Auld Lang Syne by Robert Burns

Most English-speakers on New Year’s Eve sing a song called "Auld Lang Syne" which is an old Scottish song that was first published by the poet Robert Burns in 1796.

Burns transcribed it (and made some refinements to the lyrics) after he heard it sung by an old man in Scotland, Burns’ homeland.

It is often said that "Auld Lang Syne" is one of the most popular songs that nobody knows the lyrics to. "Auld Lang Syne" literally translates as "old long since" and means "times gone by."

The song asks whether old friends and times will be forgotten and promises to remember people of the past with fondness - "For auld lang syne, we'll take a cup of kindness yet."

The lesser-known verses written in Scots language, continue this theme, lamenting how friends who once used to

(run about the hills and pulled up daisies)

(paddled in the stream from morning to dusk)

(have become divided by time, distance, and seas)

(Yet there is always time for old friends to get together, if not in person then in memory and have a “good-will drink”)

But it was Guy Lombardo, and not Robert Burns, who popularized the song and turned it into a New Year's tradition. Lombardo first heard "Auld Lang Syne" in his hometown, Ontario, where it was sung by Scottish immigrants.

The famous dance band, Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians, played the song at midnight in 1929 in New York City at a New Year's eve party, the song became a New Year's tradition since .

Should auld acquaintance be forgot

And never brought to mind

Should auld acquaintance be forgot

And days of auld lang syne

For auld lang syne my dear

For auld lang syne

We will take a cup of kindness yet

For auld lang syne

We two have run about the hills

And pulled the daisies fine

But we ‘ve wandered many a weary foot

Since auld lang syne