Great seasonal music - Auld Lang Syne

The text of Auld Lang Syne is a Scots-language poem written by Robert Burns (1759-96) in 1788 but based on an older Scottish folk song. In 1799, it was set to a traditional pentatonic/Scots folk melody, probably a sprightly dance in a much quicker tempo. I hope this was correct because the slow version is not nearly as attractive.

Traditionally considered Scotland's national poet, Burns stirred the country's national consciousness by writing in the dying out Scots language. In English, auld lang syne roughly means times long past. Aptly the song tells of old friends meeting after time apart:

For auld lang syne, my dear
For auld lang syne
We'll drink a cup of kindness yet
For the sake of auld lang syne

And surely, you will buy your cup
And surely, I'll buy mine!
We'll take a cup of kindness yet
For the sake of auld lang syne

We two who've paddled in the stream
From morning sun 'til night
The seas between us roared and swelled
Since the days of auld lang syne

Robert Burns

Morgan Library

Since the music's global fame came before the invention of sound recording and broadcasting, how did its popularity spread? The BBC said that in 1877, Alexander Graham Bell used it to demonstrate the telephone, and in 1890 it was one of the first songs recorded on Emil Berliner's gramophone.

Because I went to a Jewish school and never heard the song, I assumed Auld Lang Syne was Christian. And in many Christian communities, Auld Lang Syne was indeed seen to honour God, giving thanks for the blessings of the past year. But the song was often sung on New Year's Eve or during special services on New Year's Day to reflect on the past and give thanks for the present. With its focus on friendship, reminiscence and separation and not religious, Burns' Auld Lang Syne expressed the spirit of times saying goodbye to one year so that another could begin. It was traditionally sung at New Year gatherings in Scotland and globally, especially in English-speaking countries.

The tune of a traditional folk song was used to celebrate the start of the New Year at the stroke of midnight. Soon it was also sung at funerals, graduations and to farewell other events. The international Boy Scout youth movement in many countries used it as a close to jamborees. The Scouts also played a key role in its global fame. It was sung at the end of the first World Scout Jamboree in 1920 and versions in French, German and other languages soon followed.

The first line of the chorus meant for the sake of old times. The song began by posing a rhetorical question as to whether it was right that old times be forgotten versus remembering long-standing friendships. Most common use of the song involved only the first verse and the chorus.

Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, 2007

ebay

When only one singer sang the words, there was little power felt by the audience. So I always preferred a professional choral version eg arranged by Desmond Earley withthe Chamber Singers or, even better, performed by 700 mates at The Triffid, Brisbane with the Queensland Wind Orchestra. Listen to both!

Scottish poetry, song and literature had a big influence on the Romantic movement in Germany. Aided by the cult of the ancient Gaelic bard whose texts were published in an English translation by James Macpherson in the later C18th, Scotland came to be revered as representing one of the most ancient and noble cultures in Europe. If you are interested in the German connection, read the above reference.

Why do people link hands to sing Auld Lang Syne (BBC)? On New Year's Eve millions of people around the world link hands when they sang. Research from the University of Edinburgh has revealed the origins of the Hogmanay tradition were freemasonry-connected*, given that singing with arms crossed was a parting ritual at many Masonic lodges. A newpaper report of an Ayrshire lodge's Burns Supper in 1879 describes the music being sung as members formed The Circle of Unity, a Masonic ritual called the Chain of Union. It emerged in the mid-C19th among Freemasons and other fraternal organisations. Robert Burns was a Freemason, the organisation that was instrumental in promoting the poet's work during his life and after.

Revellers at The Ritz London

link arms at midnight New Years Eve, 1986

Facebook

 

In the final verse the singer offers his hand of friendship to an old friend, and asks for one in return. Burns wrote And there's a hand, my trusty fiere. And gie's a hand o' thine. At this point the hands are crossed and offered to the those on either side in the circle of singers.

The song's use at new year emerged around the same time, through Scots gathering outside St Paul's Cathedral in London and others living abroad.

*Dr Morag Grant (BBC) uncovered the masonic link while researching her book Auld Lang Syne: A Song And Its Culture (2021), which explored how its popularity spread around the world. She studied sources including written accounts, newspaper reports, theatre playbills, printed music and early recordings. She said It's remarkable how this song, written in a language which even most Scots don't fully understand, has become so synonymous with new year the world over. It is a song about the ties that bind us to others across the years, a song very much rooted in the world Burns lived.