Auld Lang Syne 2011

And here we are, at the end of another year.  I have to say, I really enjoyed blogging about free Christmas music more this year than any other time I can remember - not that it's ever a chore or anything, but it was especially enjoyable this year.  I think the lowered expectations I had for myself really helped a lot.  Thanks also for all the wonderful comments and emails that you have all left for me - it always means a lot to me to read them.

Anyway, this being the eve of New Year's Eve, I think it's about time for the annual "Auld Lang Syne" post.  I have five versions of the song this year; here they are in no particular order:

• Jordan Gladstone's version is actually called "I Heard the Bells on Auld Lang Syne" and is from the Badgerland: Thee Christmas Mix Tape 2010 compilation.  It's a very cool instrumental guitar version.
• Sam Billen's version is from a compilation that was actually released two years ago, but I somehow still haven't gotten around to posting about.  Anyway, it's a very mellow and beautiful version.
• Human has a cool, jazzy version of the song.
• Joel Rakes has actually released two versions of the song: a "Happy" and a "Sad" version.  These are only available for free for the next week, so go get them now.

And there we go.  Hopefully at least one of these versions of the song will help you to usher in the new year in whatever way you choose to.  Once again, many thanks for reading the blog again this year, and I'll be back again between ten and eleven months from now to do this all over again.

Happy New Year, and happy listening!

URLs:

http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Badgerland/Thee_Christmas_Mix_Tape_2010

http://www.lawrence.com/news/2009/dec/14/themorethemerrierchristmas/

http://www.irisdistribution.com/Release_Workbook/110811/Landing/SA/index.html

http://noisetrade.com/joelrakes

The Machine - "Coming Back To Life (w/ Auld Lang Syne)"

Normally at this time of year, I make a post rounding up all of the different versions of "Auld Lang Syne" that I came across during my search for free Christmas music in the last year.  However, this year has been anything but normal, so I'd like to do something a little different.

In February of this year, my father passed away very suddenly.  Not a day goes by that I don't think of him, but I've found myself thinking of him more than usual today, as last New Year's Eve turned out to be the last time I ever spoke to him.  Dad was a huge Pink Floyd fan (so big that he actually wanted their music played at his funeral; my brother, two of our uncles, and I granted that request when we sang "Wish You Were Here" for him), and I've spent more time listening to their music this year than I ever have before.

I also downloaded quite a few shows from a Pink Floyd tribute band called The Machine.  As fate would have it, one of the shows was recorded on New Year's Eve 2008 and features "Auld Lang Syne" incorporated beautifully into the intro and guitar solo of "Coming Back to Life".  "Coming Back to Life" itself is a pretty special song to me, as it's from The Division Bell, which was the first Pink Floyd album that I ever experienced alongside my father; I was too young to appreciate their other albums when they were released, but he picked up The Division Bell when we were on summer vacation the year it came out, and the album became one that we listened to regularly on our vacation drives.  This is a great version of the song, and the two little excursions into "Auld Lang Syne" work extremely well, making it a very appropriate song for this time of year.

I'd like to close this post with one of my favourite quotes that took on an entirely new meaning for me this year:

"We get to think of life as an inexhaustible well. Yet everything happens only a certain number of times, and a very small number, really. How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, some afternoon that's so deeply a part of your being that you can't even conceive of your life without it? Perhaps four or five times more. perhaps not even that. How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps twenty. And yet it all seems limitless."
--Paul Bowles

If you haven't talked to your father lately, please do so as soon as you can and let him know how much you appreciate him.  Life is definitely anything but inexhaustible, so take the time to appreciate the things you hold dear while you still can.

I love you, Dad.  I'll always miss you, but thanks for the lifetime of memories, especially the ones revolving around Pink Floyd!

URL:
http://www.archive.org/details/tm2008-12-31

Auld Lang Syne 2009

Another year over, and a new one about to begin.  A new decade, in fact.  I find it hard to believe how fast time has been passing.  It certainly doesn't feel like it was ten years ago that I was sitting home with my parents watching a "top 1000 videos of the millennium" countdown on CMT (yes, the top 1000 videos of the previous 1000 years, even though television itself had only been around for a very tiny fraction of that time - I guess everyone had to get in on the millennium hype!).  My life has changed immeasurably in that time (for the better, by far), and I'm really looking forward to what the next ten years (and beyond) will bring.

