The Pomp and Circumstance of Auld Lang Syne

Lately I have been thinking about songs that are played on singular days and for singular occasions.

The two that sort of bubbled to the surface in my mind are “The Graduation Song,” more properly known as “Pomp and Circumstance,” and “The New Year’s Song,” more properly known as “Auld Lang Syne”

How did these two songs become solely associated with their respective events and did they ever have a broader meaning? … Both songs in fact originally had a broader meaning and for Pomp and Circumstance, in other places around the world still does.

When I was a graduate student in Chicago, in the midst of my MA program, when I needed to find motivation to do the mountain of work required, I would put on the full recording of Pomp and Circumstance. I kept telling myself…I need to EARN THIS SONG. I need to do the work to hear this song at graduation.

The great irony was that Pomp and Circumstance was not played at my MA graduation. The song that was played was a bagpipe rendition of the Irish song Raglin Road, which was absolutely hysterical. Raglan Road is one of the most fantastically depressing songs I have ever heard about bad decisions and lost love, not really what I call “Graduation” appropriate…but I got the feeling I was one of few in the auditorium that knew the words to the tune.

But I digress, Pomp and Circumstance composed by Edard Elgar in 1901, in its original form is was meant to be played at any great solemn occasion of grand pageantry. It was first used during the coronation of Edward VII. In 1905 it was used by Yale as the procession for its graduating class (and which Elgar was in attendance). Inspired by this use, many others began to play it during graduation ceremonies to the point where it became ubiquitous as “The Graduation Song.” In the UK, this is not the case, where the piece is considered a great processional, and is not instantly associated with graduations. 

Infact, The piece we all know is only a small (though repeating) segment of the whole piece. In Disney’s Fantasia 2000, a wonderful abridgment of Pomp and Circumstance is featured in a short showing this piece in a different context. Starring Donald Duck as Noah’s helper, the song is played as the animals enter the ark two by two. 

The following is the Fantasia 2000 abridgment of Pomp and Circumstance:

Auld Langs Syne began its life as a poem written by Scottish poet Robert Burns in 1788, and set the the music of a traditional folk song, a very common practice. (Eventually, I will get to writing about the song that gave the tune to the Star Spangled Banner, To Anacreon in Heaven, a song that is about getting drunk and finding women!)

The words “Auld Langs Syne” translates from Scots literally as “old long since” which means roughly “times gone by” or “old times.”

Should auld acquaintance be forgot

And never brought to mind?

Should auld acquaintance be forgot

And days of Auld Lang Syne.

For Auld Lang Syne, my dear,

For Auld Lang Syne,

We’ll take a cup of kindness yet

For Auld Lang Syne.

And here’s the hand, my trusty friend

And gives a hand of thine

We’ll take a cup of kindness yet

For Auld Lang Syne.

For Auld Lang Syne, my dear,

For Auld Lang Syne,

We’ll take a cup of kindness yet

For Auld Lang Syne.

It is a song all about remembering the past and from the context clues of the song’s lyrics, the song takes place in a bar. While absolutely a song of reflection, this is in fact a DRINKING SONG!

Because of the appropriate lyrics about reflection, the piece quickly became a standard played at new year in Scotland, then England, then around the world. But the original piece was played faster than we generally play it today.

On a personal note, my mother hates Auld Lang Syne, and for a very good reason. On January 1st, a day to commit to the new year and perhaps reflect on the old, this song is normally played as all melancholy and sadness.

I took it as a challenge to find a version of this piece that would meet with her approval. And I found it in a German punk rock band, whose version of Auld Lang Syne is much more in the spirit and energy of a drinking song!

A great Irish song, in the vein of Auld Lang Syne, and hits some of the same themes is “The Parting Glass.” But that song is not just about reflecting, it is about saying goodbye, which is why while it too is absolutely a drinking song (a final drink song?) it is often used as a funeral song. It makes sense in both contexts. (and it also gives me an excuse to link to one of my favorite Irish songs…)

So remember, songs that have come to be associated with a singular event often did not start that way and they are more meaningful when we discover the stories they have to tell!

A slightly belated Happy New Year to all!