Auld Lang Syne: The Anthropocene Reviewed

2020-12-31 · review / recommendation · John · 21:46 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Philosophy & meaning (also: History & curiosities, Personal life) · mode: Personal essay · tags: calendar ritual, recurring series, heavy topic, self promotion

In an Anthropocene Reviewed episode John interweaves the history of Auld Lang Syne, from Robert Burns to the 1914 Christmas Truce and the soldiers' 'We're here because we're here', with his friendship with Amy Krouse Rosenthal, who launched his radio career and later died of cancer, and argues that the song holds longing without romanticizing it and that hope is true; five stars.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — A one-review episode on Auld Lang Syne; what the words mean

• ★★ In the podcast's first-ever one-review episode John reviews Auld Lang Syne, the song now most associated with New Year's Eve. — 00:00:00 · The Anthropocene Reviewed (podcast) · also in: John's Review of Auld Lang Syne
• ★★ John finds it fascinating that in a world where so much is new we welcome new years by singing a very old song. — 00:00:26 · also in: We're here because were here., John's Review of Auld Lang Syne
• ★★ 'Jo' is a Scots word for dear; auld lang syne literally means something like 'old long since', idiomatically 'the old times', close to English 'for old times' sake'. — 00:00:51 · also in: We're here because were here., John's Review of Auld Lang Syne

00:01:18 — Amy Krouse Rosenthal emails Booklist in 2001 and asks John for a radio piece

• ★★★ In summer 2001 the writer Amy Krouse Rosenthal emailed Booklist about a review; John, then a publishing assistant doing data entry and low-priority emails, replied. — 00:01:18 · also in: We're here because were here., John's Review of Auld Lang Syne
• ★★ John told Amy he had loved her zine-like column in Might magazine, especially a bit about feeling safe only as a descending plane nears the ground. — 00:01:46
• ★★★ Amy wrote back asking if John was a writer; he said he was trying to be, and she asked if he had anything two minutes long for the radio. — 00:02:09 · also in: John's Review of Auld Lang Syne

00:02:36 — The song's age, Robert Burns's 1788 draft, its eternal themes

• ★★ No one knows when Auld Lang Syne was written; versions of its first verse date back at least 400 years. — 00:02:36
• ★★★ The current song is owed to the Scottish poet Robert Burns, who in December 1788 wrote its first known draft on the back of a letter to his friend Frances Dunlop. — 00:03:03 · also in: We're here because were here., John's Review of Auld Lang Syne
• ★★ At least three of the verses were probably Burns's own, though he later said he took the song down from an old man. (hedged) — 00:03:31 · also in: We're here because were here., John's Review of Auld Lang Syne
• ★★ The song's eternality makes its lines hard to date: drinking together and remembering old times could have been written 500, 1,000 or 3,000 years ago. — 00:03:45 · also in: We're here because were here., John's Review of Auld Lang Syne

00:04:13 — Amy's death; WBEZ and NPR; lunches, mugging money, the Writer's Block Party and Adidas

• ★ Auld Lang Syne is also a rousing ode to splitting the check: 'surely you'll buy your pint cup, and surely I'll buy mine'. (playful) — 00:04:13 · also in: We're here because were here., John's Review of Auld Lang Syne
• ★★ Mostly the song is an unapologetic celebration of the good old days and of looking back on them. — 00:04:25 · also in: We're here because were here., John's Review of Auld Lang Syne

• ★★★ John says up front that Amy is dead, so her death won't seem a narrative device: a rare present-tense sentence that, once true, stays true forever. — 00:04:30 · also in: We're here because were here., John's Review of Auld Lang Syne

  “The rare present tense sentence that, once it becomes true, stays true forever.”

• ★★★ John sent Amy three short essays; she liked one and had him record it for her show on Chicago public radio station WBEZ, his first time reaching such a large audience. — 00:04:57 · Chicago (city) · also in: We're here because were here., John's Review of Auld Lang Syne

• ★★★ Amy invited John on her show more often, and within a year he was recording frequent commentaries for WBEZ and then NPR's All Things Considered. — 00:05:22 · also in: We're here because were here., John's Review of Auld Lang Syne
• ★★ Amy, who sometimes took him to lunch, was everything John wanted to be: happily married, a loving parent and a successful writer, and incredibly good at gift-giving. — 00:05:36 · also in: We're here because were here., John's Review of Auld Lang Syne
• ★★ John told Amy his mom had him carry $40 'mugging money' in his left pocket in Chicago; next time Amy gave him two money clips, engraved JMG and MM, Mugging Money. — 00:05:45 · Chicago (city) · also in: We're here because were here., John's Review of Auld Lang Syne
• ★★ In April 2002 John read at Amy's Writer's Block Party at the Chopin Theater; a hired complimenter praised his new Adidas sneakers, so he has worn Adidas almost daily for 17 years. — 00:06:29

