Auld Lang Syne Exposed

You'd expect me to wrap up the year with a salute to the musicians we lost in 2011 (Clarence Clemmons, for example) or to highlight artists that had an impact on the types of music I prefer (Like Tommy Castro or Smokin Joe Kubek and Bnois King playing the blues) or to make lame predictions about the music biz in 2012 (Definitely "The end of the world as we know it" as the music industry continues to reinvent itself in order to survive). However, after hearing numerous versions of "Auld Lang Syne" in the background of the morning news today - from heavy metal to strings to horns to slow, medium and fast tempos - I decided to find out the real meaning of this "only-played-every-New-Year's-Eve-anthem."

I knew it was Scottish (Like me, partially) and I always have the Guy Lombardo version playing in my head as the midnight hour approaches. But I didn't realize the song comes from a poem written by Robert Burns in 1788. It is said to mean : "Old long since", long,long ago" , "days gone by, " old times" and - as in the refrain of the song -"For (the sake of) old times." I think I gew up believing the song was only sung when adults were inebriated, so the words didn't have to make sense.

In fact the phrase was also used by poets who pre-dated Burns, as well as appearing in older folk songs. Singing it became a Scottish custom, which then spread throughout the United Kingdom and to other parts of the world as the Scots emigrated to other countries, becoming a popular Scottish import along with shortbread and kilts. Although the song's popularity is still attributed to Guy Lombardo's Royal Canadiens beginning to play it as a New Year's Eve theme in 1929 (Released as a single in 1947), there are several references that date it through the years as the official "Out with the old" anthem.

The original version is thought to be "Old Long Syne" by poet James Watson in 1711 and then appropirated by Burns. Watson's lyrics suggest lost love, always a good reason to have another round:
 Should Old Acquaintance be forgot,
and never thought upon;
The flames of Love extinguished,
and fully past and gone:
Is thy sweet Heart now grown so cold,
that loving Breast of thine;
That thou canst never once reflect
on Old long syne.

So if you end up singing "Auld Lang Syne" at the stroke of midnight, drink a toast to James Watson, Robert Byrnes and Guy Lombardo, and honor Scotland's contribution to party animals everywhere.