A Brief History of “Auld Lang Syne1”Auld Lang Syne的往昔與今朝

凱特琳·施奈德/文　魏雨萱/譯

Every New Year’s Eve， after the champagne has been popped， the ball has dropped2， and everyone is feeling very merry indeed， revelers queue up the same song they’ve been queuing up for decades. You know the one—it makes you cry， even though you don’t understand it and know almost none of the words.

每年新年前夕，香檳已開，倒計時水晶球已降下，人人都沉浸在喜悅之中。就在此時，狂歡的人們紛紛唱起同一首歌，那是一首他們已經唱了幾十年的歌。你一定聽過，即使你聽不懂，幾乎不知道歌詞，你也會聞之而落淚。

A handful of options pop up when you search for the meaning of “auld lang syne”： “times/days gone by，” “old time’s sake，” “long long times/ago，” and even “once upon a time” among them. The most common consensus is something like “for old time’s sake，” which is about as direct an interpretation as you can get， as the word-for-word translation is “old long since.” The line about “for auld lang syne” is essentially “for （the sake of） old times.” （For the record， it never says the totally nonsensical3 “for the sake of auld lang syne.”） Beyond the words themselves， there’s even less agreement about exactly how the tune came to be a New Year’s Eve tradition.

搜索auld lang syne的釋義會得到幾個選項：times/days gone by（流逝的時光/過去的日子）、old time’s sake（念往昔）、long long times/ago（很久很久以前），甚至還有once upon a time（從前）。其中，最普遍認可的是for old time’s sake（念往昔），這是你能得到的最直接的解釋，因為逐字翻譯過來就是old long since（過去的時光）。歌詞for auld lang syne其實就是“for （the sake of） old times”。（特此聲明，并不存在for the sake of auld lang syne這種荒謬的說法。）除了歌詞本身，關于這首歌是如何成為新年前夕傳統曲目的，人們更是眾說紛紜。

For old time’s sake

念往昔

The song originated as a poem， but it probably wasn’t written by Robert Burns4， as is commonly believed—at least not entirely. The poet was simply the first person to write down an old Scottish folk song （it bears more than a passing resemblance to5 “Old Long Syne，” a ballad that was printed by James Watson in 1711）. Burns himself said， “I took it down from an old man，” and whether it was transcribed or co-authored， it’s safe to say that the “Auld Lang Syne” we know today is some combination of an old poem and Burns’s creative input.

這首歌最初是一首詩，但這首詩可能并不像人們普遍認為的那樣由羅伯特·彭斯創作而成，至少不完全是。這位詩人只是第一個將某首古老蘇格蘭民謠記錄下來的人。（這首民謠與詹姆斯·沃特森于1711年發表的民謠Old Long Syne極為相似。）彭斯自稱“根據一位老人的口傳記錄下了這首民謠”，但無論是逐字記錄的，還是共同創作的，可以肯定地說，我們今天所知的Auld Lang Syne是一首古詩與彭斯的獨特創作相結合的產物。

In any case， Burns sent a copy of the poem to a friend in 1788 and wrote： “There is more of the fire of native genius in it than in half a dozen of modern English Bacchanalians6！” Later he contributed it to The Scots Musical Museum.

總之，彭斯在1788年將這首詩的副本寄給一位朋友，并寫道：“這首詩里熊熊燃燒的蘇格蘭民族特質之火，比六場現代英國酒神儀式的狂歡之火還要熱烈。”后來，他把詩稿貢獻給了《蘇格蘭音樂博物館》一書。

Five years later， Burns wrote to James Johnson， who was assembling a book of old Scottish songs： “The following song， an old song， of the olden times， and which has never been in print， nor even in manuscript until I took it down from an old man.”

那是五年之后，彭斯致信詹姆斯·約翰遜，后者當時正在匯編一本蘇格蘭古老歌曲集（即《蘇格蘭音樂博物館》）。彭斯寫道：“附上的這首歌是一首來自過去的古老歌曲，在我從一位老人那里將它記錄下來之前從未發表過，甚至連手稿都沒有。”

It’s unclear whether Johnson linked Burns to the song in his credits， but by the time the book was published in 1796， the poet was dead. He’d never know that those words would eventually help secure his own cultural immortality.

