The coming of the new year is a time for reflection and promise. I’ve always liked the old phrase “turning of the year” to describe this time of change and thought it would be interesting to hear how several musicians have treated this phrase in song.

Jennifer Cutting is “a composer and bandleader by family tradition and a musician and ethnomusicologist by training.” Her grandfathers, “one from England and the other from Ireland, were the inspiration for her natural synthesis of British and Irish musical traditions.”

Cutting’s song The Turning Year (A New Year’s Toast), as performed by the acappela quartet Windborne on her video, begins with this verse:

“Oh, kind companions gathered here, all at the turning of the year,
The hour grows late, our hearts grow fond, in melody shall be our bond.
We live in hope, we pray for peace, we meet with joy the year’s new lease,
The falling snow, the icy moonlight shining clear,
SO LET US SING TO WELCOME IN THE TURNING YEAR.”

I love the sentiment that we take our battle-scarred selves into the new year with a sense that no matter the trouble, we can prevail.

“Now Yule is past, the old year fades; time heals all wounds, or so they say.
Though battle-scarred, we will prevail; we hold the pen that writes the tale.
Do not regret the flow of years; for there is naught that disappears;
Our every kindness written large, among the stars;
SO LET US SING TO WELCOME IN THE TURNING YEAR.

And while we’re toasting the turning year, let’s remember to make amends to those we’ve hurt.

The tallest trees, the barest boughs, the callow choir of earnest vows.
Whatever boon we ask of life, we ask it here, we ask it now.
So let us toast to absent friends; to those we’ve hurt, let’s make amends;
And those we love, let’s set them free, yet hold them near,
SO LET US SING TO WELCOME IN THE TURNING YEAR.“

“The minutes pass, the hour strikes, the mighty flares light up the night
Now let us raise a festive glass, that all we hope may come to pass.
I wish you joy, I wish you peace, I wish you health, but more than these
The power to know, just what to keep and what let go.
SO LET US SING TO WELCOME IN THE TURNING YEAR…
SO LET US SING TO WELCOME IN THE TURNING YEAR.”

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Jimmy Aldridge & Sid Goldsmith emerged onto the British folk and acoustic scene in the 2010s. Their website bio suggests it is the combination of outstanding vocal work, sensitive instrumentation, and powerful social conscience that has brought them critical acclaim.

Their tune Turning of the Year has a chorus that speaks to how we see this time as one where we can clear away the challenges of the past year.

In a rolling storm that clears a year away | A rolling storm that clears our year away

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On Jennifer Cutting’s Song of Solstice album, which included The Turning Year, she also has this poignant piece that reminds us that not all are as fortunate as we are in these difficult months of winter. Time to Remember the Poor is performed here by Cutting’s Ocean Orchestra along with acoustic guitar master Al Petteway.

For a slightly different take, Windborne also included a version of this song on their 2024 album To Warm the Winter Hearth.

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Finally, I will end with Roger Eno, a British composer and musician, whose “distinctive style as a recording artist has attracted a cult following.”

In this video for the album The Turning Year’s title track, “Eno’s melodic solo piano is underscored by a beautiful string orchestration.” This was recorded at Berlin’s Teldex Studio.

Let’s all sing (and play) to welcome in the turning year.

More to come . . .

DJB

Photo of stars by Phil Botha on Unsplash