THIS WEEK'S FEATURE ARTICLES

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Auld Lang Syne
Despite not being written for New Year’s Day, the song “Auld Lang Syne” is sung on New Years Eve as the clock strikes midnight. Sung by thousands who aren’t exactly sure what it means.
It’s written in Scots, which sounds like English in some ways but is a distinct language. Scots is descended from Northern English, which replaced Scottish Gaelic in some portions of Scotland between the 11th and 14th centuries. The literal translation of auld lang syne is “old long since,” but it effectively means “for old times’ sake.”
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne!
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne.
We’ll tak a cup o’ 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 mony 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 fere!
And gie’s a hand o’ thine!
And we’ll tak a right gude-willie waught,
For auld lang syne.
According to Wikipedia: “The text is a Scots-language poem written by Robert Burns in 1788 but based on an older Scottish folk song. In 1799, it was set to a traditional pentatonic tune, which has since become standard.
The poem’s Scots title may be translated into standard English as “old long since” or, less literally, “long, long ago”, “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”.
Robert 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.”
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 and is almost certainly derived from the same “old song”.
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. There is some doubt as to whether this melody is the one Burns originally intended his version of the song to be sung to.”
Wishing a very happy 2025 to all.
Marian Hearn


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