 

One thing that definitely hasn't changed, though, is my love of music.  That is what keeps me blogging about music, and I'm always glad to hear from people who appreciate the music I post about.  Thank you for reading this blog for yet another year, and I'll see you again sometime next November (of course, you are more than welcome to check out Totally Free Music for some excellent non-Christmas music throughout the year; as always, I have no idea which direction that blog will take, but it is sure to be an exciting one).

 

Before signing off for the year, though, I'd like to point you to the new versions of "Auld Lang Syne" I came across this year, just as I have done for the previous two years.  Most of these versions were just included on Christmas albums that I downloaded, but I also took a quick look around for a few other versions this year, which is something I never did before.

 

First up is J.E.L.L.i.'s  "Happy New Year" from A Jolly J.E.L.L.i. Christmas (which I already covered in my Christmas Day post).  After a countdown, complete with party sounds, and a brief acoustic prelude, the song kicks into high gear with a truly rocking arrangement.  It's barely more than a minute long, but anyone who loves instrumental guitar rock should definitely check it out.

 

Another version that I already covered this year comes from Corbin Watkins' Incarnation album.  It is the second half of the medley "Do You See?/Auld Lang Syne", and it is one of the quietest, most minimal versions of this song I have ever heard.  Very nice for quietly contemplating the end of the year.

 

The last version that I came across during my normal Christmas music search this year is on the Lawrence compilation The More the Merrier Christmas.  Sam Billen, who organized the compilation, closes the album with a very laid back version of "Auld Lang Syne", which features some beautiful vocal harmonies.

 

A quick Twitter search turned up a few more versions, including a punk version from MxPx, a fun dance mix from DJ Josh Fernandez, a beautiful mellow version from electro-pop duo Measure, and a great country version from Vandaveer that starts as a duet but builds up into a full singalong in the second half.  As I've mentioned before, this is the first time I've ever gone looking specifically for this song (a sure sign that it's really becoming a favourite of mine), and I'm glad I did, as there are some excellent versions to be found there.  

 

And that's it.  Whatever you decide to do tonight, I hope you have a safe and happy end to 2009, and that 2010 will bring you everything you want and need.  I just can't wait to start saying "twenty ten" - I'm tired of pronouncing years starting with "two thousand". ;)  In all seriousness, though, this has been a really trying year for my family and me, and I'm hoping that the symbolic turning of the calendar will end up being a real turning point for us.  Happy New Year!

 

URLs:

http://www.jamendo.com/en/track/478597 (J.E.L.L.i.)

http://www.corbinw.com/christmas/xmas.html (Corbin Watkins)

http://www.lawrence.com/news/2009/dec/14/themorethemerrierchristmas/ (Sam Billen)

http://fuse.tv/music/free-music.html?artist_id=335 (MxPx)

http://www.ilike.com/artist/Dj+Josh+Fernandez/track/Auld+Lang+Syne+%5BNew+Year+Special+2010%5D (DJ Josh Fernandez)

http://measuremusic.bandcamp.com/ (Measure)

http://www.pluginmusic.com/freemusic/vandaveer (Vandaveer)

Song Spotlight: Auld Lang Syne (2008 edition)

Last year before New Year's Eve, I made a post rounding up all the free versions of "Auld Lang Syne" that I had found. I've found a few more this year - some are brand new, some from years past, but all of them are pretty cool in their own way - and I thought it might be cool to make an annual tradition out of an "Auld Lang Syne" post, celebrating the end of another year of great free Christmas music and allowing the new year to be rung in with style.

Here are this year's versions of "Auld Lang Syne":

• Mojo Green's version from their Green Christmas album. This is my favourite version, with their rock instrumentation balancing nicely with the more traditional sounding piano accompaniment.
• Richard Rayer's version from A Garritan Community Christmas Volume 5. This is an orchestral, instrumental version (done on a computer, like all Garritan Christmas recordings).
• Navada Van der Veer's version from Voices of Christmas Past. Being from 1921, this is by far the oldest version of the song I've heard, so the historical value alone makes it worth hearing.
• The Sleeping Brothers' version from The White Christmas Album. This is a short, countrified version.
• Peter Buffett's version from Star of Wonder, with vocals by Kim Robertson. This is a pretty, softer version with some Celtic overtones. (this one requires registration with amiestreet.com. I registered there earlier this year for free, and as far as I know, it is still free to register. If anyone has any problems registering or accessing this album, please let me know)
  

The funny thing about this song is that I've never actually gone looking for it - all of these versions are part of Christmas albums that I've found - but it's really become a favourite of mine. That's certainly a long way from just thinking of it as "that New Year's song", after hearing it used on TV and in movies any time a New Year's Eve scene comes up.

