Show 1 Robert Burns Burns' Auld u Id Lang Syne New Hew Year Boon I HAULD B ULD LANG SYNE has be- be betl beI I tl 1 come such an integral part r of t our modern modem New Years Year's eve that no celebration however gay would be complete without it j The music sheets for those nos- nos nosI nostalgic I strains simply say Robert Bums Scotch Burns Scotch Air and Robert Burns generally is supposed to have bave written it after he had settled i iown down own on a farm and taken himself r a wife following the sweeping suc sue success cess in 1778 of the second edition jl J I of f his Poems Well and good II but Auld Lang Syne was not exclusively exclusively exclusively a Burns' Burns product nor did he her r f. f I claim it to be ber r In a letter to George Thomson a k publisher Burns explained It is an old song of olden times I which has never been in print I took it down from an old mans man's singing I Modern scholarship has discovered discovered discovered ered that Burns was wrong when he told Thomson Auld Lang Syne never had been in print Its refrain I at least was printed obscurely long I before Burns heard his old man manI f singing In Watsons Watson's collection of i I songs published in 1711 these verses were attributed to Francis who died in 1682 s Further the original song often I has been credited to Sir Robert Robertt RobertI ij t r I Aytoun 1638 1570 Aytoun was one oner r of f the earliest Scots to use the Lowland dialect as a literary med med- ium Multitudes of Americans de de- descended descended descended from non-British non stock are arel perpetually mystified by this dia- dia dialect dialect dialect l lect nor does it seem to make much sense in the standard English translation which comes out Old Long Sing E Regardless of its original author or origin it was Burns who gave Auld Lang Syne its immortality R And though the bells now welcome i the New Year with joyous jo ous peals symbolizing mankind's hope for a abright abright bright future the nostalgia of Auld Lang Syne Sync summarizes an J inherent reluctance to leave the j security and friendship of the past J and embark upon a future which I 1 however promising may not bemore be bemore more pleasant Thus it remains a apart apart part of the English speaking her heri heritage j I I tage to Drink a cup cap of kindness yet Jet k For Auld Lang Syne Sync |