Im Born Again Im Gods Own Chosen Child of Mercy

Christian hymn

"Amazing Grace"
The lesser of page 53 of Olney Hymns shows the offset stanza of the hymn outset "Astonishing Grace!"
Genre	Hymn
Text	John Newton
Meter	8.vi.8.6 (Mutual metre)
Melody	New Britain
Sound sample
"Astonishing Grace" as performed by the United States Marine Ring (singer with band accompaniment) file help

"Amazing Grace" is a Christian hymn published in 1779, with words written in 1772 by the English language poet and Anglican chaplain John Newton (1725–1807). It is an immensely pop hymn, specially in the U.s.a., where it is used for both religious and secular purposes.

Newton wrote the words from personal feel. He grew up without any particular religious confidence, but his life's path was formed by a variety of twists and coincidences that were ofttimes put into motion by others' reactions to what they took every bit his recalcitrant insubordination. He was pressed (conscripted) into service in the Royal Navy. After leaving the service, he became involved in the Atlantic slave merchandise. In 1748, a tearing storm battered his vessel off the coast of County Donegal, Ireland, so severely that he called out to God for mercy. This moment marked his spiritual conversion just he continued slave trading until 1754 or 1755, when he concluded his seafaring altogether. Newton began studying Christian theology and subsequently became an abolitionist.

Ordained in the Church of England in 1764, Newton became curate of Olney, Buckinghamshire, where he began to write hymns with poet William Cowper. "Amazing Grace" was written to illustrate a sermon on New Yr's Day of 1773. It is unknown if there was any music accompanying the verses; it may take been chanted by the congregation. It debuted in impress in 1779 in Newton and Cowper'due south Olney Hymns but settled into relative obscurity in England. In the United states of america, "Amazing Grace" became a pop song used by Baptist and Methodist preachers as part of their evangelizing, especially in the South, during the Second Bully Awakening of the early 19th century. It has been associated with more 20 melodies. In 1835, American composer William Walker ready it to the tune known as "New Britain" in a shape note format; this is the version most frequently sung today.

With the message that forgiveness and redemption are possible regardless of sins committed and that the soul tin be delivered from despair through the mercy of God, "Amazing Grace" is one of the virtually recognisable songs in the English-speaking world. Author Gilbert Hunt writes that it is "without a doubt the near famous of all the folk hymns".^[1] Jonathan Aitken, a Newton biographer, estimates that the song is performed almost ten one thousand thousand times annually.^[2]

It has had particular influence in folk music, and has become an emblematic black spiritual. Its universal message has been a significant factor in its crossover into secular music. "Astonishing Grace" became newly popular during a revival of folk music in the US during the 1960s, and it has been recorded thousands of times during and since the 20th century.

History [edit]

John Newton'due south conversion [edit]

How industrious is Satan served. I was formerly one of his active undertemptors and had my influence been equal to my wishes I would have carried all the human race with me. A common drunkard or profligate is a petty sinner to what I was.

John Newton, 1778^[3]

According to the Lexicon of American Hymnology, "Astonishing Grace" is John Newton's spiritual autobiography in poesy.^[iv]

In 1725, Newton was born in Wapping, a commune in London virtually the Thames. His father was a aircraft merchant who was brought up as a Catholic but had Protestant sympathies, and his mother was a devout Independent, unaffiliated with the Anglican Church. She had intended Newton to get a clergyman, only she died of tuberculosis when he was half dozen years old.^[5] For the next few years, while his father was at sea Newton was raised by his emotionally distant stepmother. He was also sent to boarding schoolhouse, where he was mistreated.^[6] At the age of 11, he joined his father on a ship as an apprentice; his seagoing career would be marked past headstrong disobedience.

Equally a youth, Newton began a pattern of coming very shut to death, examining his relationship with God, then relapsing into bad habits. As a crewman, he denounced his religion afterwards being influenced by a shipmate who discussed with him Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times, a volume by the Third Earl of Shaftesbury. In a series of letters Newton subsequently wrote, "Like an unwary sailor who quits his port only before a rising storm, I renounced the hopes and comforts of the Gospel at the very fourth dimension when every other comfort was well-nigh to fail me."^[7] His disobedience caused him to exist pressed into the Royal Navy, and he took advantage of opportunities to overstay his leave.

He deserted the navy to visit Mary "Polly" Catlett, a family friend with whom he had fallen in love.^[8] After enduring humiliation for deserting,^[a] he was traded as crew to a slave ship.

He began a career in slave trading.^[b]

Newton frequently openly mocked the captain by creating obscene poems and songs nearly him, which became and then popular that the coiffure began to join in.^[9] His disagreements with several colleagues resulted in his being starved almost to death, imprisoned while at sea, and chained like the slaves they carried. He was himself enslaved by the Sherbro and forced to work on a plantation in Sierra Leone near the Sherbro River. Afterward several months he came to think of Sierra Leone every bit his home, only his father intervened subsequently Newton sent him a letter describing his circumstances, and coiffure from another ship happened to find him.^[c] Newton claimed the but reason he left Sierra Leone was considering of Polly.^[10]

While aboard the send Greyhound, Newton gained notoriety every bit being one of the most profane men the helm had always met. In a culture where sailors habitually swore, Newton was admonished several times for non just using the worst words the captain had ever heard, simply creating new ones to exceed the limits of exact debauchery.^[eleven] In March 1748, while the Greyhound was in the Northward Atlantic, a violent storm came upon the ship that was and so rough it swept overboard a coiffure fellow member who was standing where Newton had been moments earlier.^[d] Afterward hours of the crew emptying water from the send and expecting to be capsized, Newton and another mate tied themselves to the ship'southward pump to go along from beingness washed overboard, working for several hours.^[12] After proposing the measure to the captain, Newton had turned and said, "If this will not do, and so Lord have mercy upon u.s.!"^{[13] [14]} Newton rested briefly before returning to the deck to steer for the next eleven hours. During his time at the cycle, he pondered his divine challenge.^[12]

