Roy’s Rambling, Roy's Ramblings
CAUTION, Long (But what else do you have to do with your time? It will always pass you by.)
How many times have we heard a song played over and over, even singing the chorus when it comes around, and not have the slightest idea what the song is about?
We sing the words, yet when we stop to think of what we are singing, we may think we know the words, but we sometimes realize we not only don’t know what the words are saying, we sometimes don’t even know what the individual words we are singing mean.
For me one song that underscores that statement is the song many sing every year at midnight on Dec 31: Auld Lang Syne.
Everyone has heard the song. They hear it every year and even sing along as best they can. They have a few drinks celebrating New Years, and when the song plays, tears stream down their cheeks because it’s such a “sad” song.
You ask them what the song means, and you will get an answer, but generally the answers will not be right. It’s only the interpretation of the one you question, explaining why they think they are supposed to feel so sad and alone when the song is played.
As a kid every time I heard it I thought they were singing, “old ang zine”. and that was good enough for me. I didn’t know what an ang zine was, or why we were singing about old ones, but I was never curious enough to try to look it up. That was the words to the song and that was that.
Of course I knew there were some more lyrics to the song, something about drinking a cup of kindness, but since I didn’t understand the point of the first line, nor know what the words meant. I assumed the rest was just as complicated, so I just hummed along with the tune, which was pretty catchy.
Over the years I continued to hear the song and after a while I found out the words were not, “old ang zine”, but fancy words which were spelled, “Auld Lang Syne”. I still didn’t know what that meant, in fact the word I had thought of as “old” was now “Auld”. What’s up with that? As for ‘ang’ or ‘lang’ neither meant anything to me, so I continued to sing along using my standard non- words.
Even after hearing it every year for quite a few years, I continued to only know the first stanza and the chorus:
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 dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet
For auld lang syne!
I heard that first line as a statement, rather than a question, and I wondered why it was telling us we should forget our old friends and never think of them again.
I suppose if I thought of the meaning at all I felt the words meant something like, “We should forget all our old acquaintances, and never bring them back to mind.” (Because we have too much to worry about in the future? Life is too fast paced as it is to spend time remembering what could have been?) And I still didn’t know what an “auld lang syne” was.
That interpretation didn’t satisfy me. Even though we are progressing through the “me” generation to the new and more precise, “Me me me, only ME” generation, and people are hoping for a better future and all, there is always someone in our past, some acquaintance, worthy of remembering.
I heard a version of the song once, without the party atmosphere and new year celebration built in. It was a nice ballad sung by one man. Even though I still didn’t understand most of the words, I knew there was some deeper meaning than to just give up old acquaintances and spend our time drinking away the new Years Eve.
I knew that new years eve is a time of reflection as well as looking forward. There is always someone in our past who should be remembered. I decided to do some research.
Through the magic of the internet, here is what I came up with:
The song was written by Robert Burns, back around 1788, and is a Scottish folk song that later became tradition for New years.
Auld Lang Syne can be translated in English literally as, “For old long ago” or paraphrased, “days of long ago” (See, I was right with my “Old” interpretation anyway)
The first line is Not a statement, but a question, asking; should we Really forget our acquaintances of the past and forget the days of long ago? Should we forget them forever?
The chorus answers that question immediately by saying:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
For auld lang syne,
We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet
For auld lang syne!
Roughly translated that says, “For old times let’s drink a toast in honor of our friendship in the past and of days gone by.” We should Not forget old acquaintances, nor the days of old.
The rest of the song contains verses that most of us have never listened to. It is a reminisce between two old friends, who are reunited after a long separation. They are remembering the good times they have had in the past and knowing they will never forget.
It ends with them each willing to buy their own pint, or glass, or shot, and drinking to the memory of Times Long Ago.
Here is the first verse and chorus translated into American English words and tweaked a little by me to add rhyme, but I think the idea is still there.
Days Gone By:
Should our old friendship be forgot
And left alone to die?
Should our old friendship be forgot,
Along with days gone by?
To days gone by my friend
To days gone by.
We’ll drink a cup of friendship here
For days gone by.
So who knows? Maybe Robert Burns didn’t intend the meaning to be the way I see it. He also never intended it to be sung as our New Year theme song either.
However, since this is my ramblings, this is My interpretation.
This isn’t a song of sadness or loss. Maybe it’s a little melancholy, but not extreme. Likewise, it’s really not a song of looking toward the future either.
It is a song for Now, as two old friends meet up in a bar after many years apart. They begin to talk and tell the stories of their adventures and good times together when they were young. They are also celebrating the “Now” that they are together and have This time to enjoy.
As they share a few drinks, each paying for their own of course, the stories probably get more exciting and more bold than they had actually been. (But why do we repeat our adventures if we can’t make them more interesting each time?)
I wonder if they were old retired helicopter pilots?
Here is a link to this song with the actual lyrics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPnhaGWBnys
Below I have put a fairly literal English translation of the lyrics.
Should old acquaintances be forgotten,
And never brought to mind?
Should old acquaintances be forgotten,
And days of long ago !
Chorus:
For old long ago, my dear
For old long ago, (Old times sake)
We will take a cup of kindness yet
For old long ago. (Old times sake)
We two have run about the hillsides
And pulled the daisies fine,
But we have wandered many a weary foot
For old long ago.
Chorus:
We two have paddled (waded) in the stream
From noon until dinner time,
But seas between us broad have roared
Since old long ago.
Chorus:
And there's my hand, my trusty friend,
And give us a hand of yours,
And we will take a goodwill draught (of ale)
For old long ago!
Chorus:
And surely you will pay for your pint,
And surely I will pay for mine!
And we will take a cup of kindness yet
For old long ago!
Chorus: