Scottish bard Robert Burns brought us Auld Lang Syne.Now countries all around the world sing this song, some with different lyrics, but with the same meaning as the original.
Read here the history of how this song became an international hit
Auld Lang Syne always makes me sad. Here is a poem I wrote:
On New Year's Eve I Cry
Auld Lang Syne provokes my tears.
Old friends, dear ones from
years gone by appear
at midnight in my mind.
Rowdy revelers, my peers begin
a bright new year.
They raise champagne and toast.
Unique moments good
and bad, will not come back
this way again. I grab
and hold on tight to golden
highlights darting by,
fleeting, disappearing
like foxfire in a mountain wood.
This party is a wake.
It must be mine.
---Glenda Council Beall
Ha ha, I wrote about Auld Lang Syne New Year's Eve:) The poem you wrote is quite intense...the last two lines are are haunting, hugs to you across the mountains.
ReplyDeleteOh, Glenda, as always I love your poems, but this one makes me feel your sadness too much.
ReplyDeleteLise, your blog reminded me of the poem which I wrote years ago.
ReplyDeleteThe song has always made me sad for some reason.
Stay warm on this very cold day.
It is interesting about this song. You know, as you say this song is known internationally, but the lyrics are different. I used to work for a music publishing company in Paris and we would receive tunes from everywhere and French authors would write new lyrics, sometimes not at all close to the original. As for Auld Lang Syne in France it is known as “Ce n’est qu’un au revoir mes frères” – It’s just goodbye, my brothers. It is also often sung in Free-Mason meetings and Scouts meetings during the year. The melody is from Scotland though. Here are the French lyrics: (I had never heard of the English ones.) I guess for the French lyrics, if sung at the end of the year with friends, it means not to worry, we’ll meet again during the next year.
ReplyDeleteFaut-il nous quitter sans espoir
Sans espoir de retour
Faut-il nous quitter sans espoir
De nous revoir un jour ?
Refrain
Ce n'est qu'un au revoir, mes frères,
Ce n'est qu'un au revoir
Oui nous nous reverrons, mes frères,
Ce n'est qu'un au revoir.
Which means
Should we part without the hope of return
Without hope of return
Should we part without the hope
We’ll meet again one day?
refrain
This is just a goodbye, my brethren,
This is just a goodbye
Yes we’ll meet again, my brethren,
It’s only a goodbye.
Gay, thank you for loving my poems. I'm sorry this one makes you sad, but you know I don't always react as others do to special days or events. I even cried at your wedding, and I'm not sure why.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in college, I often helped my dad service jukeboxes and other machines as part of his coin-operated machine business when I was home for holidays and summer vacation. Around New Year's Eve, Dad put a recording of "Auld Lang Zyne" on every jukebox we serviced. Two weeks later when he returned to service the machines again, employees and customers begged him to remove the record from the jukebox because people were tired of hearing it. Thank you for sharing the history of this song.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Abbie, for this bit of history about your father and the jukebox setup.
ReplyDeleteI didn't realize people played the song anytime other than new year's eve.