“Ring out the old, ring in the new” … Happy New Year from QuoteCounterquote.com!

THE FAMILIAR NEW YEAR’S SAYING: “Ring out the old, ring in the new.”        Alfred Tennyson (a.k.a. Alfred, Lord Tennyson, 1st Baron Tennyson; 1809-1892)        English poet         Famous line from Tennyson’s In Memoriam A.H.H. (1850)        Many websites and books say these familiar words linked to New Year’s Eve are from a Tennyson poem titled “Ring Out, Wild Bells.” Technically, that’s incorrect.         The verses that go by that name come from Tennyson’s epic work, In Memoriam A.H.H., his elegiac musings on the death his friend Arthur Henry Hallam (the “A.H.H.” in the title). In Memoriam A.H.H. is essentially a very long poem comprised of 131 short ones that are referred to as cantos. These cantos were not given individual names by Tennyson. The popular title “Ring Out, Wild Bells” are the first four words of the canto that includes the line “Ring out the old, ring in the new.” (Canto CVI, or 106 in Roman numerals). Here’s the part where the famous lines first appear…               Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,                  The flying cloud, the frosty light:                  The year is dying in the night;               Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.                Ring out the old, ring in the new,                  Ring, happy bells, across the snow:                  The year is going, let him go;               Ring out the false, ring in the true.        The tradition of tolling bells to “ring out” the year that is ending and “ring in” the new one predates Tennyson. It’s actually an old custom in England and many countries around the world. However, Tennyson is generally credited for cementing “Ring out the old, ring in the new” into the English language and making it a linguistic tradition associated with New Year’s celebrations.

A POST-2016 ELECTION TIP FOR GLOOMY DEMS:       “Gloom is a terrible way to ring out the old, and despair is of no help in trying to imagine the new.        So let us consider what good might come from the political situation in which we will find ourselves in 2017.  Doing this does not require denying the dangers posed by a Donald Trump presidency or the demolition of progressive achievements he could oversee. It does mean remembering an important distinction President Obama has made ever since he entered public life: that ‘hope is not blind optimism.’       ‘Hope,’ he argued, ‘is that thing inside us that insists, despite all evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it, and to work for it, and to fight for it.’”        E.J. Dionne Jr.        American political commentator and professor at Georgetown University              In his December 28, 2016 column in the Washington Post        (Cartoon by Phil Hands for the Wisconsin State Journal)

A PERFECTLY HEARTWARMING MUSICAL VARIATION: “Bring out the old, bring in the new A midnight wish to share with you Your lips are warm, my head is light Were we alive before tonight? I don't need a crowded ballroom Everything I want is here If you're with me, next year will be The perfect year.”        Don Black        English lyricist        Lyrics from “The Perfect Year,” one of the songs in the musical Sunset Boulevard, with lyrics by Black and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber. (First performed in London in 1993.)

GEORGE’S MUSICAL VARIATION: “Yesterday, today was tomorrow And tomorrow, today will be yesterday So, ring out the old, ring in the new Ring out the old, ring in the new Ring out the false, ring in the true.”        George Harrison (1943-2001)        English rock musician        From the lyrics of his 1974 song “Ding Dong, Ding Dong” (included on the Dark Horse album)

THE JAMES JOYCE VARIATION (WITH EXPLANATION): “Wring out the clothes! Wring in the dew! Godavari, vert the showers! And grant thaya grace! Aman.”        James Joyce (1882-1941)        Irish novelist and poet         Lines from his novel Finnegans Wake (1939)        What's Joyce’s version mean? Well, in his book Verbal Behavior (1957), American psychologist B.F. Skinner offered this, er, helpful explanation: “Joyce’s line ‘Wring out the clothes, wring in the dew’ borrows strength from the latent intraverbal sequence ‘Ring out the old, ring in the new,’ as well as from a current theme of women washing clothes in the open air. The line may not be musical, it may or may not evoke emotional or practical responses, but it clearly manipulates verbal strength. It is this verbal play which is reinforcing to the reader and hence indirectly to the writer.” ... Got it?

