The poem supplying the words most associated with the New Year song “Auld Lang Syne” is also titled “Auld Lang Syne.”
Robert Burns recorded and adapted the Scots poem in 1788, incorporating material from earlier traditional verses. The title refers to times long past, and the poem asks whether old acquaintances and old kindnesses should be forgotten. Those themes explain its later use at moments of parting and renewal.
The poem is not identical to every modern performance. Singers commonly use only selected verses, and wording can differ between editions. The familiar melody is also a traditional Scottish tune rather than a composition created solely for Burns’s poem.
Its connection with New Year’s Eve grew through public singing and broadcasting, especially in the twentieth century. The song is now used internationally, even where listeners do not understand the Scots vocabulary or know that the text began as a Scottish poem.