Ray sings them on the bike. One for those left behind. One for whoever can still be found. Public-domain lyrics: original and translation.
Robert Burns, 1788 · Scots
Auld Lang Syne
“Times gone by.” For the sake of those.
The words are a Scots poem by Robert Burns, 1788, taken from an older song. Burns wrote to his publisher that he had it “from an old man’s singing.” The title, literally, is old long since: far-off times, the good days gone.
The tune we sing today is not the first manuscript’s. It joins Burns’s words at the end of the 1700s and never leaves them. In Italy it has also been heard as Canto dell’addio or the Candle Waltz.
Why they are sung on special occasions
It is sung at New Year, above all at Hogmanay in Scotland, when the year dies. It is not a party: it is a pact. Do not forget who walked with you. Raise another cup of kindness.
That is why it returns at every ending: diplomas, funerals, last dances, closing time, scout farewells. In Japan the same air closes the schools. Ray sings it on the road for the same reason: there is a before, and it must not be erased.
English
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and 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 surely you’ll buy your pint cup,
and surely I’ll buy mine,
and we’ll take a cup of kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
We two have run about the slopes,
and picked the daisies fine,
but we’ve wandered many a weary foot
since auld lang syne.
We two have paddled in the stream
from morning sun till dine,
but seas between us broad have roared
since auld lang syne.
And there’s a hand, my trusty friend,
and give me a hand of thine,
and we’ll take a right good-will draught
for auld lang syne.
John Newton, 1779 · English
Amazing Grace
Grace: a gift you did not earn.
John Newton writes it for a New Year sermon, 1773. It is printed in 1779 in the Olney Hymns, under the title Faith’s Review and Expectation. Newton had been a sailor and a slave trader. In 1748, in a storm on the Greyhound, he asks for mercy. He does not become a saint overnight: he leaves the sea, is ordained, and only later fights to abolish the trade.
In England the hymn stays to one side. In the United States, in the 1800s, it sticks to the folk tune New Britain. From there it becomes one of the most recorded songs in the world. The verse “When we’ve been there ten thousand years” is not Newton’s: it arrives later, in America.
Why they are sung on special occasions
It is sung at funerals, vigils, marches. Not because it is sad: because it says you can come back. I was lost, now I am found. I was blind, now I see. Through dangers, toils and snares — and grace brings you home.
That is why Mahalia Jackson sang it, Black churches, state funerals, bagpipes. A special occasion: when someone has gone too far, or is gone, and mercy is all that remains. Ray sings it on the road for the same need: a name, and the chance to deserve it again.
English
Amazing grace! how sweet the sound
that saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now am found,
was blind, but now I see.
’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
and grace my fears relieved.
How precious did that grace appear
the hour I first believed.
Through many dangers, toils, and snares
I have already come.
’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
and grace will lead me home.
The Lord has promised good to me,
His word my hope secures.
He will my shield and portion be
as long as life endures.
The author’s playlist
Ten tracks to read by
Listen here, on the site, while you read. Ray’s two songs are above. The ten tracks start on the page.
01
Way Down We Go
Kaleo2015
2015
02
Born to Be Wild
Steppenwolf1968
1968
03
Green Onions
Booker T. & the M.G.’s1962
1962
04
Radar Love
Golden Earring1973
1973
05
Take Me Home, Country Roads
John Denver1971
1971
06
House of the Rising Sun
The Animals1964
1964
07
Midnight Rider
The Allman Brothers Band1970
1970
08
A Horse with No Name
America1971
1971
09
Riders on the Storm
The Doors1971
1971
10
Outro
M832011
2011
Sources: Robert Burns, 1788 manuscript and Scots Musical Museum; Britannica; Wikipedia, Auld Lang Syne. John Newton, Olney Hymns, 1779; Wikipedia, Amazing Grace; Hymnary.org. Working translations, faithful to the sense. Auld Lang Syne is in Scots: the English here is the form most often sung.