Most two weeks later, the battered send and starving crew landed in Lough Swilly, Ireland. For several weeks earlier the storm, Newton had been reading The Christian's Design, a summary of the 15th-century The Faux of Christ past Thomas à Kempis. The retention of his own "Lord have mercy upon usa!" uttered during a moment of desperation in the storm did not go out him; he began to ask if he was worthy of God'due south mercy or in any way redeemable. Non only had he neglected his organized religion but directly opposed it, mocking others who showed theirs, deriding and denouncing God as a myth. He came to believe that God had sent him a profound message and had begun to piece of work through him.^[fifteen]

Newton'southward conversion was non immediate, but he contacted Polly'south family and appear his intention to marry her. Her parents were hesitant equally he was known to exist unreliable and impetuous. They knew he was profane too but allowed him to write to Polly, and he set to begin to submit to authority for her sake.^[16] He sought a place on a slave ship bound for Africa, and Newton and his crewmates participated in most of the same activities he had written nigh before; the only immorality from which he was able to free himself was profanity. Afterwards a severe illness his resolve was renewed, yet he retained the same attitude towards slavery every bit was held by his contemporaries.^[e] Newton continued in the slave trade through several voyages where he sailed the coasts of Africa, now equally a captain, and procured slaves beingness offered for auction in larger ports, transporting them to North America.

In between voyages, he married Polly in 1750, and he found it more hard to exit her at the showtime of each trip. Subsequently three shipping voyages in the slave trade, Newton was promised a position as transport's captain with cargo unrelated to slavery. Simply at the historic period of thirty, he collapsed and never sailed again.^{[17] [f]}

Olney curate [edit]

The vicarage in Olney, where Newton wrote the hymn that would go "Amazing Grace"

Working as a customs agent in Liverpool starting in 1756, Newton began to teach himself Latin, Greek, and theology. He and Polly immersed themselves in the church community, and Newton's passion was and then impressive that his friends suggested he become a priest in the Church of England. He was turned downwards by John Gilbert, Archbishop of York, in 1758, ostensibly for having no academy degree,^[18] although the more likely reasons were his leanings toward evangelism and trend to socialise with Methodists.^[nineteen] Newton continued his devotions, and after beingness encouraged by a friend, he wrote about his experiences in the slave trade and his conversion. William Legge, 2nd Earl of Dartmouth, impressed with his story, sponsored Newton for ordination by John Dark-green, Bishop of Lincoln, and offered him the curacy of Olney, Buckinghamshire, in 1764.^[20]

Olney Hymns [edit]

Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound)
That sav'd a wretch similar me!
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, merely at present I see.

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears reliev'd;
How precious did that grace announced
The hour I first believ'd!

Thro' many dangers, toils, and snares,
I have already come;
'Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.

The Lord has promis'd good to me,
His word my promise secures;
He will my shield and portion be
As long every bit life endures.

Yes, when this flesh and heart shall neglect,
And mortal life shall cease;
I shall possess, within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.

The earth shall before long dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to polish;
Simply God, who telephone call'd me hither beneath,
Will be forever mine.

John Newton, Olney Hymns, 1779

Olney was a village of about ii,500 residents whose master manufacture was making lace past hand. The people were by and large illiterate and many of them were poor.^[2] Newton's preaching was unique in that he shared many of his own experiences from the pulpit; many clergy preached from a altitude, not albeit whatever intimacy with temptation or sin. He was involved in his parishioners' lives and was much loved, although his writing and delivery were sometimes unpolished.^[21] But his devotion and conviction were apparent and forceful, and he often said his mission was to "pause a hard center and to heal a cleaved centre".^[22] He struck a friendship with William Cowper, a gifted writer who had failed at a career in law and suffered bouts of insanity, attempting suicide several times. Cowper enjoyed Olney – and Newton'southward company; he was also new to Olney and had gone through a spiritual conversion like to Newton's. Together, their event on the local congregation was impressive. In 1768, they constitute it necessary to start a weekly prayer meeting to meet the needs of an increasing number of parishioners. They as well began writing lessons for children.^[23]

Partly from Cowper's literary influence, and partly considering learned vicars were expected to write verses, Newton began to try his mitt at hymns, which had become popular through the language, made evidently for common people to understand. Several prolific hymn writers were at their most productive in the 18th century, including Isaac Watts – whose hymns Newton had grown upward hearing^[24] – and Charles Wesley, with whom Newton was familiar. Wesley's brother John, the eventual founder of the Methodist Church, had encouraged Newton to go into the clergy.^[g] Watts was a pioneer in English language hymn writing, basing his work afterward the Psalms. The most prevalent hymns past Watts and others were written in the common meter in 8.half dozen.8.six: the first line is 8 syllables and the second is half-dozen.^[25]

Newton and Cowper attempted to nowadays a poem or hymn for each prayer meeting. The lyrics to "Amazing Grace" were written in late 1772 and probably used in a prayer meeting for the first time on 1 January 1773.^[25] A collection of the poems Newton and Cowper had written for use in services at Olney was spring and published anonymously in 1779 nether the title Olney Hymns. Newton contributed 280 of the 348 texts in Olney Hymns; "one Chronicles 17:sixteen–17, Religion's Review and Expectation" was the title of the poem with the first line "Astonishing grace! (how sweet the sound)".^[four]

Critical analysis [edit]

The full general impact of Olney Hymns was immediate and it became a widely popular tool for evangelicals in Britain for many years. Scholars appreciated Cowper's poetry somewhat more than than Newton'south plaintive and plain language, expressing his forceful personality. The near prevalent themes in the verses written by Newton in Olney Hymns are faith in salvation, wonder at God'southward grace, his dearest for Jesus, and his cheerful exclamations of the joy he found in his organized religion.^[26] As a reflection of Newton'due south connection to his parishioners, he wrote many of the hymns in start person, admitting his own experience with sin. Bruce Hindmarsh in Sing Them Over Again To Me: Hymns and Hymnbooks in America considers "Amazing Grace" an excellent example of Newton's testimonial style afforded by the apply of this perspective.^[27] Several of Newton'due south hymns were recognised equally dandy work ("Amazing Grace" was not among them), while others seem to take been included to fill in when Cowper was unable to write.^[28] Jonathan Aitken calls Newton, specifically referring to "Amazing Grace", an "unashamedly middlebrow lyricist writing for a lowbrow congregation", noting that only twenty-ane of the virtually 150 words used in all six verses have more than i syllable.^[29]