A POST NEW YEAR’S EVE PARTY CLEANING TIP: “Wring out the Old; Bring in the New... The Old: Sponges can be sanitized in the microwave. The True: Using the microwave can be risky...there is the possibility of starting a fire.”        The American Cleaning Institute (formerly the Soap and Detergent Association)        In the January/February 2009 edition of the organization’s newsletter, "Cleaning Matters"

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Related reading…

Should “Auld Lang Syne” lyrics be forgot, sing a parody version…

You can read about the origin of the lyrics of “Auld Lang Syne” on my ThisDayinQuotes.com blog. In tonight’s post on QuoteCounterquote.com, I offer some of my favorite alternative lyrics. Happy New Year!

THE GAY LOMBARDO VARIATION: “When Socrates in Ancient Greece Sat in his Turkish bath He rubbed himself, and scrubbed himself And steamed both fore and aft. He sang the songs the sirens sang With Oscar and Shakespeare We’re here because we’re queer Because we’re queer because we’re here. The highest people in the land Are for or they’re against It’s all the same thing in the end A piece of sentiment. From Swedes so tall to Arabs small They answer with a leer We’re here because we’re queer Because we’re queer because we’re here.”         Brendan Behan (1923-1964)        Irish playwright, poet and novelist        The best-known song from his play The Hostage (1958)

THE SARDONIC WORLD WAR I SONG: “We’re here because we’re here because We’re here because we’re here We’re here because we’re here because We’re here because we’re here.”           World War I song of unknown origin, sung by British soldiers to the tune of “Auld Lang Syne”

THE DWUNK VERSHUN: “If all the lyrics are forgot Right after the first line Don’t worry ‘cause alone, you’re not That’s how you sing “Lang Syne”! Now all the lyrics are for naught We butcher “Auld Lang Syne”! We drink a couple Jaeger bombs (Now drunk out of our minds!) Now awl the lyrics are forga Wha-eva comes 2 mind (hic!) Shoo awful lyr-er uh uh what? Blah blah blah blah lang syne! (blaaarrgh!)”        The parody song “Old Lame Song”        Posted on the AmIRight.com website by “Red Ant”

THE TEMPERANCE MOVEMENT VARIATION: “Let drinking rum now be forgot, And never brought to mind; Let drinking rum now be forgot, And cider, beer, and wine. For rum and beer we pay full dear, With rosy nose and eyes; We'll take a glass of water now, For sure we're growing wise.”        Anti-drinking song published in the Signal of Liberty newspaper (Ann Arbor, MI) in 1842

YOUR DAY-AFTER RECOVERY REMINDER: “We’re Here Because We’re Not All There!”        Slogan on a button sold by the Wooden U Recover website, which sells “recovery” merchandise to people on the wagon.

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Related listening and reading…

 

Things friends don’t let friends do...

THE ORIGINAL FAMOUS QUOTE
“Friends don’t let friends drive drunk.” 
     Ad slogan created by the Outdoor Advertising Association of America 
     First used shortly before New Year’s Eve in 1982

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SOME VARIATIONS TO KEEP IN MIND
FOR THE NEW YEAR...

“Friends don’t let friends watch Friends.”
     Les Roberts, The Best-Kept Secret (2000)

“Friends don’t let friends drive naked.” 
     Will Hobbs, Jackie’s Wild Seattle (2004)

“Friends don’t let friends wear polyester.”
     April Sinclair, Ain’t Gonna Be Same Fool (1997)

“Friends don’t let friends take home ugly men.”
     Ray Foley, Beer Is the Answer...I Don’t Remember the Question (2007)

“Friends don’t let friends wear ugly shoes.”
     Naomi Judd, Naomi’s Guide to Aging Gratefully (2008)

