I admit it, I don't know the words either, so I naturally turned to google and did a web search... and I found some really fun articles and information about this song that I wanted to share with you :-) So, before you head on out for the evening and are required to sing the song that "no-one really knows," you should be armed with this "fun, but relatively useless" information....
According to the good people at TLC, the song is an "extremely old Scottish song that was first written down in the 1700s." The poet Robert Burns often gets credit for the words. Or at least some of them.
Apparently I am not alone, and people often hum or belt out their own lyrics, an article published recently says that "74% of people make up the words" (click here for article).
A site dedicated to the poet Robert Burns explains, "In spite of the popularity of 'Auld Lang Syne,' it has aptly been described as 'the song that nobody knows.' As for the the music, it's more of a traditional folk song."
So, what do the words actually mean? Basically, the words "auld lang syne" roughly translates into "times gone by," "for days past," "days gone by," "for the sake of old times," you get the drift... appears that everyone has a derivation of these....
But no matter what the literal translation is, the sentiment is the same. It's a song that aims to honor the good old days on a night that's all about remembering the past while ringing in the new. So this year when you sing the song, try not to cry as you look forward to a new beginning that will hopefully be everything you imagined.
So, I've done my research and searched and searched, so let incorrect lyrics be forgot... print these and take them with you (pass them around for your friends too) and now you will be able to sing all the words this year (even if you can't pronounce all of them)
If you have trouble reading the lyrics, you can click on the image below and it will open up larger in a new window (and will be easier to print)
Enjoy! Copyright for Personal Use Antonella DeFalco
