An interesting article in the Daily Mail
about Robert Burns's Auld Lang Syne
As a Burns enthusiast, I cringed when I heard Auld Lang
Syne being maltreated on TV
during the heralding in of New Year.
No other song has endured such abuse, and I'd like to take the opportunity
before Burns night
on the 25th of January to explain the Scottish tradition of singing the song.
Auld Lang Syne means 'old long ago' an idiomatic form for 'long time ago'
The most common use of the song involves only the first and fourth verses and
the chorus:-
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to min?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
Chorus
For auld lang syne, my dear.
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak a cup of kindness yet,
For auld lang syne.
At the beginning of the fourth verse, everybody crosses their arms on their
breast,
so that the right hand reaches out to their neighbour on the left and vice
versa. The fourth verse:-
And there's a hand my trusty fiere, (friend)
And gies a hand o' thine,
And we'll tak a right guid-willie waught (farewell drink)
For auld lang syne.
Followed by the chorus again
The last line of the Anglicised version of the chorus tends to be rendered:
For the sake of old lang zyne.
The song is in praise of friendship and old time's sake so the inclusion
of the work 'sake' is unnecessary and the word 'syne' meaning 'since'
should be pronounced with a soft 's' not a 'z'
John Lobb Douglas