# Auld Lang What? The surprising origins of the New Year’s song

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/twenty-thousand-hertz-1053394/auld-lang-what-the-surprising-origins-of-the-new-year-s-song
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/twenty-thousand-hertz-1053394/auld-lang-what-the-surprising-origins-of-the-new-year-s-song.md
Podcast: [Twenty Thousand Hertz](https://stenobird.com/podcast/twenty-thousand-hertz-1053394)
Published: 2025-12-31T11:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://www.20k.org/episodes/auld-lang-what
Audio file: https://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/pdst.fm/e/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.megaphone.fm/TTH1188091684.mp3?updated=1767118528
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/twenty-thousand-hertz-1053394/episodes/auld-lang-what-the-surprising-origins-of-the-new-year-s-song
Duration seconds: 1353

## Resource

Every New Year’s at midnight, we raise our voices to sing a song that few of us understand: “Auld Lang Syne.” So when and why did this become the anthem of the holiday? In this episode, our friends at the Smithsonian’s Sidedoor podcast trace the mysterious rise of “Auld Lang Syne” from rural Scotland, to a New York jazz club, to a classic film and an iconic actor. Featuring folklorist Jim Deutsch. Support the show and get ad-free episodes at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠20k.org/plus⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Subscribe to ⁠Sidedoor⁠ wherever you get your podcasts. Twenty Thousand Hertz is produced by ⁠Defacto Sound⁠. Subscribe on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to see our video series. If you know what this week's mystery sound is, tell us at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠mystery.20k.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Follow Dallas on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠Facebook⁠, and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Join our community on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Reddit⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Get 3 months of free payroll at ⁠gusto.com/20k⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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