目前還不清楚約翰遜有沒有在他的書中將彭斯與這首歌聯系在一起，但當這本書于1796年出版時，彭斯已經去世了。他永遠不會知道，那些歌詞最終使他成為永垂不朽的文化名人。

Name that tune

定曲調

The words aren’t the only element that evolved over the years; it’s believed that the original tune is different than the one we drunkenly hum along to today. Originally， the song had a more traditional folk sound， one that can be heard in （of all things） 2008’s Sex and the City movie. This version is still performed today， but with much less frequency than the New Year stand-ard. The melody we all know was used at the suggestion of music publisher George Thompson.

這么多年來，這首歌并非只有歌詞在變化，據信它最初的曲調也不同于如今我們醉醺醺哼唱的調子。最初的曲調更偏向傳統民謠，在2008年的電影《欲望都市》（竟然是這部）中可以聽到。這一版本至今仍在演奏，但遠不如新年前夕的版本演奏得多。我們所熟知的旋律是在音樂出版商喬治·湯普森的建議下采用的。

How then did a Scottish folk song with a murky provenance7 and nothing at all to do with New Year’s Eve become associated with the holiday？ It’s largely thanks to bandleader Guy Lombardo8. In 1929， Lombardo and his band played “Auld Lang Syne” as transitional music while performing at New York City’s Roosevelt Hotel during a New Year’s Eve broadcast. It was played just after midnight， and heard over radio and television airwaves.

那么，這樣一首來歷不明又和新年前夕毫無關系的蘇格蘭民謠，是如何與新年聯系到一起的呢？這主要歸功于樂隊領隊蓋伊·隆巴爾多。1929年，隆巴爾多和他的樂隊在紐約羅斯福酒店進行新年前夕特別節目演出時，演奏了Auld Lang Syne用于轉場。此時零點剛過，悠揚的曲調通過收音機和電視傳播開來。

A global tradition

成為全球傳統曲目

Today， “Auld Lang Syne” is one of the most recognizable songs around the world， where it’s played at funerals， at celebrations， and as a warning that closing time is approaching at stores throughout Japan.

如今，Auld Lang Syne是全世界最耳熟能詳的歌曲之一，無論是葬禮上，還是慶典中，都會播放這首歌曲。日本各地的商店還會播放這首歌來提醒顧客快到打烊時間了。

To impress your date on New Year’s Eve， learn the correct words here—and don’t worry too much about the meaning. As Sally Albright says in When Harry Met Sally...， “Anyway， it’s about old friends.”

想在新年前夕驚艷你的約會對象嗎？來學習正確的歌詞吧，不用太過糾結歌詞的含義。正如電影《當哈利遇到莎莉》里女主角莎莉·奧爾布賴特所說，“總之，這歌和老友有關”。

（譯者為“《英語世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎者；單位：廣東外語外貿大學）

1蘇格蘭傳統民歌，歌名在中國普遍譯為“友誼地久天長”。? 2指紐約時報廣場跨年夜倒計時的水晶球降落儀式。這個儀式歷史悠久，是美國極具標志性的迎新年活動之一。? 3 nonsensical荒謬的；無意義的。

4羅伯特·彭斯（1759—1796），蘇格蘭杰出的民族詩人，代表作有A Red Red Rose（《一朵紅紅的玫瑰》）。? 5 bear more than a passing resemblance to酷似。? 6 Bacchanalian酒神節的；狂歡作樂的；縱酒狂歡的人。酒神節（Bacchanalia）是希臘羅馬宗教中對酒神表達敬意的節日，慶祝活動包括戲劇表演和飲酒盛宴等。

7 provenance出處；起源。? 8蓋伊·隆巴爾多（1902—1977），生于加拿大的美國伴舞樂隊領隊，于1924年組建伴舞樂隊The Royal Canadians。從1929年12月31日開始，蓋伊·隆巴爾多及其樂隊的新年前夕特別節目成為美國新年慶典的重要組成部分，隆巴爾多也因此被稱為“新年前夕先生”（Mr. New Year’s Eve）。