Music Monday: Auld Lang Syne

As we approach the end of the year, with the traditional end-of-year parties, at midnight on January 1st across the English-speaking world there will be hugging, kissing, toasting, and rousing choruses sung of “Auld Lang Syne”–that song everyone knows, but few understand. What does it mean?

The song is Scottish in origin. Robert Burns, the famous Scots poet, is supposed to have taken a few lines from an old poem and embellished it. Roughly translated from Burns’ Scottish, the title means “Old Long Since,” which in better English is something like “old times” or “days gone by.” Hopefully this makes sense of the first verse: “Should old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind…?” It’s essentially asking whether we should remember the past and old friendships, and not let bitterness and hard feelings ruin those relationships. As you are standing there hand-in-hand with your friends and family, the answer is supposed to be “Yes, of course!” The last line of the first verse* and chorus is actually “and [or “for”] auld lang syne,” though we often change this to “for the sake of auld lang syne” or something similar. This is in-keeping with the meaning of the song: for the sake of the great times we’ve had together, we’ll remember those friendships and let bygones be bygones. A noble New Year sentiment.

As a musician, this is a good song to have in your repertoire of songs you can play at the drop of a hat. Over the course of 30 years playing piano and guitar, I have, from time to time, been called upon at a moment’s notice to accompany the singing of “Auld Lang Syne.” Since I play largely by ear, I can usually come up with an impromptu arrangement on whatever instrument I have to hand. For those who may need to memorize chords, here are a couple of versions you can use. The first is a three-chord version that will suffice for those who want to keep it as simple as possible. I’ve also included a version that’s a little more elaborate for those who want something a bit more challenging. These are by no means the only ways this song can be played, so feel free to come up with your own arrangements. There’s even a way you can work a half-diminished chord in that I’ll be glad to share if anyone’s interested.

I’ve set it in the key of F-major, since that’s probably the most comfortable key for people to sing the song. If you’re on guitar and have an aversion to barre chords, transpose to D-major and capo the third fret.

Happy New Year to you all! And if you have any song suggestions for “Music Monday,” please let me know in the comments or by email.

*There are more verses to the song, but I don’t recall ever hearing more than the first verse and chorus sung.