In the song traditionally sung at midnight on New Year's Eve, Robert Burns wrote the poem behind “Auld Lang Syne.”
Burns, Scotland's national poet, sent a version of the Scots-language poem to the Scots Musical Museum in 1788. The phrase “auld lang syne” means “old long since,” or more naturally, “times gone by.” The lyrics ask whether old acquaintances and shared memories should be forgotten.
The familiar melody was paired with the words in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century, and the song spread widely through printed songbooks and public performance. Its association with New Year's Eve became especially strong in English-speaking countries.
Burns is credited with preserving and shaping the poem, but he did not necessarily invent every line or the underlying folk tradition. “Auld Lang Syne” is also sung at farewells, graduations, memorials, and other moments of transition.