At New Year's Eve in New York City, “Auld Lang Syne” is traditionally sung immediately after the Times Square ball drop. The song's title is a Scots phrase commonly translated as “old long since,” meaning times gone by or days of long ago.
The words are based on a Scots poem published by Robert Burns in 1788, though Burns drew on earlier traditional material. The familiar melody became linked with farewell and New Year's celebrations through nineteenth- and twentieth-century popular performance. In Times Square, the song follows the countdown as crowds mark the transition into January 1.
A common mistake is treating “Auld Lang Syne” as exclusively an American song. It is strongly associated with Scotland and is sung in many countries, often with different verses or arrangements. Its performance after midnight is a convention, not a required part of the ball-drop mechanism itself.