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1. Nearly 100 years ago, a Canadian changed the way Americans celebrate New Year’s Eve.
It happened in 1929, right here at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City....
It happened in 1929, right here at the Roosevelt Hotel in New York City....
2. His name was Guy Lombardo — the leader of one of the biggest big bands of the jazz era: Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians.
They sold more than 100,000,000 records. Louis Armstrong called them his favourite orchestra. They were absolutely HUGE.
(pic: Wikimedia Commons)
They sold more than 100,000,000 records. Louis Armstrong called them his favourite orchestra. They were absolutely HUGE.
(pic: Wikimedia Commons)
3. The band's hometown was London, Ontario — a very Scottish city in a very British country. So Lombardo & His Royal Canadians were used to playing two songs at the end of the night...
4. One of them was the anthem of the British Empire: "God Save The King."
(pic: Wikimedia)
(pic: Wikimedia)
5. The other wasn’t nearly as well known.
It was an old Scottish tune based on a Robert Burns poem from the 1700s. The song had quickly become an annual tradition in Scotland: sung at every Hogmanay — the Scottish New Year celebration
(pic Wikimedia)
It was an old Scottish tune based on a Robert Burns poem from the 1700s. The song had quickly become an annual tradition in Scotland: sung at every Hogmanay — the Scottish New Year celebration
(pic Wikimedia)
6. So, when Lombardo and his orchestra headed south & landed the gig playing every New Year’s Eve at the Roosevelt in NYC, they brought that old Scottish tradition with them from Canada.
7. The first Royal Canadians New Year’s performance here at the Roosevelt, ringing in 1929, was the very first New Year’s performance ever broadcast on radio across the United States — a landmark.
And that was just the beginning.
And that was just the beginning.
8. Lombardo became an American New Year’s fixture for the next 50 years, right up until he died. They called him “Mr. New Year’s Eve.”
(pic: Wikimedia)
(pic: Wikimedia)
9. And so: that old Scottish song Lombardo brought south with him from Canada has become an American tradition, too.
To this day as the ball drops in Times Square, the first song played to ring in every new year is the same one they’ve been playing in New York since 1929...
To this day as the ball drops in Times Square, the first song played to ring in every new year is the same one they’ve been playing in New York since 1929...
10. ...Guy Lombardo & His Royal Canadians performing “Auld Lang Syne”.
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne.
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And never brought to mind?
Should auld acquaintance be forgot,
And auld lang syne.
