speaking world it is traditionally sung to bid farewell to the old year at the stroke of midnight on Hogmanay/New Year's Eve. It is also often heard at funerals and graduations and as a farewell or ending to other occasions; for instance, many branches of the Scouting movement use it to close jamborees and other functions.<ref name="Honeck" /><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The text is a Scots-language poem written by Robert Burns in 1788,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="ScotlandOrgRef">Template:Cite web</ref> but based on an older Scottish folk song. In 1799 it was set to a traditional pentatonic tune, which has since become standard. "Auld Lang Syne" is listed as numbers 6294 and 13892 in the Roud Folk Song Index.
Its Scots title may be translated into standard English as "old long since" or, less literally, "long long ago",<ref name="Maine">Template:Cite book This book was purchased at Burns Cottage, and was reprinted in 1967, and 1973.</ref> "days gone by", "times long past" or "old times". Consequently, "For auld lang syne", as it appears in the first line of the chorus, might be loosely translated as "for the sake of old times". The phrase "Auld Lang Syne" is also used in similar poems by Robert Ayton (1570–1638), Allan Ramsay (1686–1757) and James Watson (1711), as well as older folk songs predating Burns.<ref name="nls.uk">Template:Cite web</ref>
Lyrics
The song begins by posing a rhetorical question: Is it right for old times to be forgotten? The answer is generally interpreted as a call to remember long-standing friendships.<ref name="electric">Template:Cite web</ref>
George Thomson's Select Songs of Scotland was published in 1799 in which the second verse about greeting and toasting was moved to its present position at the end.<ref name="electric" />
Most common usage of the song involves only the first verse and the chorus. The last lines of both of these are often sung with the extra words "For the sake of" or "And days of", rather than Burns's simpler lines. This makes these lines strictly syllabic, with just one note per syllable.
| Burns's original Scots verse<ref name="Maine" /> | Standard English version Template:Small |
Scots pronunciation guide Template:Small |
IPA pronunciation guide Template:Small<ref name="Burns Dialect" /> |
|---|---|---|---|
| <poem>Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and auld lang syne?
And surely ye'll beTemplate:Efn your pint-stoup! and surely I'll be mine! And we'll tak' a cup o' kindness yet, for auld lang syne. We twa hae run about the braes, and pou'd the gowans fine; But we've wander'd mony a weary fit, sin' auld lang syne. We twa hae paidl'd in the burn, frae morning sun till dine;Template:Efn But seas between us braid hae roar'd sin' auld lang syne. And there's a hand, my trusty fiere! and gie's a hand o' thine! And we'll tak' a right gude-willie waught, for auld lang syne.
|
<poem>Should Template:Underline acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind? Should Template:Underline acquaintance be forgot, and auld lang syne?
And surely you'll Template:Underline your pint Template:Underline! and surely I'll Template:Underline mine! And we'll take a cup o' kindness yet, for auld lang syne. We Template:Underline run about the Template:Underline, and Template:Underline the Template:Underline fine; But we've wandered Template:Underline a weary Template:Underline, Template:Underline auld lang syne. We Template:Underline in the Template:Underline, Template:Underline morning sun till dine; But seas between us Template:Underline Template:Underline auld lang syne. And there's a hand my trusty Template:Underline! And Template:Underline a hand o' thine! And we'll Template:Underline a right Template:Underline, for auld lang syne.
|
<poem>Shid ald akwentans bee firgot,
an nivir brochtTemplate:Efn ti mynd? Shid ald akwentans bee firgot, an ald lang syn*?
An sheerly yil bee yur pynt-staup! an sheerly al bee myn! An will tak a cup o kyndnes yet, fir ald lang syn. We twa hay rin aboot the braes, an pood the gowans fyn; Bit weev wandert monae a weery fet, sin ald lang syn. We twa hay pedilt in the burn, fray mornin sun til dyn; But seas between us bred hay roard sin ald lang syn. An thers a han, my trustee feer! an gees a han o thyn! And we'll tak a richtTemplate:Efn gude-willie-waucht,Template:Efn fir ald lang syn.