William Phipps in the Anglican Theological Review and author James Basker accept interpreted the first stanza of "Astonishing Grace" equally bear witness of Newton'southward realisation that his participation in the slave trade was his wretchedness, perhaps representing a wider common agreement of Newton'south motivations.^{[30] [31]} Newton joined forces with a fellow named William Wilberforce, the British Member of Parliament who led the Parliamentarian campaign to abolish the slave trade in the British Empire, culminating in the Slave Trade Act 1807. But Newton did non go an ardent and outspoken abolitionist until after he left Olney in the 1780s; he is not known to have connected writing the hymn known equally "Amazing Grace" to anti-slavery sentiments.^[32]

The lyrics in Olney Hymns were bundled by their association to the Biblical verses that would exist used by Newton and Cowper in their prayer meetings, and did not address whatsoever political objective. For Newton, the starting time of the year was a time to reflect on one'southward spiritual progress. At the same time he completed a diary – which has since been lost – that he had begun 17 years earlier, ii years after he quit sailing. The last entry of 1772 was a recounting of how much he had inverse since then.^[33]

And David the king came and sat before the FiftyORD, and said, Who am I, O LORD God, and what is mine house, that thou hast brought me hitherto? And yet this was a pocket-size thing in thine optics, O God; for thou hast also spoken of thy retainer's house for a great while to come up, and hast regarded me according to the estate of a man of high caste, O LORD God.

1 Chronicles 17:sixteen–17, Rex James Version

The title ascribed to the hymn, "one Chronicles 17:16–17", refers to David's reaction to the prophet Nathan telling him that God intends to maintain his family unit line forever. Some Christians translate this as a prediction that Jesus Christ, as a descendant of David, was promised past God as the conservancy for all people.^[34] Newton'south sermon on that January twenty-four hour period in 1773 focused on the necessity to limited one's gratitude for God's guidance, that God is involved in the daily lives of Christians though they may not be aware of information technology, and that patience for deliverance from the daily trials of life is warranted when the glories of eternity wait.^[35] Newton saw himself a sinner like David who had been chosen, perhaps undeservedly,^[36] and was humbled past it. Co-ordinate to Newton, unconverted sinners were "blinded past the god of this world" until "mercy came to u.s.a. not just undeserved merely undesired ... our hearts endeavored to shut him out till he overcame u.s. past the power of his grace."^[33]

The New Attestation served as the basis for many of the lyrics of "Amazing Grace". The kickoff verse, for instance, can exist traced to the story of the Prodigal Son. In the Gospel of Luke the father says, "For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost, and is found". The story of Jesus healing a blind man who tells the Pharisees that he can now see is told in the Gospel of John. Newton used the words "I was blind only now I encounter" and declared "Oh to grace how peachy a debtor!" in his letters and diary entries as early on as 1752.^[37] The outcome of the lyrical arrangement, according to Bruce Hindmarsh, allows an instant release of energy in the exclamation "Amazing grace!", to exist followed past a qualifying reply in "how sweetness the sound". In An Annotated Anthology of Hymns, Newton'due south apply of an assertion at the beginning of his poesy is called "crude only effective" in an overall composition that "advise(s) a forceful, if simple, argument of faith".^[36] Grace is recalled 3 times in the following verse, culminating in Newton's most personal story of his conversion, underscoring the utilize of his personal testimony with his parishioners.^[27]

The sermon preached by Newton was his last of those that William Cowper heard in Olney, since Cowper'southward mental instability returned shortly thereafter. Ane author suggests Newton may accept had his friend in mind, employing the themes of assurance and deliverance from despair for Cowper'southward benefit.^[38]

Dissemination [edit]

More than sixty of Newton and Cowper's hymns were republished in other British hymnals and magazines, but "Amazing Grace" was not, actualization only in one case in a 1780 hymnal sponsored by the Countess of Huntingdon. Scholar John Julian commented in his 1892 A Dictionary of Hymnology that outside of the United States, the vocal was unknown and information technology was "far from being a good example of Newton's finest piece of work".^{[39] [h]} Between 1789 and 1799, four variations of Newton's hymn were published in the US in Baptist, Dutch Reformed, and Congregationalist hymnodies;^[34] by 1830 Presbyterians and Methodists also included Newton's verses in their hymnals.^{[40] [41]}

Although it had its roots in England, "Amazing Grace" became an integral part of the Christian tapestry in the U.s.a.. The greatest influences in the 19th century that propelled "Amazing Grace" to spread across the United states of america and get a staple of religious services in many denominations and regions were the Second Nifty Awakening and the development of shape notation singing communities. A tremendous religious movement swept the Usa in the early 19th century, marked by the growth and popularity of churches and religious revivals that got their start on the frontier in Kentucky and Tennessee. Unprecedented gatherings of thousands of people attended camp meetings where they came to feel conservancy; preaching was fiery and focused on saving the sinner from temptation and backsliding.^[42] Religion was stripped of ornamentation and ceremony, and made equally patently and simple as possible; sermons and songs oft used repetition to get across to a rural population of poor and mostly uneducated people the necessity of turning abroad from sin. Witnessing and testifying became an integral component to these meetings, where a congregation member or stranger would rise and recount his turn from a sinful life to one of piety and peace.^[40] "Amazing Grace" was one of many hymns that punctuated fervent sermons, although the contemporary way used a refrain, borrowed from other hymns, that employed simplicity and repetition such as:

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch similar me.
I once was lost, but at present am institute,
Was blind but now I see.

