Robert Burns wrote the best-known words associated with “Auld Lang Syne,” the traditional New Year's Eve song.
Burns recorded a version of the Scottish song and sent it to the Scots Musical Museum in 1788. The title means “old long since,” or more naturally, “for old times’ sake.” Its lyrics ask whether old friendships and shared memories should be forgotten.
Burns probably preserved and reshaped older Scots verses rather than inventing every line from scratch. That mixture of folk tradition and literary editing helped the song travel beyond Scotland.
The melody and words became strongly linked with New Year's celebrations in English-speaking countries during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It is also sung at farewells, reunions, graduations, and other moments of transition, so it is not exclusively a New Year's song.