December 29, 2022 – Theme Week Day 2

This is the second day of our New Year’s Eve theme week! Today we’re talking about THE New Years Eve song, “Auld Lang Syne”! The lyrics of the song were written by Scottish poet Robert Burns in 1788, based on an old Scottish folk tune. Essentially, he was just the first one to write the song down, though he did embellish it with some lines of his own, mostly the ones about drinking (“we’ll take a cup of kindness yet,” etc.) What does “Auld Lang Syne” mean? It translates literally to “old long since”, in other words “days gone by” or “the good old times”. The song is about remembering long-standing friendships and the good old days with a hopeful look toward more good times ahead. Singing the song on New Year’s Eve became a custom in Scotland and the British Isles, which immigrants brought with them and spread across the globe. We have bandleader Guy Lombardo to thank for popularizing the song. He and his band first played it on a New Year’s Eve broadcast in 1929. He continued the tradition every year until he died in 1977. His 1947 recording of the song is what is played each year in Times Square after the ball drop. Learn more here.