Auld Lang Syne has been on my mind lately. Yes, that song - the annual earworm with countless lyrical variations yet perhaps one of the most recognizable tunes currently sung, played or performed on the planet Earth.
More, lots more old acquaintance, et al, below the break...
Naturally, there is a Wiki article on it. Let's start our wistful huzzah to the days of yore here -
Robert Burns forwarded a copy of the original song to the Scots Musical Museum 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". At the time it was fashionable to claim someone else's work. It was "traditional"; therefore, one should take Burns' statement with mild scepticism. 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' later poem. It is a fair supposition to attribute the rest of the poem to Burns himself.
There is some doubt as to whether the melody used today is the same one Burns originally intended, but it is widely used both in Scotland and in the rest of the world.
The wiki compares and contrasts four versions of the lyrics as well. As well as the difference of opinion on what the words are there are considerable differences of opinion on their meaning, and despite any literary criticism, how the song is in fact used.
The only constant of the song is its tune.
Global appeal
This song, the tune, variations on its lyrics in dozens of languages, is famous worldwide. Wherever not only the British Empire extended but far beyond as well. It is used for graduations. For funerals. For football games. For the Boy Scouts in many lands. The South Koreans used the tune as their national anthem for many years. The song has such longevity that in Thailand (see the wiki, for the full accounts of these anecdotes) it is purportedly assumed to be a native folk song. This might seem humorous but consider that the five-tone pentatonic scale is fond in traditional music across the planet. srsly!:
A pentatonic scale is a musical scale with five pitches per octave in contrast to an heptatonic (seven note) scale such as the major scale. Pentatonic scales are very common and are found all over the world, including but not limited to Celtic folk music, Hungarian folk music, West African music, African-American spirituals, Jazz, American blues music and rock music, Sami joik singing, children's songs, the Greek traditional music and songs from Epirus, Northwest Greece and the music of Southern Albania, the tuning of the Ethiopian krar and the Indonesian gamelan, Philippine Kulintang, melodies of Korea, Japan, China and Vietnam (including the folk music of these countries), the Afro-Caribbean tradition, Polish highlanders from the Tatra Mountains, and Western Classical composers such as French composer Claude Debussy.
Ok, so what are the lyrics?
let's go with these, shall we?. I'd copy in the text but this website seems rather strict with its views on doing so. Also, it helps to look at both versions, both the old quasi-Scots penned by Burns (with other authors adding verses later, perhaps) and the Standard English side by side.
Still, it's not like this isn't a public domain song at this point, so I will cite this rendition here:
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne?
CHORUS:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak a cup of kindness yet,
For auld lang syne!
And surely ye'll be your pint-stowp,
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 monie a weary fit,
Sin auld lang syne.
We twa hae paidl'd in the burn
Frae morning sun till dine,
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 guid-willie waught,
For auld lang syne
And what do the words mean?
From the same linky above there is a nice glossary...
auld lang syne - times gone by
be - pay for
braes - hills
braid - broad
burn - stream
dine - dinner time
fiere - friend
fit - foot
gowans - daisies
guid-willie waught - goodwill drink
monie - many
morning sun - noon
paidl't - paddled
pint-stowp - pint tankard
pou'd - pulled
twa - two
If you mean the intention of the original words or their good-faith English translation, well, it turns out there is a Robert (aka Rabbie) Burns club, the website of which has much to say on the topic of Auld Lang Syne
A very interesting question ! Particularly interesting when you consider that most people throughout the civilised world recognise these three simple words, yet few may actually know what "Auld Lang Syne" is all about. Of course, many will instantly associate the words with "Scotland" or perhaps "New Year" Some consider it to be an international expression of friendship, fellowship and hope. Others perceive it to be a simple song, presented at the conclusion of a social gathering, remembering the past and re-affirming the importance of our future, and those important to us.
The discussion goes into the origins of the different verses, including the debate if Burns wrote the words himself or, as he attributed, it was recovery of a traditional Scottish ballad never put to paper before his hand...
Whether Burns himself wrote these lines cannot be proven. Either way, imagine these words being spoken by one solid friend to another.. and forget the song! Whoever wrote these simple lines surely expressed what many of us, all too often fail to say to those most important to us:-
[I'll paraphrase here]
And there's a hand my trusted friend
And give a hand of thine
And we'll take a right goodwilling draught
For auld lang syne
It is this verse, none of the others before, and certainly not the occasionally and profoundly misunderstood first verse, that is the heart of the song.
And when the entire piece is read, and its meaning understood, it is clear that the first verse is a rhetorical question -
Should old acquaintances be forgot
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And auld lang syne?
As the title characters, Billy Crystal ask Meg Ryan in the closing scene of When Harry Met Sally, more or less, what's up with Auld Lang Syne?
Harry: "What does this song mean?
"For my whole life I don't know what this song means. I mean, 'Should old acquaintance be forgot'.
"Does that mean we should forget old acquaintances, or does it mean if we happen to forget them we should remember them, which is not possible because we already forgot them?"
Sally: "Maybe it just means that we should remember that we forgot them or something."
He's not alone in his confusion. But he'd have his answer once he read the rest of the lyrics. Sally's muddled through answer is close - maybe we aren't supposed to forget old acquaintances in the first place and when we do remember them, perhaps we should take the chance to raise the glasses of our compassion, full of goodwill, to those who have journeyed on, and drink fondly to those who have faded with distance. Some may someday return. Some never shall. Some never should. But it heals the heart to be generous, and hurts it to be bitter and it is rarely a bad thing to drink with friends in good cheer.
To Auld Lang Syne.