Robert Burns wrote the verses that became the widely sung New Year's Eve song “Auld Lang Syne.”
Burns, Scotland's national poet, sent a version of the poem to the Scots Musical Museum in 1788. He said that he had taken down old words and supplied additional lines, so the song has both traditional and literary origins. Its title is Scots for “old long since” or, more naturally, “for old times' sake.”
The song asks whether old friendships and memories should be forgotten. That theme made it suitable for farewells, reunions, memorial occasions, and the transition into a new year. It became especially associated with New Year's celebrations in the English-speaking world during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
The familiar melody is a traditional tune whose exact history is debated, rather than a melody definitively composed by Burns. Performances also vary: some use only the first verse and chorus, while others include additional verses. The song is therefore not exclusively Scottish, but its strongest literary association remains Robert Burns.