Shout, shout for celebrity,
Shout, shout aloud for glory;
Brother, sister, mourner,
All shout glory hallelujah.^[42]

Simultaneously, an unrelated motion of communal singing was established throughout the South and Western states. A format of teaching music to illiterate people appeared in 1800. It used iv sounds to symbolise the basic scale: fa-sol-la-fa-sol-la-mi-fa. Each sound was accompanied by a specifically shaped note and thus became known as shape note singing. The method was uncomplicated to learn and teach, so schools were established throughout the Due south and West. Communities would come together for an entire day of singing in a large edifice where they sabbatum in 4 singled-out areas surrounding an open up space, one member directing the group as a whole. Other groups would sing exterior, on benches gear up in a foursquare. Preachers used shape annotation hymns to teach people on the frontier and to raise the emotion of army camp meetings. Well-nigh of the music was Christian, but the purpose of communal singing was non primarily spiritual. Communities either could non afford music accessory or rejected it out of a Calvinistic sense of simplicity, so the songs were sung a cappella.^[43]

"New Britain" melody [edit]

William Walker, the American composer who kickoff fix John Newton's verses to the "New Britain" tune, creating version of the song known every bit "Amazing Grace"

When originally used in Olney, it is unknown what music, if whatsoever, accompanied the verses written by John Newton. Contemporary hymnbooks did not contain music and were only small books of religious poetry. The showtime known example of Newton's lines joined to music was in A Companion to the Countess of Huntingdon's Hymns (London, 1808), where it is set to the tune "Hephzibah" by English composer John Jenkins Husband.^[44] Common meter hymns were interchangeable with a variety of tunes; more than twenty musical settings of "Astonishing Grace" circulated with varying popularity until 1835, when American composer William Walker assigned Newton's words to a traditional vocal named "New Uk". This was an amalgamation of two melodies ("Gallaher" and "St. Mary"), offset published in the Columbian Harmony by Charles H. Spilman and Benjamin Shaw (Cincinnati, 1829). Spilman and Shaw, both students at Kentucky'southward Centre Higher, compiled their tunebook both for public worship and revivals, to satisfy "the wants of the Church in her triumphal march". Most of the tunes had been previously published, simply "Gallaher" and "St. Mary" had not.^[45] As neither melody is attributed and both testify elements of oral transmission, scholars tin can but speculate that they are maybe of British origin.^[46] A manuscript from 1828 by Lucius Chapin, a famous hymn author of that time, contains a tune very shut to "St. Mary", merely that does not hateful that he wrote it.^[47]

"Amazing Grace", with the words written by Newton and joined with "New Britain", the melody most currently associated with information technology, appeared for the start time in Walker's shape note tunebook Southern Harmony in 1847.^[48] It was, according to author Steve Turner, a "marriage made in heaven ... The music behind 'amazing' had a sense of awe to it. The music behind 'grace' sounded svelte. In that location was a rising at the point of confession, as though the writer was stepping out into the open and making a bold declaration, but a corresponding fall when admitting his blindness."^[49] Walker's collection was enormously popular, selling about 600,000 copies all over the US when the total population was just over twenty meg. Another shape annotation tunebook named The Sacred Harp (1844) by Georgia residents Benjamin Franklin White and Elisha J. King became widely influential and continues to be used.^[50]

Some other verse was first recorded in Harriet Beecher Stowe'southward immensely influential 1852 anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom'south Cabin. Iii verses were emblematically sung by Tom in his hour of deepest crisis.^[51] He sings the sixth and fifth verses in that lodge, and Stowe included another verse, non written past Newton, that had been passed down orally in African-American communities for at least fifty years. It was one of between 50 and lxx verses of a song titled "Jerusalem, My Happy Home", which was first published in a 1790 book called A Drove of Sacred Ballads:

When we've been there ten m years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We've no less days to sing God's praise,
Than when we kickoff begun.^{[52] [53]}

"Amazing Grace" came to be an emblem of a Christian movement and a symbol of the United states of america itself equally the land was involved in a dandy political experiment, attempting to employ democracy as a means of regime. Shape-note singing communities, with all the members sitting around an open center, each song employing a different song leader, illustrated this in practice. Simultaneously, the The states began to aggrandize west into previously unexplored territory that was often wilderness. The "dangers, toils, and snares" of Newton's lyrics had both literal and figurative meanings for Americans.^[l] This became poignantly truthful during the most serious exam of American cohesion in the U.S. Civil State of war (1861–1865). "Astonishing Grace", set to "New Britain", was included in 2 hymnals distributed to soldiers. With decease so real and imminent, religious services in the military became commonplace.^[54] The hymn was translated into other languages likewise: while on the Trail of Tears, the Cherokee sang Christian hymns as a way of coping with the ongoing tragedy, and a version of the vocal by Samuel Worcester that had been translated into the Cherokee linguistic communication became very pop.^{[55] [56]}

Urban revival [edit]

Although "Amazing Grace" set to "New Britain" was popular, other versions existed regionally. Archaic Baptists in the Appalachian region oftentimes used "New Britain" with other hymns, and sometimes sing the words of "Amazing Grace" to other folk songs, including titles such as "In the Pines", "Pisgah", "Primrose", and "Evan", as all are able to be sung in common meter, of which the majority of their repertoire consists.^{[57] [58]} In the late 19th century, Newton's verses were sung to a tune named "Arlington" as frequently as to "New Britain" for a time.

Two musical arrangers named Dwight Moody and Ira Sankey heralded another religious revival in the cities of the United states and Europe, giving the vocal international exposure. Moody's preaching and Sankey's musical gifts were significant; their arrangements were the forerunners of gospel music, and churches all over the United states of america were eager to acquire them.^[59] Moody and Sankey began publishing their compositions in 1875, and "Astonishing Grace" appeared iii times with three different melodies, simply they were the first to requite it its title; hymns were typically published using the incipits (first line of the lyrics), or the proper noun of the tune such as "New Britain". Publisher Edwin Othello Excell gave the version of "Amazing Grace" set to "New Britain" immense popularity by publishing it in a series of hymnals that were used in urban churches. Excell altered some of Walker's music, making information technology more than contemporary and European, giving "New Britain" some distance from its rural folk-music origins. Excell's version was more than palatable for a growing urban center class and arranged for larger church choirs. Several editions featuring Newton's first iii stanzas and the verse previously included by Harriet Beecher Stowe in Uncle Tom's Cabin were published by Excell between 1900 and 1910. His version of "Astonishing Grace" became the standard grade of the vocal in American churches.^{[60] [61]}

Recorded versions [edit]

