Should auld acquaintance be forgot
 And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
 And [auld]1 lang syne!
Chorus:
 For auld lang syne, my [jo]2,
   For auld lang syne,
 We'll tak a cup o' kindness yet
   For auld lang syne.

And surely ye'll be your pint stowp!
 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 [pa'd]3 the gowans fine;
But we've wander'd mony a weary [foot]4,
 Sin' auld lang syne.

We taw 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 take a right gude-willie-waught,
 For auld lang syne.

L. Beethoven sets stanzas 1, 3, 5

View original text (without footnotes)
¹ Beethoven: "days o' "
² Beethoven (and some other versions of Burns): "dear"
³ Some other versions of Burns: "pou'd"
⁴ Some other versions of Burns: "fit"

Text Authorship:

• by Robert Burns (1759 - 1796), "Auld lang syne" [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]

Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):

• by Agathe Ursula Backer-Grøndahl (1847 - 1907), "Auld Lang Syne", op. 51 no. 10 (1902), published 1902 [ voice and piano ], from Tolv Folkeviser og Melodier fra fremmede Lande, no. 10 [sung text not yet checked]
• by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 - 1827), "Auld Lang Syne", WoO. 156 (12 Scottish Songs) no. 11, G. 227 no. 11, published 1818, stanzas 1,3,5 [ vocal trio, piano ] [sung text checked 1 time]

Settings in other languages, adaptations, or excerpts:

• Also set in German (Deutsch), a translation by Wilhelm Christoph Leonhard Gerhard (1780 - 1858) , "Die alte gute Zeit" [an adaptation] ; composed by Robert Schumann.
  • Go to the text.
    

Other available translations, adaptations or excerpts, and transliterations (if applicable):

• CZE Czech (Čeština) (Josef Václav Sládek) , "Dávno již"
• FRE French (Français) (Pierre Mathé) , "Mémoire du bon vieux temps", copyright © 2014, (re)printed on this website with kind permission
• GER German (Deutsch) [singable] (Georg Pertz) , "Soll alte Freundschaft untergehen"
• HUN Hungarian (Magyar) (József Lévay) , "A régi múlt idő..."

Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]

This text was added to the website between May 1995 and September 2003.
Line count: 25
Word count: 134

Soll alte Freundschaft untergehn
In Nacht und Dunkelheit?
Soll alte Freundschaft untergehn
Und alte, gute Zeit?

Refrain:
 Auf alte, gute Zeit, Kam'rad,
 Auf alte, gute Zeit,
 ein volles Glas noch trinken wir
 Auf alte, gute Zeit!

Im Hochland sind wir  oft geschweift
Nach Blumen weit und breit;
Wir gingen manchen rauhen Pfad
Seit alter, guter Zeit.

(Refrain)

Und hier ist meine Hand, Kam'rad,
Schlag ein und sei bereit,
Zu trinken noch ein volles Glas
Auf alte, gute Zeit

(Refrain)