Here in this cottage in the Scottish lowlands during the late 1700s, the poet Robert Burns was born and lived his early life. The Burns family were tenant farmers. Here they worked the land, ate their meals together, and gathered by the hearth at night to read. In their village of Alloway, Scotland, about 60 kilometers or so south of Glasgow, young Robert’s poetic imagination was kindled. From this humble beginning, Burns rose to fame and left an enduring legacy as the national poet of Scotland.
The best-known poem attributed to Burns is “Auld Lang Syne.” However, it did not appear in print until shortly after his death, at age 37, in 1796. And Burns himself reported that he heard the words “from an old man’s singing.”[1] Whether Burns composed the poem, adapted it, or simply recorded it, “Auld Lang Syne” has been associated with Burns ever since.
The poem was soon paired with a traditional folk tune, and today it is sung as a part of New Year’s celebrations around the world. And yet, because of its origins in the Scots language, not everyone is familiar with the significance of the phrase “auld lang syne.” In modern English it literally means “old long since”—or, in other words, days gone by, times that have long since passed but we remember with fondness.
And so, as we sing, year in and year out, we ask ourselves:
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot
And auld lang syne?
In our rush for the new and different, the latest and greatest, the song asks, will the “old long since” be forgotten? The old friendships, the relationships, the memories of days gone by—can we hold on to the old as we also embrace the new that lies ahead? The truth is, we need remembrances of the past. They ground us in the present and help move us confidently into the future. Just as the people and the beautiful land of Scotland shaped Robert Burns, we are shaped by the people and places we have known, our old long since. So, as we say goodbye to the old year and welcome the new, let the “auld lang syne” never be forgotten.
[1] Letters of Robert Burns, sel. J. Logie Rogertson (1887), 337.
__________________________________________
January 01, 2023
Broadcast Number 4,868
The Tabernacle Choir
Orchestra at Temple Square
Conductors
Mack Wilberg
Ryan Murphy
Organist(s)
Richard Elliott, Andrew Unsworth, Linda Margetts, Joseph Peeples
Host
Lloyd Newell
I Think the World Is Glorious
Alexander Schreiner; Arr. Mack Wilberg
The Lord My Pasture Will Prepare
Dimitri Bortniansky; Arr. Mack Wilberg
Improvisation on “Hymn to Joy”
Ludwig Van Beethoven; Arr. Richard Elliott
Down to the River to Pray
American folk hymn; Arr. Mack Wilberg
Tree of Life
Mack Wilberg
Auld Lang Syne
Traditional; Arr. Mack Wilberg
Standing on the Promises
Russell K. Carter; Arr. Ryan Murphy