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Auld Lang Syne
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tags: [music]
► definition
Definition:a Scots poem written by Robert Burns in 1788 and set to the tune of a traditional folk song (Roud # 6294). It is well known in many countries, especially in the English-speaking world, its traditional use being to bid farewell to the old year at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve. By extension, it is also sung at funerals, graduations, and as a farewell or ending to other occasions. The international Scouting movement, in many countries, uses it to close jamborees and other functions.The song's Scots title may be translated into standard English as "old long since", or more idiomatically, "long long ago", "days gone by" or "old times". Consequently, "For auld lang syne", as it appears in the first line of the chorus, might be loosely translated as "for (the sake of) old times".text from Wikipedia, licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealikesound file: CC0
► uses
Uses:
Blackadder: My mad cousin McAdder - the most dangerous man ever to wear a skirt in Europe.
Baldrick: Yeah, he come in here playing the bag-pipes, then he made a haggis, sang Auld Lang Syne and punched me in the face.
BBC. Blackadder, season 3: Duel and Duality
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Mrs. Micawber's spirits becoming elevated, too, we sang 'Auld Lang Syne'. When we came to 'Here's a hand, my trusty frere', we all joined hands round the table; and when we declared we would 'take a right gude Willie Waught', and hadn't the least idea what it meant, we were really affected.
Charles Dickens. David Copperfield (1850)
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The rest of us joined in. "Let ole acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind, should ole acquaintance be forgot and days of Auld Lang Syne!"
Alice Sebold. The Lovely Bones, p.221 (2002)
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The song ended. The girl in the flowered dress turned and kissed him, melting into him, clutching him, making him dizzy with the smell of wine and heliotrope perfume, as the other people around him sang, like all the gay, jubilating ghosts at every New Year's party that had ever been held, the sentimental and haunting words of "Auld Lang Syne."
Irwin Shaw. The Young Lions, p.586 (1948)
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The sun went down, and night drew on; still we were in Scotland. Scotch ballads, Scotch tunes, and Scotch literature were in the ascendant. We sang "Auld Lang Syne," "Scots wha ha'," and "Bonnie Doon," and then, changing the key, sang Dundee, Elgin, and Martyrs.
Harriet Beecher Stowe. Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands, Volume 1 (of 2) (1854)
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