Last Night

"Here's to the last night of the old year . . . "

“. . . and to the New Year, yet to be” is the lyric belonging to a counterpoint melody that George Emlen and I created as a musical complement to the familiar “Auld Lang Syne.” Our version,“Last Night / Auld Lang Syne,” is a song that invites memories of good times with friends–not just in the past year, but throughout our lives.

 A literal translation of the Scots phrase “auld lang syne” is “old long since,” meaning “days gone by.” Poet and lyricist Robert Burns’ version comes from a long oral tradition, dating back as least as far as 1588. Written in 1788, the lyrics of this drinking song spread across Scotland through its inclusion in the Scottish New Year celebration of Hogmanay. Guy Lombardo and His Royal Canadians helped popularize the song in North America, and for decades it’s been played in Time’s Square after the ball drops at the ending of the old year and the welcoming of the new. And that those last few minutes of each year might be spent with voices lifted together in song inevitably serves as a hopeful reminder that our human condition shares a deep and abiding faith in community.

“Old friend, new friend

Shall we gather here,

And share a song to celebrate

This last night of the year”

Soon after this posting to Substack, the”‘last night of the year” will have happened seven times since Jeanne Finley and I met at a hotel restaurant in Pittsburgh, PA, in 2016, to explore the concept of constructing what has turned out to be an unusual approach to a biography. A biography is, of course, a writing that, by necessity, attempts to cross all the t’s and dot all the i’s of one’s life—the people I’ve grown up with, the places I’ve lived, the schools I’ve attended, and many of the personal and professional experiences that have shaped this (going on) eighty-six year old life of mine.

In the process of collecting these thoughts, and at no small urging from Jeanne, the biography has become a larger reveal. Perhaps because the nature of “folk music” is to comment upon the times in which it is created, the lyrics of many of my songs upon review have suggested a link—a connection—to the evolutionary spiritual tenor of the times. For while the lyric of “El Salvador” has had a limited relevance, reflecting as it did a specific time in our history, “The Wedding Song” continues to enjoy a timeless and growing resonance as represented by its inclusion in many contemporary marriage ceremonies.  

So, what is the link that connects to, and yet at the same time, transcends the politics of contemporary times? As you probably guessed, I’m voting for Love (with a capital L)!  Recalling and reviewing over two hundred songs of mine—some published and others still on the page but not recorded—it has become increasingly clear an evolution in my faith has taken place. It is in those songs that attempt to bridge the everyday with the spiritual that I’ve found a harmony, if you will, between the expressions of hope and the call of a Love Incarnate.  

And as lyrics from these songs began to find their way into chapter headings and into reflections about the nature of humankind and the book nears completion (we are about 7/8ths complete), there is a growing awareness—particularly as we approach this “last night of the year”—of just how intertwined my faith and my musical attempts to express it in plain language have become central to my life.  Noel

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Vibrations  

Enjoy the  “Last Night / Auld Lang Syne” (video) created by Jeanne.

Photo by Ian Schneider on Unsplash

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Resonance

Do you find yourself reaching for ways to express your beliefs in ways that don’t rely so much on the inherited labels of the church, but rather are a more personal revealing of your relationship with God?  

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Note from Noel and Jeanne

Thank you for being a part of the growing Strings community. When we began our newsletter four months ago, we said (on our “About”page) that like the strings of a guitar, this is a place of connection, vibration, resonance, and creation. Here we hope to engage with you as we finish the last part of Noel’s autobiography and see it through publication and beyond. Here is place to discover the resonance between Noel’s music and the efforts musicians, artists, writers, and spiritual leaders who are seeking to make the our nation and the world a place where “liberty and justice [are] the right of one and all.” Here’s to the last night of the old year and to the new year yet to be. Happy New Year!

P.S. from Jeanne

December 30 was Noel’s 86th birthday. Please join me in wishing him a happy birthday week and peace, joy, and love throughout his new year.