With the advent of recorded music and radio, "Amazing Grace" began to cross over from primarily a gospel standard to secular audiences. The ability to record combined with the marketing of records to specific audiences allowed "Amazing Grace" to take on thousands of dissimilar forms in the 20th century. Where Edwin Othello Excell sought to make the singing of "Amazing Grace" uniform throughout thousands of churches, records allowed artists to improvise with the words and music specific to each audience. AllMusic lists over 1,000 recordings – including re-releases and compilations – as of 2019.^[62] Its first recording is an a cappella version from 1922 past the Sacred Harp Choir. It was included from 1926 to 1930 in Okeh Records' catalogue, which typically concentrated strongly on blues and jazz. Demand was loftier for black gospel recordings of the song past H. R. Tomlin and J. Thou. Gates. A poignant sense of nostalgia accompanied the recordings of several gospel and dejection singers in the 1940s and 1950s who used the song to remember their grandparents, traditions, and family roots.^[63] It was recorded with musical accompaniment for the first time in 1930 past Fiddlin' John Carson, although to another folk hymn named "At the Cantankerous", not to "New Britain".^[64] "Amazing Grace" is allegorical of several kinds of folk music styles, often used as the standard example to illustrate such musical techniques as lining out and call and response, that accept been practised in both black and white folk music.^[65]

Those songs come out of confidence and suffering. The worst voices can get through singing them 'cause they're telling their experiences.

Mahalia Jackson^[66]

Mahalia Jackson'southward 1947 version received meaning radio airplay, and every bit her popularity grew throughout the 1950s and 1960s, she oft sang it at public events such every bit concerts at Carnegie Hall.^[67] Author James Basker states that the song has been employed by African Americans as the "paradigmatic Negro spiritual" because it expresses the joy felt at existence delivered from slavery and worldly miseries.^[31] Anthony Heilbut, author of The Gospel Sound, states that the "dangers, toils, and snares" of Newton's words are a "universal testimony" of the African American experience.^[68] During the civil rights movement and opposition to the Vietnam War, the song took on a political tone. Mahalia Jackson employed "Astonishing Grace" for Civil Rights marchers, writing that she used it "to give magical protection – a amuse to ward off danger, an incantation to the angels of heaven to descend ... I was not sure the magic worked exterior the church walls ... in the open up air of Mississippi. Only I wasn't taking any chances."^[69] Folk singer Judy Collins, who knew the song earlier she could remember learning it, witnessed Fannie Lou Hamer leading marchers in Mississippi in 1964, singing "Astonishing Grace". Collins also considered it a talisman of sorts, and saw its equal emotional impact on the marchers, witnesses, and law enforcement who opposed the civil rights demonstrators.^[3] Co-ordinate to swain folk singer Joan Baez, it was one of the most requested songs from her audiences, but she never realised its origin equally a hymn; by the time she was singing it in the 1960s she said it had "developed a life of its own".^[70] Information technology fifty-fifty fabricated an appearance at the Woodstock Music Festival in 1969 during Arlo Guthrie'south performance.^[71]

Collins decided to record information technology in the late 1960s amongst an atmosphere of counterculture introspection; she was role of an encounter group that ended a contentious meeting by singing "Astonishing Grace" as information technology was the only vocal to which all the members knew the words. Her producer was present and suggested she include a version of it on her 1970 album Whales & Nightingales. Collins, who had a history of booze abuse, claimed that the song was able to "pull her through" to recovery.^[3] It was recorded in St. Paul's, the chapel at Columbia University, called for the acoustics. She chose an a cappella arrangement that was close to Edwin Othello Excell's, accompanied past a chorus of amateur singers who were friends of hers. Collins connected it to the Vietnam War, to which she objected: "I didn't know what else to do about the state of war in Vietnam. I had marched, I had voted, I had gone to jail on political actions and worked for the candidates I believed in. The war was still raging. There was nothing left to exercise, I thought ... but sing 'Amazing Grace'."^[72] Gradually and unexpectedly, the song began to be played on the radio, and so exist requested. Information technology rose to number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100, remaining on the charts for 15 weeks,^[73] every bit if, she wrote, her fans had been "waiting to embrace it".^[74] In the Britain, it charted 8 times between 1970 and 1972, peaking at number 5 and spending a full of 75 weeks on popular music charts.^[75] Her rendition also reached number five in New Zealand^[76] and number 12 in Ireland in 1971.^[77]

In 1972, the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards, the senior Scottish regiment of the British Ground forces, recorded an instrumental version featuring a bagpipe soloist accompanied by a pipe band. The tempo of their arrangement was slowed to permit for the bagpipes, but it was based on Collins'south: information technology began with a bagpipe solo introduction similar to her lone vox, then it was accompanied by the band of bagpipes and horns, whereas in her version she is backed upwards by a chorus. It became an international hitting, spending five weeks at number-1 in the United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland Singles Chart,^[78] topping the RPM national singles chart in Canada for three weeks,^[79] and also peaking at number xi on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United states.^{[eighty] [81]} It is also a controversial instrumental, equally it combined pipes with a military band. The Pipe Major of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards was summoned to Edinburgh Castle and chastised for demeaning the bagpipes.^[82]

Aretha Franklin and Rod Stewart likewise recorded "Amazing Grace" around the aforementioned time, and both of their renditions were popular.^[i] All four versions were marketed to distinct types of audiences, thereby assuring its place as a pop vocal.^[83] Johnny Cash recorded it on his 1975 album Sings Precious Memories, dedicating it to his older brother Jack, who had been killed in a factory blow when they were boys in Dyess, Arkansas. Greenbacks and his family unit sang it to themselves while they worked in the cotton fiber fields following Jack's death. Cash often included the song when he toured prisons, saying "For the three minutes that vocal is going on, everybody is free. It just frees the spirit and frees the person."^[3]

The U.South. Library of Congress has a collection of 3,000 versions of and songs inspired by "Amazing Grace", some of which were kickoff-time recordings by folklorists Alan and John Lomax, a father and son team who in 1932 travelled thousands of miles beyond the southern states of the US to capture the different regional styles of the vocal. More contemporary renditions include samples from such popular artists equally Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers (1963), the Byrds (1970), Elvis Presley (1971), Skeeter Davis (1972), Mighty Clouds of Joy (1972), Astonishing Rhythm Aces (1975), Willie Nelson (1976) and the Lemonheads (1992).^[64]

In American popular culture [edit]

Somehow, "Amazing Grace" [embraced] core American values without ever sounding triumphant or jingoistic. It was a song that could exist sung past young and old, Republican and Democrat, Southern Baptist and Roman Cosmic, African American and Native American, high-ranking military officer and anticapitalist apostle.

