Dance Auld Lang Syne 301

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
  And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
  And auld lang syne?
Chorus
For auld lang syne, my jo,
  For auld lang syne,
We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
  For auld lang syne.

And surely ye’ll be your pint-stowp!
  And surely I’ll be mine!
And we’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
  For auld lang syne.

We twa hae run about the braes
  And pou’d the gowans fine;
But we’ve wander’d mony a weary fitt
  Sin auld lang syne.

We twa hae paidl’d i’ the burn,
  Frae morning sun till dine;
But seas between us braid hae roar’d
  Sin auld lang syne.

And there’s a hand, my trusty fiere!
  And gie’s a hand o’ thine!
And we’ll tak a right gude-willy waught
  For auld lang syne.

Robert Burns, by his own admission, only wrote two verses of the world-famous “Auld Lang Syne”, the third and the fourth.

Burs corresponded for many years with Mrs Frances Dunlop, an admirer of his work, and it was to her that he wrote: “Apropos, is not the Scotch phrase Auld lang syne exceedingly expressive. There is an old song and tune which has often thrilled through my soul … Light be turf on the breast of the heaven-inspired poet who composed this glorious fragment! There is more of the fire of native genius in it than half-a-dozen of modern english Bacchanalians.” His version, produced above, appeared in The Scots Musical Museum, Volume 5, published about six months after his death. In Reliques of Robert Burns, edited by Robert Hartley Cromek, the poet states, “One song more, and I am done – Auld Langsyne. The air is but mediocre, but the following song, the old song of olden times, and which has never been in print, nor even in manuscript, until I took it down from an old man’s singing, is enough to recommend any air.”

The actual kernel of “Auld Lang Syne” as an ancient song lies in an anonymous song called “Auld Kyndnes foryett” found in the Bannatyne manuscript of 1568, of which the last line is “And auld kyndnes is quyt foryett”. Even more striking is the poem by Sir Robert Ayton (1570–1638) which begins:

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
  And never thought upon.

And the verse ends with the words “On old-long-syne”.

A street ballad of the late 17th century sounds even more familiar:

On old long syne,
  On old long syne, my jo,
On old long syne:
  That thou canst never once reflect
On old long syne.

Allan Ramsay wrote another version, a good many years before Burns added to what he claimed was an old song. The ballad first appeared in Ramsay’s Tea Table Miscellany in 1724, then in William Thomson’s Orpheus Caledonius of 1725 and, then, in volume 1 of James Johnson’s The Scots Musical Museum of 1787. It is rather poor.

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
  Tho they return with fears.
These are the noble hero’s lot,
  Obtained in glorious wars:
Welcome, my Varo, to my breast,
  Thy arms about me twine,
And make me once again as blest,
  As I was lang syne.

The next four verses are even worse than the first and good taste dictates that they shall not here be reproduced.