Auld Lang Syne
[NOTE: This is a slightly edited version of an older post.]
The lyrics were written in Scots dialect by the poet Robert Burns in 1788. That’s a lot of auld lang syne ago.
But the song—set to a traditional folk tune—has endured, particularly at New Year’s to be sung right after midnight. Nostalgia is a common theme at the turn of the year.
What I hadn’t known till I read that Wiki entry is that the song has spread all over the world, either in translation or just the tune:
“Auld Lang Syne” has been translated into many languages, and the song is widely sung all over the world. The song’s pentatonic scale matches scales used in Korea, Japan, India, China and other East Asian countries, which has facilitated its “nationalisation” in the East…
—In West Bengal and Bangladesh, the melody was the direct inspiration for the popular Bengali folk song[23][24] “Purano shei diner kotha” (“Memories of the Good Old Days”), composed by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, and forms one of the more recognisable tunes in Rabindra Sangeet (“Rabindra’s Songs”), a body of work of 2,230 songs and lyrical poems that form the backbone of Bengali music.
—In Denmark, the song was translated in 1927 by the famous Danish poet Jeppe Aakjær. Much like Robert Burns’ use of dialect, Aakjær translated the song into Sallingbomål, a form of the Jutlandic dialect often hard for other Danes to understand…
—In Thailand, the song “Samakkhi Chumnum” (“Together in Unity”), which is set to the familiar melody, is sung after sporting fixtures, and at the end of Boy Scout jamborees, as well as for the New Year. The Thai lyrics are about the King and national unity, and many Thais are not aware of the song’s “Western” origin…
Auld Lang Syne has been used in other works such as movies and poems. My favorite reference is in a poem by Edwin Arlington Robinson, one you may have encountered in poetry anthologies, “Mr. Flood’s Party.” It’s a poem about time and age and isolation. Old Eben Flood climbs a hill and drinks from a jug, talking to himself—that’s the gist of the poem. But of course it’s much more than that.
Here’s the reference (the last 3 stanzas of the poem). It begins with Flood talking to himself as though conversing with an old friend:
…“Well, Mr. Flood, we have not met like this
In a long time; and many a change has come
To both of us, I fear, since last it was
We had a drop together. Welcome home!”
Convivially returning with himself,
Again he raised the jug up to the light;
And with an acquiescent quaver said:
“Well, Mr. Flood, if you insist, I might.“Only a very little, Mr. Flood—
For auld lang syne. No more, sir; that will do.”
So, for the time, apparently it did,
And Eben evidently thought so too;
For soon amid the silver loneliness
Of night he lifted up his voice and sang,
Secure, with only two moons listening,
Until the whole harmonious landscape rang—“For auld lang syne.” The weary throat gave out,
The last word wavered; and the song being done,
He raised again the jug regretfully
And shook his head, and was again alone.
There was not much that was ahead of him,
And there was nothing in the town below—
Where strangers would have shut the many doors
That many friends had opened long ago.
Don’t mean to be gloomy, although the poem is. Here’s to a better 2024 for all of us, and for the whole world!
Amen for a better 2024, for individuals and for the country and the world.
Ah yes, yes indeed — a better year for us and for the world. I’ll second that!
Just watching the parade in Pasadena. I love it when they pan up and I can see the mountains. I grew up at the foot of those mountains, from 1949 until about 1960. I am sure I would not want to live there now because of what CA has turned into, but I still love those mountains.
I just got word that two young friends of mine who got married January 1, 2023 are expecting their first child in May 2024. I can’t think of a better way for my day to start. Except for the coffee I’m drinking.
Dan Fogelberg wrote a song called ‘Same Old Lang Syne,’ about a chance meeting with a former girlfriend on Christmas Eve. It’s a haunting song.
The chorus goes:
‘We drank a toast to innocence
We drank a toast to now
And tried to reach beyond the emptiness
But neither one knew how
HLT:
Yes. Please see this post.
A toast to auld acquaintances.
Out of the blue a relative of one of our Navy pilots who died over Vietnam in 1965 has tracked me down.
He is asking for details of what life was like for his cousin during his months aboard the USS Midway.
I have sent him passages from my bio, Sea Stories, Hangar Flying, and Other Assorted Tall Tales.
However, some questions he has asked have sent me to the net. There I’ve found a raft of information that’s been posted in the fifteen years since I wrote my bio. Old acquaintances names, all passed on now, keep showing up. We shared so much as Navy pilots, but we lost touch as the years went by. The memories are bittersweet. We were once young, vital, and proud to serve.
Now, only memories remain. Time marches on.
I know a man
his name is Lang
He has a neon sign
And Mr Lang is very old
So they call it Old Lang’s Sign
– Allen Sherman ( to the tune of Auld Lang Syne )
+1 and a smile for Allen Sherman
J.J. – Navy pilots. I was on the Midway for 6 weeks of summer USNA midshipman training. 3 weeks were in port, Yokosuka.
Seeing pilots take off of aircraft carriers is hugely impressive, they gather speed on deck with a catapult push, they fly off, dip & disappear for a moment then up.
One time a pilot dipped but failed to rise up. Neither plane nor pilot was found.
So very sad.
1975.
1 USD was 374 JPY (yen).
Don’t know if I’ll ever see Japan again.
I used to be wild. I used to be
Young.
Tom Grey, I’m sorry I didn’t see your comment sooner. Didn’t know you were a ring knocker.
I was always a Reservist. Started out to be an air intelligence officer but got sent to flight training because the Navy needed pilots in a hurry. (1955) The accidental Navy carrier Pilot. 🙂
I got out after my first three-year tour, was recalled to active duty, taught flying at Pensacola for two years, spent a year at PG school, and then got sent to the squadron that ended up on the Midway in 1965. Was released from active duty in 1968 but stayed in the active reserve flying the C-118. Retired as a CDR (USNR) in 1975.
A Middie Cruise had to be a great experience for you. All the delights of WESPAC with few of the downsides. Japan and Hong Kong were the big PXs in the Pacific. The mighty Yankee Dollar went far.
I visited Hong Kong (I hope you got to see it in ’75) and Vietnam in 2009. Hong Kong was huge compared to the1960s. Lots of growth there. Insane traffic and a lot new to see – especially the new airport.
Vietnam was doing well economically, but the low-rise colonial look of the 1960s was still there. Traffic was another thing. Mostly bicycles mixed with military vehicles back in the 60s. In 2009, it was huge numbers of mopeds along with commercial vehicles. Muchmore orderly than Hong Kong.
Hope you get a chance to go back to Japan and other points in WESPAC. You would be amazed.