The song asks whether old friends should be forgotten, and answers no. “Auld lang syne” means roughly “old long since,” or “the good old days,” and the singers drink a cup of kindness to them.
Read the full explanation →Burns, having wrecked a mouse's nest with his plough, tells her that the best plans of mice and men often go wrong, and that he is worse off than her because he worries about the past and the future.
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About Robert Burns
Robert Burns was a farmer’s son from Ayrshire whose first book, published in Kilmarnock in 1786, made him famous almost overnight. He wrote in Scots and English and collected and rewrote hundreds of traditional songs.
He is Scotland’s national poet, celebrated every January 25 at Burns suppers, and his version of Auld Lang Syne is sung around the world at New Year.
More lines by Burns
Short quotes checked against their sources.
- “O my Luve is like a red, red rose, that's newly sprung in June”A Red, Red Rose, 1794
- “Should auld acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind?”Auld Lang Syne, 1788