As we prepare to spend a special evening December 31, 2017 bringing in the New Year at DuckTales Kitchen (Learn more here) we started to think about the song that seems to be sung around the world as the clock turns to midnight “Auld Lang Syne”. So, we reached out to our good friend Google and found several articles that bring us back to the same answer… it started out as a poem in Scotland that Robert Burns wrote out on a piece of paper in 1788 and sent to the Scots Musical Museum, indicating that it was an ancient song but that he’d been the first to record it on paper.
The literal translation of the words “Auld Lang Syne” is “old long since”. The song apparently “touched the soul” of Robert Burns as it was sung traditionally throughout his life in Scotland. The popularity, of course, is because it evokes our sense of belonging and fellowship as we think back over the previous and look toward our future relationships. Here at DuckTales, we enjoy the same nostalgia. We enjoy hearing the stories from our customers that remember Waddles and creating new stories with our own traditions, like New Year’s Eve Dinners!
We found a couple of good resources, each with slightly different information: Wikipedia and Scotland.org. The Wikipedia site has a great comparison of the lyrics as they would sound in the various languages (Burns’ original Scots verse, English translation, Scots pronunciation guide and Burns’ own Ayrshire dialect).
The Scotland.org site seems to do a better job of talking about the tradition of the song. It has long been a Scottish tradition to sing the song just before midnight with everyone holding hands in a circle, then, they cross their arms across their bodies at the beginning of the final verse (‘And there’s a hand my trusty friend’) so that their left hand is holding the hand of the person on their right and the right hand holds the hand of the person to their left.
At the end of the song everyone rushes to the middle, still holding hands and most likely laughing a bit!
If you don’t want to visit the two sites we gleaned this information from, here is a copy of the full version (English) of the song (how many of you remember all of the verses??):
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.
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
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
We two have paddled in the stream,
from morning sun till dine†;
But seas between us broad have roared
since auld lang syne.
CHORUS
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