|
<poem>Template:IPA
ən ʃeːr.li jiːl bi juːr pəint.stʌup ən ʃeːr.li ɑːl bi məin ən wiːl tɑk ə kʌp o kəin.nəs jɛt fər o̜ːld lɑŋ səin wi two̜̜ː heː rɪn ə.but ðə breːz ən puːd ðə ɡʌu.ənz fəin bʌt wiːv wo̜n.ərt mʌ.ne ə wiːrɪ fɪt sɪn o̜ːld lɑŋ səin wi two̜̜ː heː pe.dlt ɪn ðə bʌrn freː moːr.nɪn sɪn tɪl dəin bʌt siːz ə.twin ʌs bred heː roːrd sɪn o̜ːld lɑŋ səin ən ðeːrz ə ho̜ːn mɑ trʌs.tɪ fiːr əŋ ɡiːz ə ho̜ːn o ðəin ən wiːl tɑk ə rɪxt ɡɪd wʌ.lɪ wɑːxt fər o̜ːld lɑŋ səin
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History
Burns sent a copy of the original song to the Scots Musical Museum in 1788 with the remark, "The following song, 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."<ref name="lindsay">Template:Cite book</ref>
Some of the lyrics were indeed "collected" rather than composed by the poet; the ballad "Old Long Syne" printed in 1711 by James Watson shows considerable similarity in the first verse and the chorus to Burns's later poem,<ref name="nls.uk" /> and is almost certainly derived from the same "old song". To quote from the first stanza of the James Watson ballad:
Template:Blockquote It is a fair supposition to attribute the rest of the poem to Burns himself.<ref name="lindsay" />
The song originally had another melody, which can be traced to around 1700 and was deemed "mediocre" by Robert Burns. The first documented use of the melody commonly used today was in 1799, in the second volume of George Thomson's Select Songs of Scotland. The tune is a pentatonic Scots folk melody, which was probably originally a sprightly dance with a much quicker tempo.<ref name="electric" /> There is some doubt as to whether this melody is the one Burns originally intended his version of the song to be sung to.<ref name="ScotlandOrgRef" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
<score lang="lilypond" vorbis="1">\relative c' { \set Staff.midiInstrument = #"clarinet" \key f \major \time 4/4 \partial 4 c4 | f4. f8 f4 a4 | g4. f8 g4 a4 | f4. f8 a4 c4 | d2. d4 | c4. a8 a4 f4 | g4. f8 g4 a4 | f4.( d8) d4( c4) | f2. d'4 | c4.( a8) a4( f4) | g4. f8 g4 d'4 | c4.( a8) a4( c4) | d2. d4 | c4. a8 a4 f4 | g4. f8 g4 a4 | f4.( d8) d4( c4) | f2. \bar "|." } \addlyrics { Should auld ac -- quain -- tance be for -- got and ne -- ver brought to mind? Should auld ac -- quain -- tance be for -- got and auld lang syne? For auld lang syne, my jo, For auld lang syne. We'll tak a cup o' kind -- ness yet for auld lang syne }</score>Template:Listen
Singing the song on Hogmanay or New Year's Eve very quickly became a Scots custom that soon spread to other parts of the British Isles. As Scots (as well as English, Welsh and Irish people) emigrated around the world, they took the song with them.
Versions of "Auld Lang Syne" which use other lyrics and melodies have survived as folk songs in isolated Scottish communities. The American folk song collector James Madison Carpenter collected a version of the song from a man named William Still of Cuminestown, Aberdeenshire in the early 1930s, who can be heard singing the song on the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library website.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Settings and quotations of the melody
The English composer William Shield seems to quote the "Auld Lang Syne" melody briefly at the end of the overture to his opera Rosina (1782), which may be its first recorded use. The contention that Burns borrowed the melody from Shield is for various reasons highly unlikely, although they may very well both have taken it from a common source, possibly a strathspey called "The Miller's Wedding" or "The Miller's Daughter".<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The problem is that tunes based on the same set of dance steps necessarily have a similar rhythm, and even a superficial resemblance in melodic shape may cause a very strong apparent similarity in the tune as a whole. For instance, Burns' poem "Comin' Thro' the Rye" is sung to a tune that might also be based on the "Miller's Wedding". The origin of the tune of "God Save the King" presents a very similar problem and for just the same reason, as it is also based on a dance measure.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> (See the note in the William Shield article on this subject.)
