Robert Burns is credited with writing the version of “Auld Lang Syne” widely sung at New Year's Eve celebrations.
Burns sent a poem titled “Auld Lang Syne” to the Scots Musical Museum in 1788, although he said he had collected or preserved older words and a traditional melody. The Scots phrase means roughly “old long since,” or more naturally, “for old times' sake.” Its theme is remembering friendship and shared experiences.
The song became especially associated with New Year's Eve through the work of bandleader Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians. Their radio broadcasts from the 1920s onward helped establish it as a North American midnight tradition, and the custom spread internationally.
Burns is often described as the song's author, but the complete history is more complicated because earlier Scottish versions existed. The familiar English-language lyrics are therefore best understood as Burns's celebrated adaptation of older material rather than an entirely new composition.