This my nostalgic tribute to New Year’s Eve. This swing-inspired ballad begins with idea of warmth and celebration with champagne toasts. I was born long after the Swing era ended, but this is the music I remember listening to  as a child, often in the old B&W movies we’d watch on television on Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

But beneath the sparkle lies a deeper plea: to remember the pain that shaped almost all American music, the truths that built our nation, and the voices too often scrubbed from history.

I invite you to honor the past. All of it, not just the parts we cherish, but the ones we must reckon with. It’s a toast to memory, a warning against erasure, and a reminder that beauty and justice are born from truth.

Whether you’re dancing with your sweetheart or sitting by the fire, let this song be your ritual: a melody for the turning of the year, and a vow to never forget.

Verse
Each New Year’s Eve brings promise
And the thoughts of long ago
We find our special solace
In places that we know
On each New Year we ponder
Asking what our futures hold
Still looking back with wonder
At those brighter days of old

Chorus
We sing a song of Auld Lang Syne
With glasses of champagne
On this evening we define
How we’ll sing our last refrain
 
Verse
Our hearts beat to the rhythm
Echoes from the distant past
Our history through prisms
And beauty unsurpassed
We must try to understand
The music born from anguish
Try to let our hearts expand
Till bigotry is vanquished

Chorus
We sing a song of Auld Lang Syne
With glasses of champagne
On this evening we define
How we’ll sing our last refrain

Bridge
As this year comes to a close
Let’s look deep within our souls
Don’t’ scrub the past to soothe our shame
Stop pointing fingers, stop laying blame
We can’t afford to lose the past
Without the truth we will not last
All stories die with a past wiped clean
Not just the ones you want to screen
Keep every voice alive in song
Hold fast to the dream 
Remember the wrong

Outro
We sing a song of Auld Lang Syne
From music born from pain
From the truth we can’t resign
Till we sing our last refrain