In 1792 the Austrian composer Joseph Haydn arranged Auld Lang Syne as one of over 400 Scottish folk song arrangements commissioned by George Thomson and the publishers William Napier and William Whyte;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> his arrangement may have helped popularise the song.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Ludwig van Beethoven also wrote an arrangement of Auld Lang Syne (WoO 156/11) published as part of his 12 Scottish Folksongs (1814). Both of these classical versions use the original brisk strathspey rhythm.
In 1855 different words were written for the Auld Lang Syne tune by Albert Laighton and titled, "Song of the Old Folks". This song was included in the tunebook, Father Kemp's Old Folks Concert Tunes published in Boston, United States, in 1860.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> For many years it was the tradition of the Stoughton Musical Society to sing this version in memory of those who had died that year.
The composer and singer George M. Cohan quotes the first line of the "Auld Lang Syne" melody in the second to last line of the chorus of “You're a Grand Old Flag”. It is plain from the lyrics that this is deliberate; the melody is identical except the first syllable of the word "forgot".
John Philip Sousa quotes the melody in the Trio section of his 1924 march "Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company".
English composer of light music Ernest Tomlinson wrote a Fantasia on Auld Lang Syne (1976), which in its 20 minutes weaves in 152 quotations from pieces by other popular and classical composers.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In the Sacred Harp choral tradition, an arrangement of it exists under the name "Plenary". The lyrics are a memento mori and begin with the words "Hark! from the tomb a doleful sound". Another Christian setting, using the name "Fair Haven" for the same tune, uses the text "Hail! Sweetest, Dearest Tie That Binds" by Amos Sutton.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In a similar vein, in 1999 Cliff Richard released a setting of the Lord's Prayer (as "The Millennium Prayer") to the melody.<ref name="Burden">Template:Cite web</ref>
British soldiers in the trenches of the First World War sang "We're Here Because We're Here" to the tune of "Auld Lang Syne".<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
When sung
At New Year
"Auld Lang Syne" is traditionally sung at the conclusion of New Year gatherings in Scotland and around the world, especially in English-speaking countries.
At Hogmanay in Scotland, it is common practice that everyone joins hands with the person next to them to form a great circle around the dance floor. At the beginning of the last verse (And there's a hand, my trusty fiere!/and gie's a hand o' thine!), everyone crosses their arms across their breast, so that the right hand reaches out to the neighbour on the left and vice versa.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> When the tune ends, everyone rushes to the middle, while still holding hands. When the circle is re-established, everyone turns under the arms to end up facing outwards with hands still joined. The tradition of singing the song when parting, with crossed hands linked, arose in the mid-19th century among Freemasons and other fraternal organisations.<ref name="grant">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Outside Scotland the hands are often crossed from the beginning of the song, at variance with Scottish custom. The Scottish practice was demonstrated by Queen Elizabeth II at the Millennium Dome celebrations for the year 2000. Some press outlets berated her for not "properly" crossing her arms, unaware that she was correctly following the Scottish tradition.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
At other times
As well as celebrating the New Year, "Auld Lang Syne" is very widely used to symbolise other "endings/new beginnings" – including farewells, funerals (and other memorials of the dead), graduations, the end of a (non-New Year) party, jamborees of the Scout Movement, the election of a new government, the last lowering of the Union Jack as a British colony achieves independence<ref>Template:YouTube</ref> and as a signal that a retail store is about to close for the day. The melody is also widely used for other words, especially hymns, the songs of sporting and other clubs, and national anthems (South Korea in the 1940s, and the Maldives until 1972). In Scotland and other parts of Britain, in particular, it is associated with celebrations and memorials of Robert Burns. The following list of specific uses is far from comprehensive.<ref name="Bracken">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name="Brocklehurst">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Honeck">Template:Cite book</ref>
In the English-speaking world
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- In Scotland it is often sung at the end of a cèilidh, a dance, and at weddings. At weddings, it is performed in the same way as at New Year, but the bride and groom are often lifted up in the centre of the circle.
- The tune is played, and sung by the crowd, in the final stages of the annual Edinburgh Military Tattoo.
- In many Burns Clubs it is sung at the end of the Burns supper.
- In Great Britain it is played at the close of the annual Congress (conference) of the Trades Union Congress. It is also usually the final song of the Liberal Democrat Glee Club.
