Happy New Year! “Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind? Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and auld lang syne?”

Curiously, because of interest in the history on this old New Years melody, I found the definition of “Auld Lang Syne” to be several different phrases with similar meanings. The poem’s Scots title may be translated into standard English as “old long since” or, more idiomatically, “long long ago”,[5] “days gone by”, or “old times”. Consequently, “For auld lang syne”, as it appears in the first line of the chorus, might be loosely translated as “for the sake of old times”.

The phrase “Auld Lang Syne” is also used in similar poems by Robert Ayton (1570–1638), Allan Ramsay (1686–1757), and James Watson (1711), as well as older folk songs predating Burns.[6] Matthew Fitt uses the phrase “in the days of auld lang syne” as the equivalent of “once upon a time” in his retelling of fairy tales in the Scots language.[7] Wikipedia

The lyrics to Auld Land Syne:

https://www.themorgan.org/sites/default/files/images/exhibitions/AuldLangSyne.pdf

 

I was a teenager in the Dan Fogelberg era.  He wrote a song about an old high school girlfriend.

Some years after graduating, Fogelberg went his way, the girlfriend went her own, they bumped into each other in a grocery store on Christmas Eve.  The song, “Same Auld Lang Syne”, was the result of the reunion and became a Christmas hit and is still played during the holidays.  The song ends using a few lines from the original Auld Lang Syne tune.  The link to the YouTube recording is below and a lovely narration behind the Fogelberg story is below:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3pEWQMsaqg

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cfAxWtcfDUk 

 

I searched high and low to find free piano sheet to the Fogelberg recording.  There isn’t a link to free music, but there is a very good arrangement on musicnotes.com for $6.99.  Here’s the link:

https://www.musicnotes.com/sheetmusic/mtd.asp?ppn=MN0196051

 

However, I did find free piano sheet to the original Auld Lang Syne!  Here’s the link to a student version: https://makingmusicfun.net/htm/f_printit_free_printable_sheet_music/auld-lang-syne-piano.php

And two others for you.  One with chords, the other a piano solo arrangement

https://www.8notes.com/scores/1476.asp

file:///Users/karenweaver/Downloads/[Free-scores.com]_anonymous-auld-lang-syne-9301.pdf

 

Wishing you a fabulous and productive new year!