00:06:58 — The tune, Burns's death, Hogmanay, worldwide spread, and why the song is genuinely wistful

• ★★ Burns had a different tune in mind, which he called mediocre and which is still heard, as in the 2008 film Sex and the City; the familiar melody first appeared in 1799 in George Thomson's Select Songs of Scotland. — 00:06:58 · also in: We're here because were here., John's Review of Auld Lang Syne
• ★★ Burns died at only 37 of a heart condition, possibly worsened by his drinking. (hedged) — 00:07:36 · also in: We're here because were here., John's Review of Auld Lang Syne
• ★★ John quotes Burns's last letter, to Frances Dunlop: an illness that had long hung about him would in all probability speedily send him beyond that bourne whence no traveller returns. — 00:07:36
• ★★ Within decades the song became part of Scotland's New Year's Eve, Hogmanay, rooted in winter solstice rituals; by 1818 Beethoven had arranged it and it was spreading through Europe and the English-speaking world. — 00:08:02 · Europe · also in: We're here because were here., John's Review of Auld Lang Syne
• ★★ Today the tune plays in Japanese department stores before closing, was South Korea's anthem tune in 1945-1948, inspired a famous Dutch football chant, and fills film soundtracks from The Gold Rush (1925) to Minions (2015). — 00:08:24 · also in: We're here because were here., John's Review of Auld Lang Syne
• ★★★ Auld Lang Syne is popular in Hollywood not only because it is public domain and cheap but because it is the rare genuinely wistful song. — 00:08:54 · also in: We're here because were here., John's Review of Auld Lang Syne
• ★★★ The song acknowledges human longing without romanticizing it and captures how each new year is a product of all the old ones. — 00:09:05 · also in: We're here because were here., John's Review of Auld Lang Syne

00:09:20 — The fourth verse's broad seas; Amy's finite count of looks at a tree; 'I was here'

• ★★★ Singing the fourth verse, the one John knows by heart, he thinks of the broad seas that have roared between him and the past: seas of neglect, of time, of death. — 00:09:20 · also in: We're here because were here., John's Review of Auld Lang Syne
• ★★★ We will never speak again to many of the people who loved us into this moment, so we raise a glass to them and hope they raise one to us. — 00:09:49 · also in: We're here because were here., John's Review of Auld Lang Syne
• ★★ In Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal, Amy reckoned 80 years at 29,220 days and perhaps 12,395 looks at a tree: a lot, but not infinite, and anything less than infinite seems measly. — 00:10:19 · also in: We're here because were here., Esther Day 2026: Some Thoughts on Loss
• ★★ In her writing Amy often sought to reconcile the infinite nature of consciousness, love and yearning with the finite universe. — 00:10:45 · also in: We're here because were here.
• ★★★ Textbook asks whether a pink flower in the asphalt looks like futility or hope; for John, Auld Lang Syne captures exactly how seeing it feels, and how it feels to have 12,395 looks at a tree. — 00:11:13
• ★★ Amy's 2005 memoir Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life ends 'I was here, you see. I was.', another sentence that once true never stops being true. — 00:11:47 · also in: We're here because were here., John's Review of Auld Lang Syne

00:12:20 — Drifting apart; Amy's cancer call and John's 'you do so much yoga'

• ★★ Amy's book came out months before Looking for Alaska; then Sarah got into graduate school at Columbia and they moved to New York, and John and Amy kept in touch. — 00:12:20 · Looking for Alaska (novel), Sarah Urist Green, New York City
• ★★ John played a bit part in an experience Amy curated for hundreds of people on August 8, 2008, in Millennium Park, but it was never again like the early days. — 00:12:35 · Chicago (city) · also in: We're here because were here., John's Review of Auld Lang Syne
• ★★★ After finishing Textbook, Amy learned she had cancer and called John, who knew many gravely ill young people after The Fault in Our Stars, to ask how her kids and husband would cope. — 00:12:46 · cancer, The Fault in Our Stars · also in: We're here because were here., John's Review of Auld Lang Syne
• ★★★ John told Amy what he thinks is true: love survives death. — 00:13:00
• ★★★ John should have said her family won't be okay but will go on, as will her love; instead, crying, he said 'How can this be happening? You do so much yoga.' — 00:13:45
• ★★ Dying people collect stories of stupid things the healthy say, but John knows none as idiotic as his; he hopes Amy got narrative mileage from it, knows he failed her, and wishes he had said something useful or nothing. — 00:14:09 · also in: We're here because were here., John's Review of Auld Lang Syne

00:14:56 — 'Don't just do something'; the song in World War I, the Christmas Truce and 'We're here because we're here'

• ★★★ When people we love suffer we want to make it better, but often we can't; John recalls his supervisor's words when he was a student chaplain at a children's hospital. — 00:14:56 · also in: We're here because were here., John's Review of Auld Lang Syne

  “Don't just do something. Stand there.”

