Wherever people are partying in the English speaking world on December 31, and irrespective of what music they are jiving or listening to, when the clock strikes midnight, they instinctively break into the familiar refrain: ?Should old acquaintance be forgotten??. But the strange thing about ?Auld Lang Syne?, as the song is popularly known, is that even people who pride themselves on being masters of music trivia, do not know what the ballad means or why people sing it to usher in the new year. And, strangely, no one seems to know all the words of the song.

?Auld Lang Syne? means ?old long since? and is adapted from a Scottish folk tune. The basic words date back to at least 1711, though some scholars say it was mentioned as early as 1677. Scottish poet Robert Burns is credited with first publishing it in the mid-1790s, smoothing out some of the verses and changing the melody. Translated into modern English, it runs as follows:

?Should old acquaintances be forgotten/ And never be remembered?/ Should old acquaintances be forgotten/ and days long ago.

Chorus: For days long ago, my dear,/ For days long ago/ We?ll drink a cup of kindness yet,/ For days long ago!/ And surely you?ll have your pint tankard!/ And surely I?ll have mine/ And we?ll drink a cup of kindness yet,/ For days long ago.

Chorus: We two have run about the hills,/ And pulled the daisies fine;/ But we?ve wandered many a weary mile/ Since the days long ago.

Chorus: We two have paddled in the stream,/ From morning sun till dinner-time;/ But the broad seas have roared between us,/Since the days long ago.

Chorus: And here?s my hand, my trusty friend,/ And give your hand too,/ And we?ll take an excellent good-will drink,/ For the days of long ago.?

Sing song

The song recalls the days gone by and says we will always remember them. ?Should old acquaintances be forgotten?? it asks. No, the chorus replies, ?For days long ago,/ We?ll drink a cup of kindness yet?. Verse 2 refers to friends at separate places (or pubs), drinking to each other. Verses 3 and 4 talk about a long journey to find that friend, pulling the pretty daisies on the hill and getting tired doing so. It continues with wading streams from morning till dinner-time, but even then, broad seas roar between them. But finally, in the last verse, the friends find each other. And they take a goodwill drink for times gone by.

Burns, however did not turn this misty-eyed mellow tune into a New Year?s tradition. It was left to Guy Lombardo, who first heard the song from Scottish immigrants in his hometown London, Ontario. When Lombardo formed an orchestra with his brother in 1919, they arranged the piece and made it part of their repertoire. On a New Years? Eve party in New York in 1929, they played ?Auld Lang Syne? near midnight, then counted down.

For nearly fifty years after that, Guy Lombardo and his orchestra played on New Year?s radio, later television specials from the Waldorf Astoria, and though he died in 1977, ?Auld Lang Syne? became a staple.

Now there are pop versions of the song, disco remixes, even a controversial British single of the Lord?s Prayer sung to the tune of ?Auld Lang Syne? which topped the UK charts in 1999. A CD is currently available in the US which includes country, polka and dance versions of the standard one. In a recent television interview a music critic from Texas, justifying the need for different versions, stated ?The Lombardo version is sleepy, dreamy, and definitely needed an update... It?s a song about loss but also about love ? a hope that you will see the same people you love next year?.

Where did he get that from, he was asked. ?Well that?s the way I think about it? he replied. ?But no, I don?t know the words?.