“Friends don’t let friends sing in public when they cannot even sing in private.”
     Tim Delaney, Shameful Behaviors (2008)

“Friends don’t let friends wear their iPods on their belts.”
     Mac Life Magazine, August 2008

“Friends Don’t Let Friends Drink & Tweet.”
     Perez Hilton, blog post about celebrities who tweet drunk

“Friends don’t let friends drink and dial.”
     Dave Singleton, Behind Every Great Woman Is a Fabulous Gay Man (2005)

“Friends don’t let friends wear Speedos. These should only – only! – be worn
by the likes of Ryk Neethling and other Olympic swimmers.”
     Dennis Cavernelis, 293 Things Every South African Man Should Know (2006)

“Friends don’t let friends date other friends’ boyfriends.”
     Randi Reisfeld, Extreme Sisterhood (1999)

“Friends don’t let friends wear fanny packs.”
     Cathy Hamilton, Dieting and Other Weighty Issues (2001)

“Friends don’t let friends forget where they came from.”
     Bill O’Reilly, A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity (2008)

“Friends don’t let friends wear puffed sleeves.”
     Carol McCormick, The Missing Piece (2003)

“Friends don’t let friends drink chardonnay.”
     Michele Anna Jordan, The Good Cook’s Book of Days (1995)

“Friends Don’t Let Friends Reanimate.”
     T-shirt slogan, BuyZombie.com

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

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Which should never be brought to mind? Drinking, abstinence or Sarah Palin?

FAMOUS NEW YEAR’S QUOTE: “Should auld acquaintance be forgot, And never brought to mind? We’ll take a cup o’ kindness yet, For auld lang syne.”        Scottish poet Robert Burns (1759-1796)        His poem “Auld Lang Syne” (1788)         Popularized by Guy Lombardo's musical version

ABSTINENCE COUNTERQUOTE: “Let drinking customs be forgot And never brought to mind. Come, moderate drinkers, topers, sots, And leave your cups behind.”        Quoted by Henry Lee        In his book How Dry We Were: Prohibition Revisited (1963)

ODDLY ANTI-ABSTINENCE QUOTE: “Can abstinence be now forgot, And never brought to mind? Can abstinence be now forgot, And mercy to mankind.”        The Standard Book of Song for Temperance Meetings (1883)        Edited by Thomas Bowick

NEW YEAR’S WISH QUOTE: “Should Sarah Palin be forgot and never brought to mind...? Lord, please let it be so...”         Comment posted by “NoonCat”        On the Inside Dope blog

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Deck the halls with Buddy Holly – and Lady Gaga Gaga Ga, Ga Gaga Ga…

FAMOUS CHRISTMAS QUOTE: “Deck the halls with boughs of holly,       Fa la la la la, la la la la. ‘Tis the season to be jolly      Fa la la la la la, la la la.”           Traditional Christmas song “Deck the Halls”          Original writer unknown

CHRI$TMA$ COUNTERQUOTE: “Deck the halls with advertising,      Fa la la la la, la la la la. ‘Tis the time for merchandising,      Fa la la la la, la la la la. Profit never needs a reason,      Fa la la la la la la la la. Get the money, it’s the season,      Fa la la la la la, la la la.”           Stan Freberg (b. 1926)           American comic genius          His satiric song “Green Chri$tma$” (1958)

ORDINARY GENTLEMAN’S QUOTE: “So, ‘tis the season where we annually get into the inimitable argument over whether people should be saying, ‘Merry Christmas’ or ‘Happy Holidays’…It’s time for the War on Christmas/Pluralism — depending on your point of view.”        Blogger Scott H. Payne        On The League of Ordinary Gentlemen blog, Dec. 17, 2009

LADY GAGA QUOTE: “Light me up, put me on top Let’s fa la la la la, la la la la.”        Outré musician Lady Gaga        Her XXXmas song “Christmas Tree” (2008)

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