“Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to min’….”

“Auld Lang Syne” was played by Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians as a New Year’s Eve song for the first time, eighty years ago today — on December 31, 1929. Though it was played as the band’s theme song for years, and it had even occasionally been sung on New Year’s Eve, this was the first time that Lombardo’s group played it at the Hotel Roosevelt Grill in New York City to usher in the new year. The annual tradition continued when the party moved to the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel (1959-1976) and the song still kicks off the Times Square celebration every New Year’s Eve. The words “auld lang syne” translate literally to “old long since,” or “days gone by.” Scottish poet Robert Burns recorded the words that had been passed down orally, and is thought to have added some verses to the poem.

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“We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet, for auld lang syne.” — “Auld Lang Syne,” Robert Burns

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