Steve Turner, 2002^[84]

"Amazing Grace" is an icon in American culture that has been used for a variety of secular purposes and marketing campaigns. It has been mass-produced on souvenirs, used to name a Superman villain, incorporated into Hare Krishna chants and adapted for Wicca ceremonies.^[85] The hymn has been employed in several films, including Alice's Restaurant, Invasion of the Torso Snatchers, Coal Miner's Daughter, and Silkwood. It is referenced in the 2006 film Amazing Grace, which highlights Newton's influence on the leading British abolitionist William Wilberforce,^[86] in the picture biography of Newton, Newton'south Grace.^[87] and the 2014 flick Freedom which tells the story of Newton's limerick of the hymn.

Since 1954, when an organ instrumental of "New U.k." became a best-seller, "Astonishing Grace" has been associated with funerals and memorial services.^[88] The hymn has become a song that inspires hope in the wake of tragedy, becoming a sort of "spiritual national anthem" according to authors Mary Rourke and Emily Gwathmey.^[89] For example, President Barack Obama recited and later sang the hymn at the memorial service for Clementa Pinckney, who was 1 of the 9 victims of the Charleston church shooting in 2015.^[90]

Mod interpretations [edit]

In recent years, the words of the hymn have been changed in some religious publications to downplay a sense of imposed self-loathing by its singers. The second line, "That saved a wretch like me!" has been rewritten equally "That saved and strengthened me", "save a soul like me", or "that saved and set me free".^[91] Kathleen Norris in her volume Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith characterises this transformation of the original words as "wretched English language" making the line that replaces the original "laughably banal".^[92] Part of the reason for this change has been the altered interpretations of what wretchedness and grace means. Newton's Calvinistic view of redemption and divine grace formed his perspective that he considered himself a sinner and so vile that he was unable to change his life or be redeemed without God'southward assist. Notwithstanding his lyrical subtlety, in Steve Turner's opinion, leaves the hymn'due south meaning open to a variety of Christian and non-Christian interpretations.^[93] "Wretch" likewise represents a menses in Newton'southward life when he saw himself outcast and miserable, as he was when he was enslaved in Sierra Leone; his own arrogance was matched by how far he had fallen in his life.^[94]

A Canadian bagpiper playing "Amazing Grace" during a memorial service, 29 October 2009, at Forward Operating Base Wilson, Transitional islamic state of afghanistan

Due to its immense popularity and iconic nature, the significant behind the words of "Astonishing Grace" has become as individual as the vocalist or listener.^[95] Bruce Hindmarsh suggests that the secular popularity of "Amazing Grace" is due to the absence of whatever mention of God in the lyrics until the quaternary poetry (by Excell'southward version, the 4th verse begins "When we've been there 10 thousand years"), and that the song represents the ability of humanity to transform itself instead of a transformation taking place at the hands of God. "Grace", still, had a clearer meaning to John Newton, equally he used the word to represent God or the ability of God.^[96]

The transformative ability of the song was investigated by journalist Bill Moyers in a documentary released in 1990. Moyers was inspired to focus on the vocal'southward power after watching a performance at Lincoln Center, where the audience consisted of Christians and non-Christians, and he noticed that it had an equal impact on everybody in omnipresence, unifying them.^[22] James Basker also acknowledged this force when he explained why he chose "Amazing Grace" to stand for a collection of anti-slavery poetry: "there is a transformative power that is applicable ... : the transformation of sin and sorrow into grace, of suffering into beauty, of alienation into empathy and connection, of the unspeakable into imaginative literature."^[97]

Moyers interviewed Collins, Greenbacks, opera vocalist Jessye Norman, Appalachian folk musician Jean Ritchie and her family, white Sacred Harp singers in Georgia, black Sacred Harp singers in Alabama, and a prison choir at the Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville. Collins, Cash, and Norman were unable to discern if the power of the song came from the music or the lyrics. Norman, who once notably sang it at the end of a large outdoor rock concert for Nelson Mandela'due south 70th altogether, stated, "I don't know whether it's the text – I don't know whether we're talking nigh the lyrics when we say that it touches and so many people – or whether it's that tune that everybody knows." A prisoner interviewed by Moyers explained his literal interpretation of the second poesy: "'Twas grace that taught my heart to fright, and grace my fears relieved" by saying that the fear became immediately real to him when he realised he may never get his life in guild, compounded by the loneliness and brake in prison. Gospel singer Marion Williams summed up its effect: "That'south a song that gets to everybody".^[3]

The Dictionary of American Hymnology claims information technology is included in more than than a g published hymnals, and recommends its utilise for "occasions of worship when we need to confess with joy that we are saved by God's grace lone; as a hymn of response to forgiveness of sin or equally an assurance of pardon; every bit a confession of faith or afterward the sermon".^[four]

Rendering electronic arrangements of the song [edit]

Wikimedia'southward Score extension let readers to view and heed to any arrangement that has been expressed in Lilypond format.^[98]

Wikiversity offers a do session for this song

Notes [edit]

