Throwback Thursday: “Once Upon a Time,” the story of Auld Lang Syne

Throwback Thursday has been sharing the histories of holiday traditions for most of
this month. As we head into a new year, we thought it would be fun to learn the back
story of the most popular song associated with celebrating the new year, one that
has over 400 years of history: “Auld Lang Syne.”

The song is based on Scottish poems using the phrase “Auld Lang Syne” dating back
to as far back as the 1600s with a mention by Robert Ayton, Allen Ramsay and James
Watson. However, the official “Auld Lang Syne” song was first put to music in the
1780s by Robert Burns.

The phrase can be translated to literally mean “long long ago,” “days gone by,” “for
the sake of old times,” and into similar sayings. The phrase captures the meanings of
reflection over the past, looking toward the future, remembering, and has even been
used as “once upon a time.”

It was Robert Burns who penned the poem and supplied it to the Scots Musical
Museum in 1788, saying the song was an, “old one, of olden times, one that has
never been in print or manuscript,” until he wrote it down from an old man’s tale.
The song is now popular across the globe and sung for many occasions aside from
just the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve.

Find it all over Europe at weddings, at
political events, at military events, and more. Versions of the song are also played
across Asia, in Thailand, Korea, and Japan.

The first known recording was in 1898 on wax cylinder, which was only available
for sound until the late 1920s. Nowadays, the song has been recorded many times
all over the world.

The most recently well-known recording was by saxophonist
Kenny G in 1999, which reached number seven on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. The
song was the oldest written to ever hit the charts. The song has been used in some of
the most famous American holiday films of all time, like “It’s a Wonderful Life” and
“Holiday Inn.”

May you remember the good times of this year and look forward to the new
opportunities of next year. That’s it for this week, brought to you by Hart County
Tourism. In Bowling Green, because local matters, Telia Butler, WNKY News 40.