Auld Lang Syne

Frank C. Stanley, 1910

Auld Lang Syne ( Scots , English literally old long since , meaning "long past time") is one of the most famous songs in the English-speaking world. There thesong, which comes from Scotland , is traditionallysung at the turn of the year to commemorate those who died at the end of the year. The German title is Say goodbye, brothers . In the scout movement it is considered a farewell song that is sung at the end of events.

History of origin

Auld Lang Syne

The Airmen of Note, 2009, Cha-Cha-Cha version

The text is based on the ballad Old Long Syne , published in 1711 by James Watson. It shows considerable resemblance to the first stanza and the choral part of the piece later notated by the poet Robert Burns .

On December 17, 1788, Burns mentioned in a letter to Frances Anna Dunlop that the old Scottish song had touched him very much. However, the song did not reach a wider public until 1800 when Playford's Original Scotch Tunes , a collection of Scottish songs, was released. Translated, the title means something like "For the good old days"; often the first words or the first line should auld acquaintance be forgot ("should old friendship [already] be forgotten") are given as the title.

The song appeared as early as December 1907 in the interpretation of Frank Stanley in the first American hit parades, as did the version of the Peerless Quartet in December 1921.

When the Canadian orchestra Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians got the chance to perform as the top band at the New Year's Eve party in New York's Roosevelt Hotel on December 31, 1929 , they played Auld Lang Syne just before midnight, which was the countdown of the last seconds was accompanied. Since then it has been a tradition at the Waldorf Astoria , where the song was played on New Year's Eve until 1976.

Since all copyright periods have expired, the song is now classified as free songs .

The folk band Aisleng sings Auld Lang Syne together with the audience at the end of a concert

Worldwide distribution

Versions

Ludwig van Beethoven recorded the song with a German text by Georg Pertz in his 12 Scottish Songs (WoO 156).

Because of its use in the Boy Scout movement, the song was translated into numerous languages. The German transmission Say Goodbye, Brothers of Claus Ludwig Laue was created for the German Scouting Society Sankt Georg ; The transference How could friendship ever go away comes from Hans Baumann . An Austrian transmission begins with Nun Brüder, this farewell . The French version, Faut-il nous quitter sans espoir , was written by Jacques Sevin, the founder of the French scouting movement.

During the Dutch colonial period in Indonesia played Tanjidor - chapels with brass instruments the song under the title Indonesian Janjii Tua at Chinese funeral processions in Jakarta .

The song was made famous in song books in 1880 by the American music teacher Luther Whiting Mason in Japan. With a text by Chikai Inagaki ( 稲垣千頴 ) it nowadays announces the closing time in department stores and supermarkets as Hotaru no Hikari ( 蛍光光 , "shimmer of the firefly").

The British composer Joseph Holbrooke (1878–1958) wrote his Op. 60 Auld lang syne - variations for orchestra . The titles of these variations are his and 19 other musical friends' initials. a. by Edward Elgar and Richard Strauss .

At the University of Virginia in Charlottesville , USA, the underlying melody was used for the unofficial university song. This version is called The Good Old Song and is sung at the beginning and end of a college football game and after each touchdown.

The Danish poet Jeppe Aakjær (1866–1930) wrote a retouched version in the regional dialect of Jutland , which was used as a farewell song at festivals and the like. has become quite popular: "Skuld gammel venskab rejn forgo og stryges fræ wor mind? ..."; see. Forsvarets sangbog (Danish military songbook ), 5th edition, Copenhagen 1972, No. 101; there as No. 102 the English text by Burns. Also in the hymn book of the Danish folk high school Folkehøjskolens sangbog , 16th edition, Copenhagen 1974, No. 365, and Højskolesangbogen , 18th edition, Copenhagen 2011, No. 176 (Robert Burns, 1788, freely translated by Jeppe Aakjær, 1927; Scottish folk melody) and no. 177 (without melody; text by Robert Burns, 1788, in Scottish vernacular).

Another variant with the title Who knows what the future will bring comes from the German songwriter Hannes Wader .

Lena Valaitis used the melody for her title From somewhere a song sounds .

The group Furbaz with Marie Louise Werth created a Rhaeto-Romanic version entitled In Bien Niev Onn in 1990 , which was published in the album Nadal .

A version of the song by the German punk rock band Die Toten Hosen also exists on the album We're waiting for Christkind . Another interpretation of this kind appeared on the album Clash of the Tartans by the Canadian Celtic punk band The Real McKenzies and in 2004 on the album Ruin Jonny's Bar Mitzvah by the US punk rock cover band Me First and the Gimme Gimmes . Under the title In the old year there is a work of a similar style by the Mainz band Springtoifel , which in terms of text and content is extremely roughly based on the above. German version Say goodbye, brothers oriented.

Cliff Richard sang his hit Millennium Prayer to this melody in 1999 .

On the live album Live at the Fillmore East , Jimi Hendrix plays a heavily improvised and extended version of Auld Lang Syne.

