[1.19.00] AULD LANG SYNE: It has become the well-known anthem of every New Year's celebration, and is a melody recognized by people the world o'er. But so few people know the words they endeavor to sing, let alone the extensive history and meaning behind them. Even those who do know the words do not often grasp the significance of them, but rather view the song only as a prelude to drunken festivities as the clock strikes twelve. So what, then, is the story behind the song?

sung by Kenneth McKellar
from The Robert Burns Collection - The Burns Supper
PROPERTY OF LINN RECORDS (SCO)
Used with permission.

...ｻｷｷ覧覧覧覧覧覧旅ｷｫ...

the history ...

In its initial form, whatever and whenever that might have been, Auld Lang Syne was a common Scottish folksong. Unfortunately, the ballad's original author and form will never be known. The Protestant Reformation of the 16th century left Scotland in the extreme puritanical hands of the kirk, who were progressive in matters of intellectual education, but who had proven to be the very adversaries of art, music, and anything else reminiscent of the flamboyancy of Catholicism and the old Scotland. It was, therefore, mainly through traveling bards and the country's peasantry that Auld Lang Syne and countless other traditional songs of Scotland were handed down for generations. As these ballads were imparted over time, they were almost certainly altered moderately with each new singer.

Most commonly, Auld Lang Syne is attributed to Robert Burns (1759-1796). It is reasonable to conclude that Burns himself learned the piece through a bard, since, in a letter to George Thomson, Burns said, referring to Auld Lang Syne, "I took it down from an old man's singing" (qtd. in Houghton 251). Burns' version of Auld Lang Syne was included with more than a hundred other songs written or revised by Burns in James Johnson's The Scots Musical Museum, which consisted of six volumes, four of which were published sometime between 1787 and 1796. The final two volumes reached publication after Burns' death. (I haven't been able to find precise publication dates for the individual volumes, nor  can I seem to discover which volume contained Auld Lang Syne.)

Auld Lang Syne was accompanied in Museum by what Burns acknowledge was a weak tune. It was probably George Thompson, editor of A Select Collection of Original Scottish Airs, to which Burns also submitted some sixty songs, who later paired Auld Lang Syne with the tune we know today: a melody which originally emerged in Robert Bremner's Reels (1759), but was used with 'O can ye labor lea in Museum. This tune was also utilized in Rosina, an opera by William Shield (Lindsay 301).

The phrase "auld lang syne" translates roughly to "olden time" (Cuthbertson 16) and was a long-standing Scottish expression of reminiscence. Burns seems to have been especially moved by the saying and its relevance. In another letter to a Mrs. Dunlop, written December 17, 1788, Burns said, "Is not the Scotch phrase Auld Lang-syne exceedingly expressive? There is an old song and tune which has often thrilled through my soul" (qtd. in Houghton 251). It was thus, perhaps, that Burns was prompted to pen the version of the song that has endured to our day.

It is believed that much of Burns' salvaging of Auld Lang Syne was of his own imagination and that he is not unduly credited. However, at least three versions of "Auld Lang Syne" were seen in print before Museum; one was attributed on uncertain grounds to Francis Sempill of Beltrees or Sir Robert Aytoun, another was published in Watson (1711), and a third, by Allan Ramsay, was found in Tea-Table Miscellany (1724). These earlier sets may or may not have influenced Burns. (Although I have found references to the existance of a version in Watson, my attempts at finding the texts have been dissappointingly unsuccessful.)

...ｻｷｷ覧覧覧覧覧覧旅ｷｫ...

the language ...

• "Auld. Old" (Cuthbertson 15).
• "Auld lang-syne. Olden time" (Cuthbertson 16).
• "Brae. A declivity, a precipice, the slope of a hill" (Cuthbertson 48).
• "Braid. Broad" (Cuthbertson 48).
• "Fier, fiere. A brother, a companion" (Cuthbertson 148).
• "Gowans. The flower of the wild or mountain daisy, dandelion, hawkweed, etc. When gowan is used alone, it always means the mountain daisy. Ewe-gowan refers to the common daisy" (Cuthbertson 182).
• "Lang. Long; to think long, to long, to weary" (Cuthbertson 245).
• "Paidl't, paidl'dt. Paddled, rowed" (?).
• "Right guid-willie waught. A toast, a drink to good fellowship." (?).
• "Stoup, stowp. A kind of jug or dish with a handle" (Cuthbertson 376).
• "Syne. Since, ago, then" (Cuthbertson 387).
  

...ｻｷｷ覧覧覧覧覧覧旅ｷｫ...

the lyrics ...

Burns' Auld Lang Syne:

..

From Ramsay's version:

..

Older version, attributed on uncertain grounds to Francis Sempill of Beltrees or Sir Robert Aytoun (Neilson 99):
.

...ｻｷｷ覧覧覧覧覧覧旅ｷｫ...

sources ...

Creeley, Robert. The Essential Burns. New York: The Ecco Press, 1989.

Cuthbertson, John. Complete Glossary to the Poetry and Prose of Robert Burns. New York: Johnson Reprint Corporation, 1886.

Houghton Mifflin Co. The Complete Poetical Works of Burns. Cambridge, Massachusetts: The Riverside Press, 1897.

Lindsay, Maurice. Robert Burns: the Man his Work, the Legend. New York: St. Martin's Press, Inc, 1979.

Neilson, William Allan. Robert Burns: How to Know Him. Indianapolis, Indiana: The Bobbs-Merril Company, 1917.

Wilkie, George Scott. Select Works of Robert Burns: Verse, Explanation and Glossary. Glasgow: Neil Wilson Publishing Limited, 1999.