Auld Lang Syne (1788) is a Scots song by Robert Burns, based on an older folk song. Its title means 'old long since', the days long ago, and it is sung around the world at New Year, at farewells and at graduations.
Burns and the old song
Burns sent the song to the Scots Musical Museum, a collection of Scottish songs, saying he had taken it down from an old man's singing. He probably reworked older verses and added his own.
Versions with the same refrain existed before him, including one by the poet Allan Ramsay.
The song
The song is a toast to old friendship: the singers remember running about the hillsides and paddling in the stream as children, and drink a cup of kindness together.
It is traditionally sung in a circle, with crossed arms joining hands with the neighbours at the last verse.
Around the world
It became the standard Scottish song for Hogmanay, the New Year's Eve celebration, and spread with Scottish emigrants across the English-speaking world.
It is also sung in many translations: in France as Ce n'est qu'un au revoir, and in Japan its melody accompanies the closing of shops and graduation ceremonies.
Anecdotes
A different tune
The melody sung today is not the one Burns first matched to the words; it was set to the present tune in George Thomson's Select Scottish Airs in 1799.
Guy Lombardo
In the United States, the bandleader Guy Lombardo made the song a New Year's tradition with his radio and television broadcasts from 1929 onwards.
Frequently asked questions
What does 'auld lang syne' mean?
'Old long since', meaning the days long ago.
Did Burns write the whole song?
He reworked an old folk song, adding verses of his own.
Is there a French version?
Yes, Ce n'est qu'un au revoir.