31 December: Auld Lang Syne

10 things you never knew about Auld Lang Syne, that song people sing on New Year's Eve.

1. The words to Auld Lang Syne are generally said to have been written by Robert Burns. Or were they? Probably not. Burns claimed to have transcribed the lyrics as he listened to an old man singing them - suggesting the lyrics pre-date Burns. He did claim to be the first person to write the lyrics down, but this isn't the case, either. The song was based on a 15th century poem and first appeared in print in 1724, attributed to a poet named Allen Ramsay, 35 years before Burns was even born.
2. What Robert Burns did do was tinker with the words, editing them to make them stronger. He called this "mending" a song. His original manuscript for Auld Lang Syne is hidden away in the Mitchell Library in Glasgow. He wrote the lyrics in Brown ink, using a sharpened feather. Beethoven's attempt to set the words to music is kept in the same museum.
3. The tune we sing today isn't the original one, either. Burns sent his manuscript to two publishers. One of them published it with a Scottish tune which Burns didn't like. We'll never know if Burns would have approved of Sir Alexander Don’s Strathspey, the tune George Thompson gave it, as this didn't happen until three years after Burns died. This is however, the tune most often used today.
4. The association of the song with New Year's Eve started with a Canadian singer called Guy Lombardo who performed a live broadcast from the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City on New Year’s Eve for thirty years. As ubiquitous on New Year's Eve as Jools Holland is now. Anyway, Lombardo always included the song and so it became forever linked with the 31st of December.
5. On New Year's Eve, you'll probably find yourself dragged into a circle of people holding hands with crossed arms as they sing. Strictly speaking, according to tradition, you're not supposed to do the crossed hands thing until the last verse which begins with “And there’s a hand my trusty friend.” What's more, as the song ends the circle is supposed to rush inwards to the centre, and turn, so that everyone is facing outwards. Which would be quite an achievement for a drunken New Year's Eve party!
6. What does "Auld Lang Syne" even mean, anyway? The literal translation is “old long since,” which in modern parlance is generally accepted as "for old time's sake". Hence to sing “for the sake of auld lang syne” is wrong. "For the sake of old time's sake" doesn't actually make any sense.
7. New Year's Eve isn't the only time the song is sung. It is sung at a Burns Night supper, at the end of the Last Night of the Proms (here it's sung by the audience rather than the performers, so it doesn't appear on the official programme), at the end of the annual Edinburgh Military Tattoo, at the close of the Trades Union Congress annual conference, and at the last lowering of the Union Jack as a British colony achieves independence. In Taiwan it is used as a graduation and funeral song.
8. It was the national anthem of the Maldives until 1972.
9. In some parts of the world the same tune is used for different lyrics. The Dutch football song "Wij houden van Oranje" (We love Orange) is sung to the same tune, as is a Japanese song called “Glow of a Firefly” which is about students studying by the light of a firefly. It has therefore become associated with graduation ceremonies there; but it is also played in Japanese departments stores as a signal to customers that the store is about to close.
10. On 30 November 2009, students and staff at the University of Glasgow sang the song in 41 different languages simultaneously.

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Secrets and Skies

Jack Ward, President of Innovia, owes his life twice over to the enigmatic superhero, dubbed Power Blaster by the press. No-one knows who Power Blaster is or where he comes from - and he wants it to stay that way.

Scientist Desi Troyes has developed a nuclear bomb to counter the ever present threat of an asteroid hitting the planet. When Ward signs the order giving the go ahead for a nuclear test on the remote Bird Island, he has no inkling of Troyes' real agenda, and that he has signed the death warrants of millions of people.

Although the island should have been evacuated, there are people still there: some from the distant continent of Classica; protesters opposed to the bomb test; and Innovians who will not, or cannot, use their communication devices.

Power Blaster knows he must stop the bomb from hitting the island. He also knows it may be the last thing he ever does.

Meanwhile in Innovia, Ward and his staff gather to watch the broadcast of the test. Nobody, not even Troyes himself, has any idea what is about to happen.

Part One of The Raiders Trilogy.

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