1. ^ Stripped of his rank, whipped in public, and subjected to the abuses directed to prisoners and other printing-ganged men in the Navy, he demonstrated insolence and rebellion during his service for the next few months, remarking that the just reason he did not murder the helm or commit suicide was because he did not want Polly to recollect badly of him. (Martin [1950], pp. 41–47.)
2. ^ Newton kept a series of detailed journals equally a slave trader; these are perchance the kickoff primary source of the Atlantic slave trade from the perspective of a merchant (Moyers). Women, naked or almost and so, upon their arrival on ship were claimed by the sailors, and Newton alluded to sexual misbehavior in his writings that has since been interpreted by historians to hateful that he, along with other sailors, took (and presumably raped) whomever he chose. (Martin [1950], pp. 82–85)(Aitken, p. 64.)
3. ^ Newton'due south father was friends with Joseph Manesty, who intervened several times in Newton's life. Newton was supposed to go to Jamaica on Manesty's ship, merely missed it while he was with the Catletts. When Newton'due south begetter got his son's letter detailing his weather condition in Sierra Leone, he asked Manesty to find Newton. Manesty sent the Greyhound, which travelled forth the African coast trading at various stops. An associate of Newton lit a fire, signalling to ships he was interested in trading just 30 minutes before the Greyhound appeared. (Aitken, pp. 34–35, 64–65.)
4. ^ Several retellings of Newton's life story claim that he was carrying slaves during the voyage in which he experienced his conversion, just the ship was conveying livestock, wood, and beeswax from the declension of Africa. (Aitken, p. 76.)
5. ^ When Newton began his periodical in 1750, not but was slave trading seen every bit a respectable profession by the bulk of Britons, its necessity to the overall prosperity of the kingdom was communally understood and approved. Merely Quakers, who were much in the minority and perceived as eccentric, had raised any protestation nearly the exercise. (Martin and Spurrell [1962], pp. xi–xii.)
6. ^ Newton's biographers and Newton himself does not put a proper name to this episode other than a "fit" in which he became unresponsive, suffering dizziness and a headache. His doctor brash him not to go to body of water again, and Newton complied. Jonathan Aitken called it a stroke or seizure, but its cause is unknown. (Martin [1950], pp. 140–141.)(Aitken, p. 125.)
7. ^ Watts had previously written a hymn named "Alas! And Did My Saviour Bleed" that contained the lines "Amazing compassion! Grace unknown!/ And love beyond degree!". Philip Doddridge, some other well-known hymn writer, wrote some other in 1755 titled "The Humiliation and Exaltation of God'southward Israel" that began "Amazing grace of God on high!" and included other similar wording to Newton's verses. Newton biographer Jonathan Aitken states that Watts had inspired most of Newton's compositions. (Turner, pp. 82–83.)(Aitken, pp. 28–29.)
8. ^ Merely since the 1950s has information technology gained some popularity in the Great britain; not until 1964 was it published with the music almost commonly associated with it. (Noll and Blumhofer, p. 8)
9. ^ Franklin's version is a prime instance of "long meter" rendition: she sings several notes representing a syllable and the vocals are more dramatic and lilting. Her version lasts over ten minutes in comparing to the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards' that lasts under three minutes. (Tallmadge)(Turner, pp. 150–151.)

References [edit]

Citations [edit]

1. ^ Hunt, p. 181.
2. ^ ^{a b} Aitken, p. 224.
3. ^ ^{a b c d east} Moyers, Pecker (director). Astonishing Grace with Nib Moyers, Public Affairs Idiot box, Inc. (1990).
4. ^ ^{a b c} "Amazing Grace How Sugariness the Audio", Lexicon of American Hymnology. Retrieved 31 October 2009.
5. ^ Martin (1950), pp. 8–ix.
6. ^ Newton (1824), p. 12.
7. ^ Newton (1824), pp. 21–22.
8. ^ Martin (1950), p. 23.
9. ^ Martin (1950), pp. 51–52.
10. ^ Martin (1950), p. 63.
11. ^ Martin (1950), pp. 67–68.
12. ^ ^{a b} Martin (1950), p. 73.
13. ^ Newton (1824), p. 41.
14. ^ Martin (1950), pp. 70–71.
15. ^ Aitken, pp. 81–84.
16. ^ Martin (1950), pp. 82–85.
17. ^ Aitken, p. 125.
18. ^ Martin (1950), pp. 166–188.
19. ^ Aitken, pp. 153–154.
20. ^ Martin (1950), pp. 198–200.
21. ^ Martin (1950), pp. 208–217.
22. ^ ^{a b} Pollock, John (2009). "Amazing Grace: The nifty Ocean Change in the Life of John Newton", The Trinity Forum Reading, The Trinity Forum.
23. ^ Turner, p. 76.
24. ^ Aitken, p. 28.
25. ^ ^{a b} Turner, pp. 77–79.
26. ^ Benson, p. 339.
27. ^ ^{a b} Noll and Blumhofer, p. vi.
28. ^ Benson, p. 338.
29. ^ Aitken, p. 226.
30. ^ Phipps, William (Summer 1990). " 'Amazing Grace' in the hymnwriter's life", Anglican Theological Review, 72 (3), pp. 306–313.
31. ^ ^{a b} Basker, p. 281.
32. ^ Aitken, p. 231.
33. ^ ^{a b} Aitken, p. 227.
34. ^ ^{a b} Noll and Blumhofer, p. viii.
35. ^ Turner, p. 81.
36. ^ ^{a b} Watson, p. 215.
37. ^ Aitken, p. 228.
38. ^ Turner, p. 86.
39. ^ Julian, p. 55.
40. ^ ^{a b} Noll and Blumhofer, p. 10.
41. ^ Aitken, pp. 232–233.
42. ^ ^{a b} Turner, pp. 115–116.
43. ^ Turner, p. 117.
44. ^ The Hymn Tune Index, Search="Hephzibah". University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana Library website. Retrieved 31 December 2010.
45. ^ Turner, pp. 120–122.
46. ^ Turner, p. 123.
47. ^ Rachel Wells Hall (12 May 2015). "Did Lucius Chapin write the Astonishing Grace melody?".
48. ^ Noll and Blumhofer, p. xi.
49. ^ Turner, p. 124.
50. ^ ^{a b} Turner, p. 126.
51. ^ Stowe, p. 417.
52. ^ Aitken, p. 235.
53. ^ Watson, p. 216.
54. ^ Turner, pp. 127–128.
55. ^ Duvall, p. 35.
56. ^ Swiderski, p. 91.
57. ^ Patterson, p. 137.
58. ^ Sutton, Brett (Jan 1982). "Shape-Note Tune Books and Primitive Hymns", Ethnomusicology, 26 (1), pp. 11–26.
59. ^ Turner, pp. 133–135.
60. ^ Noll and Blumhofer, p. 13.
61. ^ Turner, pp. 137–138, 140–145.
62. ^ AllMusic search=Astonishing Grace Vocal Archived eleven Feb 2010 at the Wayback Machine, AllMusic. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
63. ^ Turner, pp. 154–155.
64. ^ ^{a b} Amazing Grace: Special Presentation: Astonishing Grace Timeline United States Library of Congress Performing Arts Encyclopedia. Retrieved 1 November 2008.
65. ^ Tallmadge, William (May 1961). "Dr. Watts and Mahalia Jackson: The Development, Decline, and Survival of a Folk Style in America", Ethnomusicology, v (2), pp. 95–99.
66. ^ Turner, p. 157.
67. ^ "Mahalia Jackson". Dictionary of American Biography, Supplement 9: 1971–1975. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1994.
68. ^ Turner, p. 148.
69. ^ Aitken, p. 236.
70. ^ Turner, p. 162.
71. ^ Turner, p. 175.
72. ^ Collins, p. 165.
73. ^ Whitburn, p. 144.
74. ^ Collins, p. 166.
75. ^ Chocolate-brown, Kutner, and Warwick p. 179.
76. ^ Season of New Zealand – search listener
77. ^ The Irish Charts – All there is to know
78. ^ "PIPES AND DRUMS AND THE MILITARY BAND OF THE Majestic SCOTS DRAGOON Guard". The Official UK Charts Company. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
79. ^ Top Singles – Volume 17, No. 17 RPM Magazine. x June 1972. Retrieved 12 Apr 2020.
80. ^ Brown, Kutner, and Warwick p. 757.
81. ^ Whitburn, p. 610.
82. ^ Turner, p. 188.
83. ^ Turner, p. 192.
84. ^ Turner, p. 205.
85. ^ Turner, pp. 195–205.
86. ^ Noll and Blumhofer, p. 15.
87. ^ Immature, Wesley (1 August 2013), "A tale of grace: Local filmmaker bringing story of John Newton to life". Winston-Salem Periodical
88. ^ Turner, p. 159.
89. ^ Rourke and Gwathmey, p. 108.
90. ^ "President Obama: Emanuel AME 'a phoenix rising from the ashes'". MSNBC. 17 September 2014. Retrieved 28 June 2015.
91. ^ Saunders, William (2003). Lenten Music Arlington Catholic Herald. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
92. ^ Norris, p. 66.
93. ^ Turner, pp. 213–214.
94. ^ Bruner and Ware, pp. 31–32.
95. ^ Turner, pp. 218–220.
96. ^ Noll and Blumhofer, p. 16.
97. ^ Basker, p. xxxiv.
98. ^ Score taken from http://hymnstogod.org/Hymn-Website/Hymn-Files/Public-Domain-Hymns/A-Hymns/Amazing-Grace-Excell/AmazingGraceExcell.pdf