After the title win at the European Football Championship in 1988 by the Dutch national football team , the song Wij houden van Oranje by André Hazes became popular in the Netherlands , the refrain of which is sung to the melody of "Auld Lang Syne". On the occasion of the soccer world championship 2002 (to which the Netherlands could not qualify) this was parodied by the Austrian singer Helmut Schafzahl with the song Without Holland we drive to the World Cup .

In November 2010 she published her interpretation of the hymn on Mariah Carey's second Christmas album Merry Christmas II You . The classic starts traditionally and ends in a party version by Auld Lang Syne .

The band Reel Big Fish released a ska version on the download EP Happy Skalidays in 2014.

On December 31, 2017, the German Gothic Rock Band ASP released their own interpretation of the song, mostly sung in German, in which they thank the fans for the past year. It is titled Say Goodbye .

Movies

In the farewell scene before his departure to England, in which The Little Lord (1936) is separated from Mr. Hobbs and when he talks to Dick Tipton about Cedric, Auld Lang Syne is instrumentally embedded in the musical theme.

The song played a major role in the American post-war film Farewell to Waterloo Bridge from 1940.

The song was used in 1942 in Charlie Chaplin's sound version of his film Goldrausch from 1925 (here instrumental in the piano accompaniment of the silent film) and in 1939 in the UFA film Wasser für Canitoga with Hans Albers.

In Frank Capra's tragic comedy Isn't Life Beautiful? from 1946 with James Stewart and Donna Reed , a version is sung by all actors together in the last scene. The film became one of the most famous Christmas films of all time.

The song is sung by Leo McCarey in the films The Great Love of My Life and by Ettore Scola in Splendor as the characteristic melody for the goodbye motif .

In the 1960 movie Frankie and his cronies , the song plays a pivotal role in the planned duration of the gang's break-in in five Las Vegas casinos.

The song also plays a role in the final scene of Harry and Sally .

In addition, the song is played in countless films and series episodes, almost always in connection with a New Year's Eve celebration. IMDb has a three-digit number of uses in the film in an incomplete list.

Others

During the Last Night of the Proms , the song is traditionally sung a cappella by the audience after the concert has ended .
Following the European Parliament's vote on the exit agreement with Great Britain, a large number of MEPs sang the song together in plenary on January 29, 2020.

Text after Robert Burns

Should auld acquaintance be forgot And never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and days of auld lang syne?		Should old familiarity be forgotten And no longer be thought of? Should old familiarity be forgotten and also the good old days?
refrain		refrain
For auld lang syne, my jo For auld lang syne We'll tak 'a cup o' kindness yet For auld lang syne		Because of the old days, my dear, Because of the old days, let's be kind to each other, Because of the old days.
And surely ye'll be your pint-stoup And surely I'll be mine And we'll tak 'a cup o' kindness yet For auld lang syne.		And surely you take your beer mug to your chest And surely I'll take mine, And we'll take another cup because of the old times.
We twa hae run about the braes, and pou'd the gowans fine But we've wander'd mony a weary fit, sin 'auld lang syne.		We both ran over the hills and plucked the beautiful daisies, Yet we walked many a tired step since those old days.
We twa hae paidl'd in the burn, frae morning sun till dine But seas between us braid hae roar'd, sin 'auld lang syne.		We both paddled in the river From morning to sunset But since then, wide seas have roared between us, Since those old days.
And there's a hand, my trusty fiere And gie's a hand o 'thine And we'll tak' a right gude-willie waught for auld lang syne.		And here is my hand, my faithful friend, And strike with yours! And then let's take a good drink because of the old days.

melody

according to digital.nls.uk

${\ key f \ major \ time 2/4 \ partial 8 \ small \ override Score.BarNumber # 'transparent = ## t \ override Score.BarNumber #' transparent = ## t c'8 f'8. f'16 f'8 a'8 g'8. f'16 g'8. a'16 f'16 f'8. a'8 c''8 d''4. f''8 c''8. a'16 a'8 f'8 g'8. f'16 g'8. a'16 f'8. d'16 d'8 c'8 f'4. d''8 c''16 a'8. a'8. f'16 g'8. f'16 g'8. a'16 c''16 a'8. a'8. c''16 d''4 .. f''16 c''8 a'8 a'8 f'8 g'8. f'16 g'8. a'16 f'16 d'8. d'8. c'16 f'4. \ bar "|." } \ addlyrics {\ small \ set stanza = # "1." Should auld ac - quain - tance be for - got, And ne - ver brought to mind? Should auld ac - quain - tance be for - got and days o 'la - ng syne? For au - ld la - ng syne my dear, For au - ld la - ng syne, We'll tak a cup o 'kind - ness yet For au - ld la - ng syne. }$

literature

William D. Crump: Encyclopedia of New Year's Holidays Worldwide. McFarland, 2014, ISBN 978-1-4766-0748-1 , p. 8 ( books.google.de ).
Alice Vincent: Auld Lang Syne: should old lyrics be forgot… what the song means, and eight things you didn't know about it. In: The Telegraph, December 31, 2016 ( telegraph.co.uk ).
Claire Prentice: 'Auld Lang Syne': New Year's song has a convoluted history. In: The Washington Post . December 30, 2011 ( washingtonpost.com ).