One last 'Auld Lang Syne'

I ended Happy New Year 2014! by observing "It wouldn't be an "I can't be all DOOM all the time" holiday post without Tipsy Bartender and it wouldn't be a New Years Eve entry without Auld Lang Syne, so this post is now complete."  I can think of one other item that an entry of mine with both those themes would have, marching music, whether from a band or a drum corps.  I have just the clip: DVD Spotlight: 1975 Kilties.

The final piece, “Auld Lang Syne,” was first performed by the corps in 1960 and showed up in the corps’ productions 16 times throughout its history. It is based on the Robert Burns poem from 1788, the title of which translates into English as “so long ago.” The Scottish folk song was sung at New Years in the British Isles centuries before Guy Lombardo popularized it in America by performing it at the stroke of midnight during his radio and television broadcast performances on New Year’s Eve. Few corps had a theme song that was as instantly identifiable with their corps as this piece.

The arrangement by DCI Hall of Fame member Ken Norman is a certifiable drum corps classic, and has been played by members of dozens of different corps in all-star corps appearances at holiday parades throughout America. Interestingly, Norman says he wrote the arrangement in a single half-hour burst of creativity. From that half-hour sprung a timeless work that not only says “Kilties,” but also “drum corps.”

From DVD Spotlight of the Week: 1975 Kilties at the DCI website.

Now I'm done with the holiday, taking the pressure off me.