Sources [edit]

• Aitken, Jonathan (2007). John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace, Crossway Books. ISBN 1-58134-848-7
• Basker, James (2002). Astonishing Grace: An Album of Poems About Slavery, 1660–1810, Yale University Press. ISBN 0-300-09172-9
• Benson, Louis (1915). The English Hymn: Its Development and Use in Worship, The Presbyterian Lath of Publication, Philadelphia.
• Bradley, Ian (ed.)(1989). The Volume of Hymns, The Overlook Press. ISBN 0-87951-346-ii
• Brown, Tony; Kutner, Jon; Warwick, Neil (2000). Consummate Book of the British Charts: Singles & Albums, Omnibus. ISBN 0-7119-7670-8
• Bruner, Kurt; Ware, Jim (2007). Finding God in the Story of Amazing Grace, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. ISBN 1-4143-1181-eight
• Hunt, Gilbert (1987). America'south Music, From the Pilgrims to the Nowadays, McGraw-Loma. ISBN 0-252-00454-10
• Collins, Judy (1998). Singing Lessons: A Memoir of Dearest, Loss, Promise, and Healing , Pocket Books. ISBN 0-671-02745-X
• Duvall, Deborah (2000). Tahlequah and the Cherokee Nation, Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 0-7385-0782-2
• Julian, John (ed.)(1892). A Dictionary of Hymnology, Charles Scribner'southward Sons, New York.
• Martin, Bernard (1950). John Newton: A Biography, William Heineman, Ltd., London.
• Martin, Bernard and Spurrell, Mark, (eds.)(1962). The Journal of a Slave Trader (John Newton), The Epworth Press, London.
• Newton, John (1811). Thoughts Upon the African Slave Merchandise, Samuel Whiting and Co., London.
• Newton, John (1824). The Works of the Rev. John Newton Late Rector of the United Parishes of St. Mary Woolnoth and St. Mary Woolchurch Haw, London: Volume 1, Nathan Whiting, London.
• Noll, Marking A.; Blumhofer, Edith Fifty. (eds.) (2006). Sing Them Again to Me: Hymns and Hymnbooks in America, University of Alabama Printing. ISBN 0-8173-1505-5
• Norris, Kathleen (1999). Astonishing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith, Riverhead. ISBN 1-57322-078-seven
• Patterson, Beverly Bush (1995). The Sound of the Dove: Singing in Appalachian Primitive Baptist Churches, University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-02123-1
• Porter, Jennifer; McLaren, Darcee (eds.)(1999). Star Expedition and Sacred Ground: Explorations of Star Expedition, Faith, and American Culture, State University of New York Press, ISBN 0-585-29190-X
• Rourke, Mary; Gwathmey, Emily (1996). Amazing Grace in America: Our Spiritual National Anthem, Angel Metropolis Press. ISBN 1-883318-30-0
• Stowe, Harriet Beecher (1899). Uncle Tom'due south Cabin, or Life Amidst the Lowly, R. F. Fenno & Company, New York Urban center.
• Swiderski, Richard (1996). The Metamorphosis of English: Versions of Other Languages, Greenwood Publishing Grouping. ISBN 0-89789-468-v
• Turner, Steve (2002). Amazing Grace: The Story of America's Most Beloved Vocal, HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-000219-0
• Watson, J. R. (ed.)(2002). An Annotated Album of Hymns, Oxford Academy Printing. ISBN 0-nineteen-826973-0
• Whitburn, Joel (2003). Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles, 1955–2002, Record Research, Inc. ISBN 0-89820-155-1

External links [edit]

• Amazing Grace at Hymnary.org
• The Amazing Grace
• U.S. Library of Congress Amazing Grace collection
• Cowper & Newton Museum in Olney, England
• Amazing Grace: Some Early Tunes Anthology of the American Hymn-Tune Repertory
• Amazing Grace: The story behind the song and its connection to Lough Swilly
• Astonishing Grace Sound Recording Completely original music past composer Michael John Trotta.

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Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazing_Grace

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