The History of “Auld Lang Syne”The popular New Years Eve anthem “Auld Lang Syne” is known around the world for its lyrics and melodies. Attributed to the famous Scottish poet and songwriter, Robert Burns, its origins date back to 1788.

Robert Burns was born in January of 1759, and is regarded as “The Bard” of Scotland, penning hundreds of poems in the Scots and English language. Even today he remains one of the most prominent and popular figures in Scottish history.

The poem, “Auld Lang Syne” was not entirely an original work by Burns. Like many of the folk stories and songs, they were passed down generation-to-generation. Each retelling may have slight variations and evolve over time. Burns recorded the oral tradition of this old folk song by an old man he met and put the lyrics of “Auld Lang Syne” to paper. By doing so, Burns helped to preserve a piece of Scottish history and sharing it with the world.

This folk song was rather well known, as evidenced by the similarities to other poets in the 17th and 18th centuries such as Robert Ayton, Allan Ramsay, and James Watson. Each of these poets had slightly different interpretations of the phrase “Auld Lang Syne” in their work, but the similarities show a common folk origin.

Burns originally sent “Auld Lang Syne” along with a collection of his works to James Johnson to be included in the Standard Collection of Scottish Songs as part of the “Scots Musical Museum”. The piece was to be included in a volume of published work that was completed in 1796, several months after Burns’ death.

“Auld Lang Syne” is set to the tune of a traditional Scottish folk song. This song was most likely a dance piece and set to a faster tempo, but modified after put to its new lyrics. Unlike many poets, Burns had a hand in choosing the tune that accompanied the song and paid particular attention to how the melody flowed with the lyrics.

Most know for being sung at the stroke of midnight on New Years Eve, “Auld Lang Syne” is often sung at funerals, graduations, and farewells. Although the original song has five versus, many times only the first verse and chorus is sung. The title is translated from the Scots language of as “old long since”, or more understandable to English speakers, “long, long ago”.

The Scots would sing “Auld Lang Syne” on Hogmanay, their translation for the last day of the year. The tradition and song quickly spread to the rest of the United Kingdom becoming a favorite custom at New Years Eve celebrations. As the Scots and Brits immigrated to other parts of the world, they brought the song with them spreading its popularity.

Guy Lombardo is credited with making the song popular on New Year’s Eve in the United States by broadcasting it on his widely popular radio and television shows from the late 1920’s through the 1940’s. Lombardo sang one of the first recordings available to the public in 1939.

The lyrics are a lasting reminder to people that the old times should not be forgotten and life-long friendships should be cherished. “Auld Lang Syne” has been translated in languages around the world and remains one of the most known songs of all time.

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Auld Lang Syne - A Few Arranging Ideas for this traditional new year’s eve song.

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.

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Like any song, there are countless variations you can use on “Auld Lang Syne”, and since it is New Years Eve as I’m writing this, I thought I might share with you one way to add color to everybody’s favorite New Years Eve song:

Auld Lang Syne

Should auld acquaintance be forgot

And never brought to mind?

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

And auld lang syne?

Chorus:

For auld lang syne, my jo,

For auld lang syne.

We’ll tak’ a cup o’kindness yet,

For auld lang syne.

Translated to more-or-less modern day English it reads something like this:

The Days of Yore

Should we forget our former friends

By whom we set great store?

Should we forget the friends we’ve met

And the brave days of yore?

Chorus:

The days of yore. My dear

The days of yore,

We’ll tilt the jug and drain the mug

to the brave days of yore.

Auld Lang Syne

EVERYBODY Ought to Learn to Play At Least a Little Chord Piano!

There are roughly umpteen zillion reasons why you should learn

enough chords to be able to “chord a song” at the piano.

By “chord a song”, I mean the ability to play 3 or 4 chords on

the piano in some sort of rhythm while you or someone else sings

the tune. To do this, you don’t need to be a Van Cliburn; all you

need to do is learn a few basic chords and be able to more back

and forth between them in some organized rhythmic pattern.

For example, did you realize that all of these songs (and

hundreds more) can be sung or played with just 3 chords?

Auld Lang Syne

Amazing Grace

Kum Ba Ya

Silent Night

Joy To The World

Jingle Bells

Happy Birthday

Down In The Valley

On Top Of Old Smoky…

and hundreds or maybe thousands more!

Add just one more chord to the basic 3, and you can play another

thousand songs or so. So why not learn a few chords and start

your chording career?

Here are my top 10 reasons for learning “chord piano”:

1) It’s easy. Learn 3 chords and start in — it’s not rocket

science!

2) Even though it’s easy to get started, you don’t have to stop

there. You can learn more and more chords and more rhythm

patterns and get really good if you choose to.

3) You’ll be able to play “Happy Birthday” while the gang sings

it, since it only has 3 simple chords.

4) You’ll be able to play half-a-dozen Christmas carols like “Joy

To The World”, “Silent Night” because they too have just 3 simple

chords. In case you haven’t noticed, Christmas comes every year,

so every year you’ll get better as you participate in family

gatherings.

5) You can help your kids learn to play the piano, guitar, or

most any other instrument by learning chords. Most teachers don’t

teach chords, so you’ll be giving your kids an advantage by

learning chords.

6) People will admire you. It’s true. Musicians are popular.

Anyone who can play anything is in demand at parties and social

gatherings. And if you can “chord” while others sing, you’re

bound to be popular.

7) Piano playing using chords is good for your brain. Studies

have shown that people who actively participate in music do their

brain lots of good. And since chords require 3 or 4 notes at a

time instead of one, you are giving your brain a good workout.

Piano playing, particularly using chords, is good exercise for

your wrists and fingers. (Take the time to learn about correct

hand position, though!)

9) Piano playing is excellent therapy for the stress of life.

Many professional people come home from a hard days work and

relax by expressing their emotions on the keyboard. Play a few

dark and angry chords, and you’ll be surprised how much better

you feel!

10) Piano playing is a blast. It’s just plain old fun. So learn 3

or 4 chords and get going. Maybe you’ll stop there and enjoy it

the rest of your life.

But just maybe you’ll love it so much that you keep going and

turn yourself into an excellent piano player who can read music

as well as play chords!

To get started, go to http://www.chordpiano.com