- The song is sung at the end of the Last Night of the Proms. Depending on whether an "official" performance is planned it may not be listed on the programme but in this case the audience will maintain the tradition and sing it themselves, with or without backup from the performers.<ref>Template:Citation</ref>
- The song is played at the Passing Out Parade of Young Officers in the Royal Navy as they march up the steps of the Britannia Royal Naval College; for Royal Air Force officers at Royal Air Force College Cranwell, and at the Sovereign's Parade at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst for young officers joining the British Army, as the cadets march up the steps of their famous Old College building – to the beat of the slow march, after the tune "Will ye no come back?". This custom (or something very like it) is also followed in Naval and Military colleges in many other countries, especially members and former members of the Commonwealth of Nations. Examples include the Royal Military College of Canada, the Royal Military College (Malaysia), the National Defence Academy (India),<ref>National Defence Academy Template:Webarchive Retrieved 8 February 2012.</ref> the Pakistan Military Academy, Bangladesh Military Academy, Sri Lanka Military Academy, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel National Police Academy (SVPNPA-India) and at the equivalent colleges in Singapore, Burma and Nigeria.
- The song is very widely used by the international Scout Movement, where it is a popular closing song for jamborees and other occasions.<ref name="Honeck" /><ref name="Brocklehurst" /><ref name="Bracken" />
In non-English-speaking countries
"Auld Lang Syne" has been translated into many languages, and the song is widely sung all over the world. The song's pentatonic scale matches scales used in Korea, Japan, India, China and other Asian countries, which has facilitated the popularity of the melody in the East. The following list of particular examples details things that are special or unusual about the use of the song in a particular country, and is (necessarily) not comprehensive.
- In France the Jesuit priest and scouting pioneer Jacques Sevin translated the song in 1920. It has become a standard farewell song under the title "Ce n'est qu'un au revoir" (just saying goodbye). A catholic hymn entitled "Restons toujours unis" was also written on the same tune. Masonic lodges use it widely too, remembering the fact that Burns was a mason.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- In Denmark the song was translated in 1927 by the Danish poet Jeppe Aakjær. Much like Robert Burns' use of dialect, Aakjær translated the song into Template:Lang, a form of the Jutlandic dialect. The song "Template:Lang" is an integral part of the Danish Højskole tradition, and often associated with more rural areas and old traditions.
- In the Netherlands the melody is used as the Dutch football song "Template:Lang" ("We Love Orange"), performed by André Hazes.
- In West Bengal and Bangladesh the melody was the direct inspiration for the Bengali folk song "Purano shei diner kotha" ("Memories of the Good Old Days"), composed by the Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and forms one of the more recognisable tunes in Rabindra Sangeet ("Rabindra's Songs"), a body of work of 2,230 songs and lyrical poems that form the backbone of Bengali music.
- In Thailand the song "Samakkhi Chumnum" (Template:Lang, 'together in unity') is set to the same melody. It is mainly sung after sporting fixtures and at the end of Boy Scout jamborees. The Thai lyrics are a patriotic song about the King and national unity, and many Thais are not aware of the song's Western origin.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
- In Japan, the melody is used for the song "Hotaru no Hikari" (The Light of the Fireflies), which has different lyrics. "Hotaru no Hikari" is played at many school graduation ceremonies, and at the end of the New Year's Eve show NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen. A waltz arrangement of the original (based on the version featured in the 1940 film Waterloo Bridge) is played in various establishments such as bars, restaurants, or department stores in Japan to let the customers know that the establishment is closing soon.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
File:National anthem of South Korea (1945–1948).wav
- In Korea the song is known as "Jakbyeol" (작별, Farewell) or (less commonly) as "Seokbyeol-ui Jeong" (석별의 정, The Feeling of Farewell). From 1919 to 1945 it served as the national anthem of the Korean exile government and from 1945 to 1948, it was the melody of Korea's national anthem. The lyrics used then were the same as the current South Korean national anthem.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
- Before 1972 it was the tune for the anthem of the Maldives (with the current words).
- In Sweden the artist Thomas Stenström made an interpretation of the song for the Swedish cancer association. The Swedish name of the song is "Ser du månen där du är ikväll? (Tillsammans igen)" (Do you see the moon where you are this evening? (Together again).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Use in films
The strong and obvious associations of the song and its melody have made it a common staple for film soundtracks from the very early days of "talking" pictures to the present—a large number of films and television series' episodes having used it for background, generally but by no means exclusively to evoke the New Year.