• ★★ Auld Lang Syne was popular in World War I, sung in the trenches by British, French, German and Austrian soldiers, and played a small role in the Christmas Truce. — 00:15:10 · also in: We're here because were here., John's Review of Auld Lang Syne

• ★★★ On Christmas Eve 1914, in what is now Belgium, around 100,000 British and German soldiers left their trenches and met in No Man's Land. — 00:15:39 · also in: We're here because were here., John's Review of Auld Lang Syne
• ★★ Captain Sir Edward Hulse recalled a Christmas sing-along that ended with Auld Lang Syne, joined by English, Scots, Irish, Prussians and Württembergers; Hulse was killed less than four months later. — 00:16:28 · also in: We're here because were here., John's Review of Auld Lang Syne
• ★★★ At least 17 million people died as a direct result of the war, more than half the current population of Canada. — 00:16:54 · Canada · also in: We're here because were here., John's Review of Auld Lang Syne
• ★★ Later in the war, embittered by losses and poison gas and unsure why they fought, British soldiers sang 'We're here because we're here' to the Auld Lang Syne tune. — 00:17:05
• ★★★ The trenches were a world without whys, meaninglessness all the way down, where modernity came to war: Robert Hughes's 'peculiarly modernist hell of repetition'. — 00:17:41

00:18:13 — Amy turns the soldiers' lament into hope; hope is true; sing along; five stars

• ★★ Playful and optimistic, Amy was not deluded about suffering: her work acknowledges misery without giving in, as in one of her last lines about not leaving her glorious bath for death. — 00:18:13
• ★★★ In public appearances Amy would ask audiences to sing the soldiers' recursive lament with her, transforming it without changing the tune or words. — 00:18:46 · also in: We're here because were here., John's Review of Auld Lang Syne
• ★★★ Singing the nihilistic song with Amy, John always saw hope in it: we are here together and not alone, we exist, and astonishing unlikelihoods made us possible. — 00:19:10 · also in: We're here because were here., John's Review of Auld Lang Syne
• ★★★ We might never know why we are here, but we can still proclaim in hope that we are here. (hedged) — 00:19:39 · meaning of life · first in: 2017-11-03, Because We're Here

• ★★★ Such hope is not foolish, idealistic or misguided: John believes hope is, for lack of a better word, true. — 00:19:50 · hope · also in: We're here because were here., John's Review of Auld Lang Syne

  “I believe that hope is, for lack of a better word, true.”

• ★★★ We live in hope that life will get better and go on, and that love will survive though we will not; as Emily Dickinson put it, hope is the thing with feathers. — 00:20:08 · also in: We're here because were here., John's Review of Auld Lang Syne

• ★★ John asks listeners wherever they are to sing 'We're here because we're here' with him, thinking of those across the broad and roaring seas. — 00:20:36 · also in: We're here because were here.
• ★★★ John gives Auld Lang Syne five stars. — 00:21:10

In the description and comments

• ★★ The description says The Anthropocene Reviewed will soon be a book and every copy of the first printing will be signed by John. — video description · The Anthropocene Reviewed (book), The Anthropocene Reviewed (podcast)
• ★ The description points viewers to the Amy Krouse Rosenthal Foundation. — video description
• ★ The episode was edited by Stan Muller, mixed by Joe Plourde and scored by Hannis Brown, and produced by Jenny Lawton and Rosianna Halse Rojas. — video description · Rosianna Halse Rojas
• ★★ The video shows the White River, whose water reaches the Mississippi, where it meets water from the Chicago River near Amy's neighborhood; John thinks of this when he feels very lonely. — video description · Indianapolis, Chicago (city)

