I'm counting

Did you ever play that variation of hide-and-seek called pom-pom-releasio? How about sardines? I'm off topic before I've started.

Happy New Year to whomever should browse this . . . Then I went off looking at other new year celebrations of various traditions . . . Jewish Rosh Hashanah, Islamic Hijri, Chinese New Year, and the numerous Indian celebrations.

       For auld lang syne , my dear,

              For auld lang syne,

       We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,

              For auld lang syne!

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
       And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
       And auld lang syne?

And surely ye'll be your pint-towp,
       And surely I'll be mine,
And we'll tak a cup o' kindness yet,
       For auld lang syne!

We twa hae run about the braes,
       And pou'd the gowans fine,
But we've wondered monie a weary fit,
       Sin auld lang syne!

We twa hae paidl'd in the burn
       Frae morning sun till dine,
But seas between us braid hae roar'd
       Sin auld lang syne.

And there's a hand my trusty fiere,
       And gie's a hand o' thine,
And we'll tak a right guid-willie waught,
       For auld lang syne.


       'Light be the turf on the breast of the heaven inspired Poet who composed this glorious Fragment' wrote Burns to Mrs. Dunlop on 7th December 1788. In a note to George Thomson (1793) he describes it as 'the old song of the old times, and which has never been in print, nor even in manuscript, until I took it down from an old man's singing.' To what extent Burns reworked this traditional ballad has been the subject of speculation for many years. The tune itself has been in print since 1700. from the Official Bicentennary Edition of the Complete Works of Robert Burns published in 1986.

NOTE: The jaunty tune, a reel or strathspey, with which we are familiar superseded an earlier more plaintive air or so I learned listening to BBC Radio 4's programme Soul Music.