I guess that's it. Thanks so much for reading this blog again this year. I've had a lot of fun tracking down, listening to, and writing about the music I've featured here, and I can't wait to do it again next year. In the meantime, if you're up for some free non-Christmas music, the Totally Free Music blog has a years' worth of posts in it now, and I should be actively posting in it again really soon (actually, I just made a post about a metal compilation called Christmas Carnage Vol. 1 - there's no Christmas music on it, but the artwork does have some pretty bows and a skull wearing a Santa Claus hat!). Happy New Year, and happy listening!

URLs:
http://www.archive.org/details/mg2006-12-00.-xmas
http://garritan.com/Xmas.html
http://www.archive.org/details/Voices_of_Christmas_Past_1898_to_1922
http://www.archive.org/details/TheSleepingBrothersTheWhiteChristmasAlbum
http://amiestreet.com/music/peter-buffett/star-of-wonder/ (free registration required)

Song Spotlight: Auld Lang Syne (special New Year's edition)

[Note: As of October 4, 2009, the Fisher album is unavailable.]

Given the nature of this blog, I think it is pretty much a given that posting will be somewhat sparse now that Christmas has come and gone. I will probably make an occasional post if I have some news to share or if I happen across a really great find, but things will definitely not be as active here as they have been for the last couple of months.

With that said, I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you who have been reading this blog from the bottom of my heart. I have had a lot of fun checking on the stats for my site feed on Feedburner every day and seeing the number of subscribers increase steadily. I also feel truly humbled to know that this blog has been read by people from all over the world, and I hope that the music I have featured here has touched at least some of you as much as it has touched me. Thank you, and I hope that you will all keep your subscriptions active, as I still have a huge amount of free Christmas music that I have not yet been able to feature here, plus I am sure that 2008 will bring more treasures which I will feature as soon as I find them. I'd also love to hear more from my readers next year, so I will be encouraging interactivity a lot more than I did this year.

I would also like to invite all of you to visit a new blog that I have started, entitled Totally Free Music. My initial intention is to have it be a more general version of Free Christmas Music and feature links to free music of all types, along with my own brief reviews and opinions about the music. If you have enjoyed getting free music from this blog for Christmas and would like to continue getting free music throughout the year, I will be happy to be your guide at Totally Free Music. I hope to see you there!

All right, and now on to this blog's very last spotlight of 2007. "Auld Lang Syne" is a song that will very likely be familiar to anyone who has been through a New Year's celebration, even if you may not actually know the words to it. In fact, for years I thought of it as only "that New Year's song", having heard it in countless TV shows and movies that feature a New Year's celebration. Since I have found a few versions of it in my search for free Christmas music, I thought it would only be appropriate to feature it here.

• An orchestral version by Frank Pido (done on a computer) can be found at the Garritan Christmas Music Player. It's track 19 on the 2004 album, which is about 3/4 of the way down the page.
• A faster, noisier version by A Beautiful Lotus can be found on Christmasasaurus vol. 2.
• A more traditional version with vocals can be found on Fisher's December album.

As a bonus, I'll also include the lyrics here so that you may actually be able to sing along with this song the next time you hear it. I got this set of lyrics from Wikipedia, which also features the original lyrics by Robert Burns as well as a pronounciation guide.

Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and never brought to mind ?
Should old acquaintance be forgot,
and auld lang syne ?
CHORUS:
For auld lang syne, my dear,
for auld lang syne,
we'll take a cup o’ 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 o’ kindness yet,
for auld lang syne.
CHORUS

We two have run about the slopes,
and picked the daisies fine ;
But we’ve wandered many a weary foot,
since auld lang syne.
CHORUS

We two have paddled in the stream,
from morning sun till dine (dinner time) ;
But seas between us broad have roared
since auld lang syne.
CHORUS

And there’s a hand my trusty friend !
And give us a hand o’ thine !
And we’ll take a right good-will draught,
for auld lang syne.
CHORUS

I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and that 2007 was a good year for you. Here's to hoping that 2008 will be even better. Happy New Year, and happy listening!

URLs:

http://totallyfreemusic.blogspot.com/

http://www.garritan.com/Xmas.html

http://www.archive.org/details/CANDY032

http://www.fishertheband.com/christmas.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Auld_lang_syne