Auld Lang Syne

Happy New Year! What Does “Auld Lang Syne” Really Mean? Historians call it “the song that nobody knows.” And yet we’ve all tried to sing it on New Year's Eve. Here's the real "Auld Lang Syne" meaning. There are scores of traditional Christmas songs, but New Year’s really just has one—and we’re willing to bet you don’t even know what it means. (We certainly didn’t!) Belting out “Auld Lang Syne” while watching the ball drop is a cherished New Year’s tradition. Yet most of us join in without knowing the “Auld Lang Syne” meaning, what language it is or even what it has to do with New Year’s. We’ll fill you in so you can use the saying in your New Year’s captions with confidence. “Auld lang syne” is the title and key phrase of a 1788 Scottish poem by Robert “Rabbie” Burns, typically sung on New Year’s Eve around the world. The phrase “auld lang syne,” which literally translates to “old long since,” basically means “days gone by” in the Scots language. Or, as Merriam-Webster explains, the “auld lang syne” meaning is “the good old times.” As Scots immigrated around the world, they took the song with them. Eventually, North American English speakers translated Burns’s dialect into the common lyrics we know today, made famous in part by Guy Lombardo and his band, the Royal Canadians. The group performed the song on New Year’s Eve from 1929 until about 1977. It’s this version that plays every year after the ball drops in Times Square. This year, when you refill your glass with a twinkle of nostalgia in your eye, know that you’re doing exactly what Rabbie Burns would have wanted. FIRST VERSE: Should old acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind? Should old acquaintance be forgot, and old lang syne? CHORUS: For auld lang syne, my dear, For auld lang syne, We’ll take a cup of kindness yet, For auld lang syne. SECOND VERSE: And surely you’ll buy your pint cup! And surely I’ll buy mine! And we’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet, For auld lang syne. CHORUS THIRD VERSE: We two have run about the slopes, And picked the daisies fine; But we’ve wandered many a weary foot, Since auld lang syne. CHORUS FOURTH VERSE: We two have paddled in the stream, from morning sun till dine; But seas between us broad have roared since auld lang syne. CHORUS FIFTH VERSE: And there’s a hand, my trusty friend! And give me a hand o’ thine! And we’ll take a right good-will draught, For auld lang syne. CHORUS