Notable performances
Recordings
The first recording of the song was made on wax cylinder in 1898 by the Englishmen Charles Samuel Myers and Alfred Cort Hadden, who sang it in a demonstration of the new technology whilst on an expedition to record Aboriginal Australian music with figures including Charles Gabriel Seligman, W.H.R. Rivers and Sidney Herbert Ray. The original 1898 recording can be heard online via the British Library Sound Archive website.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
As a standard in music, "Auld Lang Syne" has since been recorded many times, in every conceivable style, by many artists, both well-known and obscure. The first commercial recording was probably that of Frank C. Stanley, who recorded the song in 1910 (which can be heard above). In late 1999 an instrumental rendition by the American saxophonist Kenny G reached No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 upon release as a single. At the time of charting it was the oldest-written song to make the Hot 100 charts.<ref name="Bronson">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Kenny G's recording incorporates an audio collage of sound bites taken from throughout 20th century history.<ref name="Bronson" />
Live and broadcast
- 1929: Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians performed it on New Year's Eve for decades until at least 1977: The introduction to Lombardo's 1947 Decca Records version is played in Times Square every New Year's immediately following the dropping of the ball.<ref name="amg">Template:Cite web</ref>
- 1980: Auld Lang Syne was the last song to be marched to by the Rhodesian Light Infantry in its final military parade before the regiment was disbanded.<ref>Template:Cite AV media</ref>
- 1997: On 30 June, the day before Hong Kong was handed over from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China, the tune was played by the silver and pipe bands from the Royal Hong Kong Police Force, at the departure of Hong Kong's 28th and last British Governor, Chris Patten, from his official residence, Government House, Hong Kong. It was also later played in the British Farewell Ceremony later that night when the last British troops of the Black Watch marched away from the Tamar, Hong Kong site.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- 2009: On 30 November (Saint Andrew's Day) students and staff at the University of Glasgow sang it in 41 languages simultaneously.<ref name="BBC">Template:Cite news</ref>
- 2015: On 25 March it was performed by a bagpiper from the Singapore Police Force's Gurkha Contingent Pipes and Drums Platoon at The Istana as a form of respect to the late prime minister of Singapore Lee Kuan Yew during his state funeral.<ref>Template:CitationTemplate:Cbignore</ref>
- 2020: On 29 January it was sung by members of the European Parliament when the Brexit withdrawal agreement was passed, ending the UK's membership in the European Union, finalised two days later on 31 January.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- 2022: On 20 February, at 21:40 CST, it was sung in Mandarin Chinese to mark the end of the 2022 Winter Olympics closing ceremony.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
References
External links
Template:Wikisource Template:Wikisource
- Image of Robert Burns' autograph manuscript
- Auld Lang Syne score Template:Webarchive from the Robert Burns website at National Library of Scotland
- Digitised copy of Auld Lang Syne in James Johnson's Scots Musical Museum, printed between 1787 and 1803, from National Library of Scotland. JPEG, PDF, and XML versions.
- Auld Lang Syne Sheet Music Template:Webarchive
- Auld Lang Syne on Russian folk instruments, Quartet Skaz, Moscow.
- Template:Cite web
- Scotland on TV Auld Lang Syne video performance with lyrics
- Article on songs variant perceptions
- The complete poem by James Watson in the National Library of Scotland
- Les Deux Love Orchestra Classic New Year's Eve Version (MP3)
- An Early American "Auld Lang Syne"
- Template:Cite web
- Multiple versions and tunes at The Mudcat Cafe's "Digital Traditions"
- Template:Librivox book (multiple versions)
- Song of the Old Folks at American Music Preservation.com
Template:Robert Burns Template:New Year Template:Authority control
- 1788 songs
- 1788 poems
- 1788 in Scotland
- Anthems
- Drinking songs
- Graduation
- Hogmanay
- New Year songs
- Poetry by Robert Burns
- Scots-language works
- Scottish folk songs
- Scottish poems
- Scottish words and phrases
- Songs about friendship
- Songs based on poems
- Songs with lyrics by Robert Burns
- The Beach Boys songs
- Traditional ballads
- Songs about parting