Thank Goodness It's Monday #389

Isabella Bannerman -- Six Chix for 29 December 2012

WHAT’S ON YOUR MIDNIGHT PLAYLIST?

Auld Lang Syne?

Wow! Then do you remember the Guy Lombardo Orchestra? (Just being a little snarky there.)

 

True enough, Auld  Lang Syne is probably still the Midnight Ball Drop classic and will be for who knows how long. 

But every New Year’s Eve I invariably wonder why. 

My problem: Sung more out of nostalgic habit than conviction, I find it expresses a largely backward looking sentiment. The Scottish phrase “auld lang syne” translates literally as “old long since” and is understood as “times gone by.” But, whether we know that or not, the whole singing of this “holiday classic” seems to me to concentrate our personal focus in the wrong direction. 

Certainly there have been highlights and some very low spots that we can easily recall in the year past. But the days ahead are a blank canvas (as they always are) and the future is optimistic for those who can hold that spirit in their hearts.

So, less than 24 hours from now, many of us will lift a glass and offer up a thought or two appropriate to the spirit of January’s namesake from Roman mythology, Janus, the god of gates, doorways, beginnings, and endings.

Janus was also the patron of concrete and abstract beginnings of the world such as religion and the gods themselves, of human life, new historical ages, and economic enterprises.

Janus is traditionally depicted as having two heads, facing opposite directions. And in his case, being two-faced is a good thing.

The New Year connection: Because he could see into the past with one face and into the future with the other, he was also the figure representing time. 

One head looks back at the last year while the other simultaneously looks forward to the new and so Janus was frequently used to symbolize change and transitions such as the progression of past to future … of one condition to another … of one vision to another … the growing up of young people … and of one universe to another. 

TGIM ACTION IDEA: At midnight on December 31, don’t let Bacchus (the Roman god of wine) or Somnus (the Roman god of sleep) muddle your thinking if you’re inclined to acknowledge the changing year with a toast and a song.

TGIM IDEA IN ACTION: Be Janus-like when you give voice to your sentiments.

 

Here are a few well-said words, origin unknown, that you might appropriate:

Here's a toast to the future …

A toast to the past …

And a toast to our friends, far and near.

May the future be pleasant …

The past a bright dream …

May our friends remain faithful and dear. 

And if you’re going to sing, I suggest –

Turn! Turn! Turn!

It’s Pete Seeger’s music and 1959 adaptation of the words from Ecclesiastes that come to mind for me every New Year’s Eve when Auld Lang Syne plays.

I hope you know it. Maybe you know it as To Everything There Is A Season. Maybe, if you connected immediately to the Guy Lombardo reference at the start you know the popularized-by-The-Byrds Folk Rock hit version of 1965.

If you don’t know it --there are limitless options to investigate. You might start HERE with a YouTube version of the recording I first came to love. The video portion is a bit less than spectacular but Pete’s voice is young (he’s now 93+) and clear and enthusiastic. 

To every thing there is a season,

And a time to every purpose under heaven.

 

And, of course, that’s just the opening line.

There’s more. Much more. Sing it (at least to yourself at midnight). 

And I will offer a toast and wish you –

Happiness and Success in 2013

I swear it’s not too late.

Geoff Steck
Chief Catalyst
Alexander Publishing & Marketing

8 Depot Square

Englewood, NJ 07631
201-569-5373
tgimguy@gmail.com

P.S. Speaking of “turning” … Another midnight playlist possibility is Simple Gifts, a Shaker song written and composed in 1848 by Elder Joseph Brackett (1797–1882). These are the lyrics to his one-verse Dancing Song:

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free

'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,

And when we find ourselves in the place just right,

'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gain'd,

To bow and to bend we shan't be asham'd,

To turn, turn will be our delight,

Till by turning, turning we come 'round right.