The song performed by Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians during their famous New Year's Eve broadcasts was “Auld Lang Syne.”
Lombardo's band became strongly associated with the song through annual radio broadcasts beginning in the 1920s. Their performances helped establish it as the expected musical moment at midnight for many listeners in the United States and Canada.
The Royal Canadians were known for a polished dance-band style often described as “the sweetest music this side of Heaven.” Their New Year's broadcasts reached large audiences for decades and turned a Scottish song into a major North American holiday ritual.
Lombardo did not write “Auld Lang Syne.” Robert Burns supplied a celebrated version of the lyrics in the eighteenth century, and the melody has older traditional connections. Lombardo's importance was in popularizing the song's placement at the New Year's transition.