Talk:Auld Lang Syne

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Original research? Running proquest to make a perfunctory determination of when song entered popular culture? Lotsofissues 15:56, 21 Apr 2005 (UTC)

In Catalonia it is also used as a farewell song, and the translation to Catalan language is "L'hora dels adéus" ("Time to say Goodbye")

Yet, it is sometimes referred to jokingly as "the song that nobody knows", since many people can recall the melody easily but know only a fraction of the words, perhaps because it is written in the Scots language. Who refers to it in this way? No source, methinks. --84.68.200.235 02:39, 1 January 2006 (UTC)

Well if you put "the song that nobody knows" into google, a lot of the hits seem to be Auld Lang Syne. Admittedly, there aren't many hits in total but I've heard this song refered to as such by people so not completely unfounded. - JVG 06:41, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

Contents 1 Gies 2 Gude 3 Correct Lyrics 4 One of these things is not like the other 5 Drinking Song 6 Thailand 7 Dropkick Murphys? 8 University of Virginia 9 Pronunciation 10 For old time's sake 11 Removal of Isaiah 65:17 comment 12 New Year's Day 13 Great Performances

[edit] Gies

Gies is indeed a Scots word (pronounced "geeze") and means gives as in "He gies a bane tae the dug" meaning "He gives a bone to the dog" in English. However gie's in the line "gie's a haund" is pronounced "geese" and is a contraction of "gie us a haund", meaning "give me a hand" in English. That is why it should have an apostrophe. It's a similar case to "I'll" which also has a different pronunciation and meaning depending on whether the apostrophe is present or absent. -- Derek Ross | Talk 16:39, 19 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Gude

Gude is also a mispelling. It should be spelt guid (pronounced gid or gweed depending on dialect). -- Derek Ross | Talk 17:47, 19 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Correct Lyrics

It's also interesting to note that my two volumes of Burns poetry, an early 20th century Collins one and a late 19th century Nelson one each have different versions of this poem. Not only do the words differ but the verses are in a different order in each book. The Nelson edition spells "guid" and "gie's" properly; uses "days of auld lang syne" for the first verse but nowhere else; and puts the "pint-stoup" verse at the end of the poem. The Collins edition doesn't use the phrase "for days of auld lang syne" at all and puts the "pint-stoup" verse in second place. The Wikipedia currently has a third version based on the Collins but with "days of" added to several of the verses. It looks like we need to do more research in order to find out what Burns intended the lyrics to be. -- Derek Ross | Talk 17:52, 29 January 2006 (UTC)

Right, a quick check indicates that the Collins order is the one that Burns used [1], so that's a part answer to the question. -- Derek Ross | Talk 18:05, 29 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] One of these things is not like the other

SAMPA: [s@in] or IPA: [saɪn] Uh... what? I'm pretty sure that SAMPA translates as [səin]. I think that it should be [saIn]; anyone who can actually be arsed to look up the lax high front vowel in SAMPA is welcome to correct me. But actually, the best thing to do would probably be to just write [sajn], which is more accurate (since there's no non-syllabic diacritic in the current version) and doesn't require a SAMPA transliteration. 69.140.12.199 02:09, 30 January 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Drinking Song

The lyrics below were added recently. If this version was written recently enough, it would still be under copyright, unless the writer released them. That may even be the case, I have not looked myself. If they are in the public domain, then they could be put back (either as a link, or at the end of the article as an alternate version) If they are not public domain, a link could be added to a site that includes them. —MJBurrage 01:03, 16 April 2006 (UTC)

Auld Lang Syne As A Drinking Song:
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind ?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
in the days of auld lang syne ?

CHORUS:

For auld lang syne, my dear,

for auld lang syne,

we'll take a cup o’ kindness yet,

for the sake of auld lang syne.

Let's have a drink or maybe two !
Or maybe three or four !
Or five or six or seven or eight,
and maybe even more !

CHORUS ×2

When it gets to closing time,
And you still want more,
I know a pub in Invemess
That never shuts its door!

CHORUS ×2

This version is an actual drinking song sung in pubs in Ireland, Scotland and England. The Celtic Punk band, the Dropkick Murphys, did a verison of the song with those lyrics. —User:68.158.253.245, 25 March 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Thailand

In Thailand, there's a song named "สามัคคีชุมนุม" (Sa-mak-kee-choom-noom, litterally, "harmony assemble") with a tune of Auld Lang Syne. The similarily goes further also when Thai people sing this song, they crossed-hold their hands together, just the way people do it during singing Auld Lang Syne in Hogmanay night. -- 172.173.110.5 21:48, 16 April 2006 (UTC)

---

Who wrote the melody? Bastie 16:06, 20 July 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Dropkick Murphys?

