Chords for The New Year's Eve song, explained

[F] The stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve usually sounds like [C] this. _ _
_ [Am] _ _ [F] _ _ _ This is [Bb] Auld Lang Syne, a song that represents the emotional [F] conclusion to another year.
But it might surprise you to know [Db] it's also a soccer anthem in the Netherlands.
[Eb] _
[A] Or in Japan, [Em] it's a traditional [C] song about fireflies.
_ [G] _
And the original [Dm] was written [Am] centuries ago as a [Bb] Scottish celebration song.
So how did [Dm] this song that's managed to spread across the world become [G] the song we sing when
the [Bb] ball drops?
[C] _ _ [Bb] _ _ [Gm] _ [C] What does this [F] song mean?
My whole life I don't know what this song means.
A lot of people share this confusion [Am] about Auld Lang Syne because the [F] lyrics are sort
of hard to figure out.
Let's [C] start with the title.
[F] Auld Lang Syne.
[Am] Individually, these words mean old, [F] long, and sense, which taken [Am] together translate
[C] to something [F] like, for old times sake.
It's written in [Am] Scots, a language spoken by about a million [F] people in Scotland today.
[C] The rest of the [F] lyrics are a mix of English and Scots words, [Am] like,
And there's a hand, my trusty [F] fair, and we'll tack a right good willy what.
[Am] What is [C] that?
[F] So fair means friend.
Tack a right good willy what.
So a wacht, related to the word draft in English, [C] would be a good [F] pint of beer, I imagine.
This song [Am] asks you to remember people from your past and raise a toast to [F] them, which
made it a popular song to sing at New [Am] Year's and other celebrations.
[C] [F] And that line about taking your friend's hand?
[Am] That's related to a traditional dance British people [F] still do today.
The [Dm] guy who popularized this song was one of Scotland's most famous exports, Robert [Am] Burns.
Burns was a poet writing in the [G] 1700s, just after Scotland and England [D] unified to create
the kingdom of Great Britain.
He witnessed [F] the decline of traditional Scottish culture in favor of English [Am] norms.
So he devoted the end of his life to preserving [G] this dying culture by traveling the country
to [D] collect traditional poetry and songs to get them [Dm] published.
Auld Lang Syne was one of those songs.
[Am] In a 1793 letter to his music publisher, George [G] Thompson, Burns claimed he wrote down the
lyrics after hearing [D] an old man singing it.
He called Auld Lang Syne [A] an old song about the olden times.
[Am] And he made sure Thompson kept the Scots words in the [Em] song, arguing,
There is a naivety, [D] a pastoral simplicity in a slight intermixture of Scots words and phraseology.
[Am] And this song, Auld Lang Syne, is doing a [Em] great job of tying in [D] with the original idea
of [Gm] collecting folk songs, preserving heritage, celebrating heritage.
Auld [F] Lang Syne was republished [G] in countless [F] songbooks worldwide over the centuries.
[Bb] And because of Burns, the Scots words are still in there.
And even if you don't know the [Cm] history behind them, you can still [D] sort of figure out what
the song is saying.
Anyway, it's about old friends.
Why has a song that people [Am] don't really understand become so widespread?
[F] For starters, the melody of Auld Lang Syne is simple, [C] making it [F] easy to sing along to
and easy to adapt into [Am] other musical styles.
Which is [F] why it can become a [B] soul song,
Should _ [Abm] all _ [E] acquaintance be [Gb] forgot,
[D] or a bluegrass song,
[G] I'd have never [Dm] brought [C] you my heart,
[Eb] or rock and [E] roll.
[G] And [Eb] _ _ [Ab] _ _ [Am] because it's uncomplicated [F] and melodic, the song was easy to [C] put with different lyrics.
[F] Like in the US in the Civil War era, it [Am] became a song about a wish for the war to [F] end.
And it was also a popular [Am] anti-slavery ballad.
[C] It took on [F] new meanings in languages in other parts of the world, which is [Am] why it's in
places you might not expect.
[F] Like that soccer anthem in the Netherlands.
Or a [C] graduation song in parts [F] of Asia.
[Ab] And it was South Korea's national anthem until 1948.
_ _ _ No matter what the language or lyrics are, Auld Lang Syne's popularity also has something
to do with its nostalgic feeling.
The song itself is often used in the popular context in an even more overtly sad way.
If you look at the words, it's quite nostalgic as a song and that's its attraction.
Which is why it started showing [Eb] up in countless classic movies, [Cm] usually to mark an emotional scene.
Like in this [D] 1937 Shirley Temple movie, when her [Cm] character consoles a dying soldier by
singing Auld Lang Syne.
[Ab] _ And the director Frank Capra [A] used it for sentimental moments in at least three of his films.
But in the US, the song is best known for one thing.
_ [Bb] And for that, we can thank Mr.
New Year's Eve himself, Guy Lombardo.
[N] In 1928, Lombardo and his orchestra, the Royal Canadians, started a popular New Year's
Eve radio show [Dm] broadcast from the Roosevelt [D] Hotel in Manhattan.
[N] This meant that Americans all over the country tuned in from their home radios to listen
to the same [F] music on New Year's Eve.
And at the stroke of midnight, [Db] Lombardo played their [Dm] version of Auld Lang Syne.
[Bb] Happy New [C] Year everybody!
[F] A very happy New Year!
[Bb] Lombardo [F] continued that tradition for nearly 50 years.
And when Dick [C] Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve started on TV in [Bb] 1973, [F] he would play Auld
Lang Syne at midnight too.
[Bb] And after Clark, Ryan Seacrest [Gb] did the same.
[E] _ _
_ _ [B] _ So now at [Em] midnight, right after the ball [C] drops, [F] this is what you hear.
It's still Lombardo's version.
[C] _ _ _
_ _ _ [F] _ _ _ _ _
[Bb] And this is why, for many, the song is so singularly [F] associated with the nostalgia of
another year past.
So when [C] this New Year rolls around, [Bb] even if you don't [C] know all the [Am] words, sing along anyway.
[Dm] You won't be alone.
[Bb] _ _ [C] _ _ [F] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _