Robert Burns is credited with writing the best-known lyrics of “Auld Lang Syne.”
The Scottish poet sent a version of the song to the Scots Musical Museum in 1788, describing it as an old song. Burns likely preserved and reshaped older oral material rather than inventing every line from scratch. The phrase “auld lang syne” means “old long since,” or, more naturally, “for old times’ sake.”
The melody commonly used today was paired with the words in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century. The song became especially associated with New Year celebrations through nineteenth-century Scottish and later international customs. It is also sung at farewells, reunions, graduations, and other transitions.
People often assume it is exclusively a New Year song. Its themes are friendship, memory, and shared history, which explain why it fits many occasions beyond midnight celebrations.