Burns
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
and auld lang syne?
JohnTen
JohnTen
Rod Stewart — live, the old song of parting, from the Scottish rock.
ITV filmed the Christmas special at Stirling Castle on 21 November 2012. This is the close: Burns’s melody, bagpipes in the air, a cup of kindness yet.
The same melody. Hundreds of thousands of Japanese, singing farewell to General MacArthur.
Truman had just relieved him. At dawn on 16 April 1951 the five-star Chrysler rolled the highway from the Embassy to Haneda. Police counted about 200,000 Japanese lining the route; Le Monde wrote 300,000; MacArthur later said two million. Schoolchildren had the morning off. They waved both flags.
At 7:23 a.m. the Constellation Bataan lifted into the overcast. Time recorded it: the band played Auld Lang Syne. Japan already knew that tune as 蛍の光 — Hotaru no Hikari — the song of graduation and goodbye. Same notes. A cup of kindness, for old acquaintance.
Robert Burns, 1788 · public domain. Japan sings the same air as a farewell.
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 tak a cup o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
蛍の光 窓の雪
書読む月日 重ねつつ
いつしか年も すぎの戸を
開けてぞ今朝は 別れゆく