TMFW 17 - Auld Lang Syne, Explained

 

Pardon the timing of today's true music fact, but it's been a slow start here to 2014.  For that reason, today's fact is a very short one. 

The great e-mail newsletter Today I Found Out had a nice writeup this week on why we sing "Auld Lang Syne" on New Year's Eve.  Spoiler: it's because of the great bandleader Guy Lombardo, who first played it on a radio broadcast in 1929, and played it every single year thereafter, on radio and later on TV broadcasts, until 1976 (he died in November 1977).

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

Bonus fact: As the link explains, "auld lang syne" means literally "old long since," and roughly means "days gone by" (or the more modern idiom "the good old days.")

Bonus fact 2:  Here's a very pretty version of "Auld Lang Syne."  But there's a number of great New Year's songs out there, if you want to hear something else.  Try "Happy New Year" from Abba, the Stax Records release "New Year's Resolution" from Otis Redding and Carla Thomas, or two from Harry Connick, Jr.: "What are you Doing New Year's Eve?" or "Nothin' New for New Year."  Or, if you are feeling a bit more battered about by life these days, try "This Year" from TMFW-favorite The Mountain Goats.