Robert Burns wrote the words to “Auld Lang Syne,” widely sung on New Year's Eve.
Burns, Scotland's national poet, sent a version of the song to the Scots Musical Museum in 1788. The title is Scots for “old long since” or, more naturally, “days gone by.” The song asks whether old acquaintances should be forgotten and celebrates friendship, remembrance, and shared history.
The melody commonly used today was paired with the words through the development of printed Scottish song collections and later international popularization. It became especially associated with the transition from one year to the next, although the text itself does not specifically describe New Year's Eve.
Burns is sometimes credited as the sole creator of every element of the song, but he collected and adapted older Scottish material. That distinction matters: his contribution was the celebrated set of words, while both the lyrics and melody have earlier or related forms in folk tradition.