8 Songs That Celebrate New Year’s Day
From U2 to Taylor Swift to the Dismemberment Plan, these songs celebrate the hope, renewal, and reflection of New Year’s Day
New Year’s and especially New Year’s Day songs hold a unique place in the cultural lexicon. Where most holiday songs are festive or celebratory, songs greeting the start of a new year can be more complicated in their feelings as they melodically guide the transition from one year to another. Typically characterized by themes of reflection, hope, and renewal, New Year’s Day gives us time to make peace with the past and hope for the future. Some musical artists have taken these broad themes and filtered them through their own unique interpretations to craft songs that hold a special meaning at the start of the year. From the classic U2 anthem to lesser known interpretations, here are eight unique takes on New Year’s Day.
U2 – “New Year’s Day” (1983)
Originally penned as a love song to Bono’s wife, “New Year’s Day,” the first single from U2’s War, was reshaped and inspired by Poland’s anti-authoritarian Solidarity movement for worker’s rights and social change, and written while Poland was under martial law.
Bono has mentioned that the song is about love in the face of adversity, and that the lyrics convey a message of hope and resilience beyond its historical context, becoming a broader reflection on love enduring in challenging times.
The song has remained a standard in every U2 tour since its debut in 1982, and was named 427th on Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Songs of All Time.” It remains a fan favorite and receives steady airplay on New Year’s Day, over 40 years after its release.
Embrace – “End of a Year” (1986)
In 1985, former Minor Threat vocalist Ian MacKaye partnered with members of fellow DC punk band Faith to form the short-lived project Embrace from 1985-1986.
Departing from faster and more aggressive sounds, Embrace took a more melodic, introspective approach to songwriting. They were one of the first bands to be dubbed in the press as “emotional hardcore,” though the members rejected the term. “End of a Year” is buried deep on Embrace’s single posthumously released album, 1987’s Embrace on Dischord Records. A takedown of New Year’s Eve and its accompanying celebrations, the song deflates the idea that closing the chapter on a year necessarily means progress.
Scrawl – “11:59, It’s January” (1992)
In late 1992, the Simple Machines label began releasing a monthly single series dubbed “Working Holiday,” featuring a split single each month that asked bands to celebrate little known holidays or historical moments. The series featured over 20 bands from the indie and punk scene, including Superchunk, Jawbox, Lungfish, and the Grifters.
For January 1993, Columbus, Ohio indie band Scrawl went with the obvious and attempted to celebrate the arrival of the new year, amid dashed hopes, missed opportunities, and regret.
“Last year went down the drain, they all do really, why complain,” laments vocalist Marcy Mays. It was not a joyous celebration, but Scrawl marched forward into the new year regardless.
Mays would go on to sing “My Curse” for the Afghan Whigs in 1994, while Scrawl went on to release a version of “11:59 It’s January” on 1998’s Nature Film.
The Dismemberment Plan – “The Ice of Boston” (1997)
Maybe the most idiosyncratic take on New Year’s on this list, the Dismemberment Plan’s “The Ice of Boston” paints a portrait of loneliness, long-distance calls,and gloriously wasted champagne – along with a brief discourse on Gladys Knight & the Pips’ “Midnight Train to Georgia.”
Over a buoyant bassline, Travis Morrison’s verses spin an increasingly agitated tale of listening to New Year’s revelers from inside an empty apartment, contemplating a (possibly?) failing relationship, and ultimately upturning a bottle over his head and drenching himself with presumably cheap champagne.
For all its specificity, the song is a perennial fan favorite and has become a stage-storming staple of the band’s live sets.
Death Cab For Cutie – “The New Year” (2003)
The champagne pops, the fireworks go off, and then…is this it? Perhaps no song stumbles into January 1 with a deflated sigh better than Death Cab For Cutie’s “The New Year.” The lead track off 2003’s Transatlanticism, the song memorably opens the album with Ben Gibbard singing, as relatively bombastic guitar chords ring out, “So this is the New Year, and I don’t feel any different.”
Like the Dismemberment Plan’s effort above, the song mines alienation in the midst of sharply-observed revelry – “the clanking of crystal,” the bleeding together of party conversation – while Gibbard laments a lack of resolution to the last year or resolutions for the new one. The contrast, between expectation and reality, between the swelling guitars and the song’s wistful refrain, make for a conflicted, commiserative New Year’s soundtrack.
The Mountain Goats – “This Year” (2005)
Well before New Year’s Eve, in the darkening days that mark the homestretch of the year, you’re likely to start hearing or seeing people post the Mountain Goat’s enduring anthem of resilience and survival, “This Year.”
Propelled by resounding piano chords and a steady rhythm of acoustic guitar and drums, John Darnielle sings a story of teenage rebellion and hopefulness in the face of seemingly inescapable pain and suffering, all culminating in the defiant, desperate refrain, “I am gonna make it through this year if it kills me.”
“There will be feasting and dancing in Jerusalem next year,” he sings, echoing the Passover refrain, and indeed this song’s message of hope has become almost as annual a tradition, with Darnielle tweeting in recognition and support of all who’ve found solace in its sing-along and the strength to survive another year.
The Walkmen – “In the New Year” (2008)
The Walkmen’s ballad “In the New Year” starts bleary-eyed and dissipated, with singer Hamilton Leithauser rasping, “Oh, I’m still living at the old address, and I’m waiting on the weather that I know will pass.” The mood quickly turns triumphalist, with a rising melodic motif cutting through the din, guitars and drums and organ all swaying drunk but still steady, and Leithauser straining above it to sing:
“I know that it’s true
It’s gonna be a good year
Out of the darkness
And into the fire
I tell you I love you
And my heart’s in the strangest place
That’s how it started
And that’s how it ends”
Taylor Swift – “New Year’s Day” (2017)
Over delicate piano riffs and the occasional guitar and synth notes, Taylor Swift’s “New Year’s Day” describes cherishing the little, often mundane, moments that make up a relationship.
The inspiration for the song, according to Swift, was “thinking about how everybody talks…about who you kiss at midnight…but I think there’s something even more romantic about who’s gonna deal with you on New Year’s Day. Who’s willing to give you Advil and clean up the house?”
“New Year’s Day” closes Reputation on an intimate note full of love, longing, and anxiety for what the new year can bring, ending with the haunting refrain, “please don’t ever become a stranger (hold on to the memories, they will hold on to you).”
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