Threads in this video

• retold · John's big break: Amy Krouse Rosenthal gets him recording essays for WBEZ (2002) — John sent Amy three short essays; she liked one and had him record it for her show on Chicago public radio station WBEZ, his first time reaching such a large audience. (00:04:57)
• looked back · John's 8/8/08 event in Chicago: library talk, Grant Park and The Bean (2008) — John played a bit part in an experience Amy curated for hundreds of people on August 8, 2008, in Millennium Park, but it was never again like the early days. (00:12:35)
• retold · John's time as a student chaplain at a children's hospital (c. 2000) — When people we love suffer we want to make it better, but often we can't; John recalls his supervisor's words when he was a student chaplain at a children's hospital. (00:14:56)
• retold · Amy Krouse Rosenthal turns 'We're here because we're here' into hope for a depressed John at her reading (2005) — In public appearances Amy would ask audiences to sing the soldiers' recursive lament with her, transforming it without changing the tune or words. (00:18:46)
• restate · Does human life have real meaning, given oblivion, cosmic scale and an indifferent universe? — We might never know why we are here, but we can still proclaim in hope that we are here. (00:19:39)
• restate · Is it reasonable to be hopeful about the future? — Such hope is not foolish, idealistic or misguided: John believes hope is, for lack of a better word, true. (00:19:50)
• progress update · John: sign about 150,000 sheets so every US and Canadian pre-order and first-printing copy of The Anthropocene Reviewed book is autographed (2020) — The description says The Anthropocene Reviewed will soon be a book and every copy of the first printing will be signed by John. (video description)
• milestone · The Anthropocene Reviewed: John's podcast reviewing facets of the human-centered planet (2017) — In the podcast's first-ever one-review episode John reviews Auld Lang Syne, the song now most associated with New Year's Eve. (00:00:00)
• launched · John's New Year video of his Auld Lang Syne review, a possible yearly tradition (2020) — In the podcast's first-ever one-review episode John reviews Auld Lang Syne, the song now most associated with New Year's Eve. (00:00:00)
• told · Amy Krouse Rosenthal gives John 'Mugging Money' money clips (told 2020) — John told Amy his mom had him carry $40 'mugging money' in his left pocket in Chicago; next time Amy gave him two money clips, engraved JMG and MM, Mugging Money. (00:05:45)
• told · A complimenter at Amy Krouse Rosenthal's Writer's Block Party praises John's Adidas sneakers (2002) — In April 2002 John read at Amy's Writer's Block Party at the Chopin Theater; a hired complimenter praised his new Adidas sneakers, so he has worn Adidas almost daily for 17 years. (00:06:29)
• told · Amy Krouse Rosenthal calls John after her cancer diagnosis and he says 'You do so much yoga' (told 2020) — After finishing Textbook, Amy learned she had cancer and called John, who knew many gravely ill young people after The Fault in Our Stars, to ask how her kids and husband would cope. (00:12:46)

Where the stories that moved here went next

• John: sign about 150,000 sheets so every US and Canadian pre-order and first-printing copy of The Anthropocene Reviewed book is autographed (2020) — kept; last: recalled, 2022-06-21
• The Anthropocene Reviewed: John's podcast reviewing facets of the human-centered planet (2017) — completed; last: looked back, 2026-10-13

Mentioned

Central: Amy Krouse Rosenthal · Auld Lang Syne · hope · Robert Burns · We're Here Because We're Here

Also: People: Edward Hulse · Emily Dickinson · Frances Dunlop · Ludwig van Beethoven · Robert Hughes · Sarah Urist Green

Projects: The Anthropocene Reviewed (podcast)

Works: "Hope" is the thing with feathers · All Things Considered · Encyclopedia of an Ordinary Life · It's a Wonderful Life · Looking for Alaska (novel) · Minions · Sex and the City (2008) · Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal · The Fault in Our Stars · The Gold Rush

Organizations: Adidas · Booklist · Columbia University · Might magazine · NPR · WBEZ

Concepts: cancer · chemical weapon · love · meaning of life · nihilism · nostalgia · public domain

Places: Belgium · Canada · Chicago (city) · Chopin Theatre · Europe · Hollywood · Japan · Millennium Park · Netherlands · New York City · Scotland · South Korea

Events: Christmas Eve · Christmas truce · Hogmanay · New Year's Eve · winter solstice · World War I

Only in the description or credits: Amy Krouse Rosenthal Foundation · Charlie Chaplin · Chicago River · Hannis Brown · Indianapolis · Jenny Lawton · Joe Plourde · loneliness · Mississippi River · Rosianna Halse Rojas · Stan Muller · The Anthropocene Reviewed (book) · Wabash River · White River (Indiana)

Also centred on Amy Krouse Rosenthal: A Video about Videos · Positive Pranking: The TP Edition · The Terrible Burden of Destiny: Chicago and Waupaca · SIGNING MADNESS · Beckoning Lovely · Because We're Here

Also centred on Auld Lang Syne: still learning · We're here because were here. · John's Review of Auld Lang Syne

Also centred on Robert Burns: still learning · We're here because were here. · John's Review of Auld Lang Syne

Also centred on We're Here Because We're Here: Because We're Here · We're here because were here. · John's Review of Auld Lang Syne

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