I'm a fan of Dropkick Murphys, and I've never heard of them recording a drinking song version of "Auld Lang Syne". If someone can't prove otherwise, I'm gonna delete the reference in a few days. Joltman 18:09, 10 August 2006 (UTC)

I dunno about the Murphys, but Real MacKenzies did in Clash of the Tartans. 82.93.133.130 16:54, 14 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] University of Virginia

There have been repeated references in this article to the "Good Old Song" (a/k/a "Good Ole Song") as the University of Virginia's "fight song." It's not the fight song; it's the alma mater. The tune of this song hardly fits a fight song. UVA's actual fight song is the "Cavalier Song," although I'd wager that 95% of our fans don't know the words. Either way, please stop changing the article to refer to it as a fight song. 1995hoo 15:54, 13 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Pronunciation

Could someone give here the pronuncation of all the scottish words in the song?

80.95.109.155 15:03, 8 December 2006 (UTC) Prokop, Czech R.

I'll try but there is some variation according to which dialect of Scots you speak. IPA tends to be a bit too specific in these cases. Plus my IPA is a bit vague. -- Derek Ross | Talk 17:54, 8 December 2006 (UTC)

The above is a very valid concern, IPA isn't really going to work for this -- I started trying to translate it to IPA, but stumbled as soon as I came across the word "auld". I (fae Dundee/Fife) say (and sing) something like "awld" (IPA [ɒld]), but Derek (fae Aiberdeen) obviously says something like "aald" (IPA [ald]). Similar problems come up with words like "tae" and "surely", which get different pronunciations depending on where you come from. Also there are a lot of words like "acquaintance" and "be" which don't differ in pronunciation from English. Might it be better, rather than having the pronunciation guide, to put in a link to Scots_language#Pronunciation there and let the reader work it out? Or maybe someone could do a recording of a recital (rather than a sung version, for clarity) and put it up? I'd do it, but I a) don't know how to record OGG b) don't have a microphone. Mendor 02:09, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

Yup. That's the problem with IPA alright. -- Derek Ross | Talk 04:27, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

Could someone replace the pronunciation guide that used to be here. What's here now is not a guide for English pronunciation, it's a foreign language. (asked someone who didn't sign).

Your wish ... -- Derek Ross | Talk 16:21, 9 March 2007 (UTC)

[edit] For old time's sake

Could "for old time's sake" work as an appropriation of the original meaning? If it would work, it would be a little clearer than what we have there already. IMFromKathlene 07:25, 17 December 2006 (UTC)

Not really. "Sake" doesn't come into it. The simplest translation of the phrase "Auld lang syne is "Long ago". That seems clear enough to me. -- Derek Ross | Talk 04:34, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

Okay. I've addressed this by translating the phrase as days of long ago which is idiomatically correct but fits the metre of the lyrics better than long ago. -- Derek Ross | Talk

My original intention with the minimal Anglicized translation was to present a version that an English speaker could understand, with out actually changing what the song sounds like, hence keeping Auld Lang Syne, which everyone sings without translation – even if they do mangle it :-) I.E. these were the lyrics I gave to some friends when they wanted the "correct" version of the song, but also wanted to know what they were singing. The title's meaning had been pretty well covered in the text, so I left it as we would sing it, and it certainly sounded better than everybody trying to sing in Scots, especially when none of us knew what the words are supposed to sound like. :-) —MJBurrage • TALK • 16:43, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

Okay. Well if you want to put it back the way it was, that's fine. I only changed it because you seemed unhappy with what was there already. -- Derek Ross | Talk 16:47, 18 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Removal of Isaiah 65:17 comment

The first two lines of the lyrics seem to be an allusion (although perhaps not consciously intended) to Isaiah 65:17, which reads:

Behold, I will create

new heavens and a new earth.

The former things will not be remembered,

nor will they come to mind.

This comment about Isaiah 65:17 is based on a quote that appears to be taken from the New International Versionof the Bible published in 1978. The Author of this comment has not quoted his source so we can't Verify it.

Nor could I find a version Isaiah of 65:17 that Robert Burns (1759-96) would have had access too, that matched the text quoted. (The King James versionis different).

Also "seem to be an allusion" is a theory. According to Wikipedia policy a source for a theory should be cited.

For these two reasons I felt that imitate removal was justified.

JollyTom 13:59, 24 December 2006 (UTC)

[edit] New Year's Day

Yesterday, I added the tidbit about it being sung at midnight in the introduction, as this is what the song is most popularly known for. I noticed someone changed New Year's Day to New Year's Eve, and wanted to point out that it is sung at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Day, not eve, as the day has changed. That's the whole point. Herr Lip 20:00, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Great Performances

Someone added the following as a seperate page. It can be merged with this page but it doesnt seem reasonable to add every parody of lyrics. Removing link to new page

Should old acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind? Should old acquaintance be forgot, and auld lang syne ?

CHORUS:

For auld lang syne, my dear,

for auld lang syne,

we'll take a cup o’ kindness yet,

for auld lang syne.

We two have waded in the brook, in days of bright sunshine, but oceans now beteween us lie; since auld lang syne.

CHORUS

Now here’s a hand my trusty friend, And give a cup of thine! We’ll take a take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne.

CHORUS

I think of all the great high hopes, I had when I was young; and now who are these sad old farts, I find myself among?

CHORUS

Dmanning 07:40, 3 January 2007 (UTC)