I See Grace Every Now and Again

Christian hymn

"Amazing Grace"
The bottom of page 53 of Olney Hymns shows the start stanza of the hymn beginning "Amazing Grace!"
Genre	Hymn
Text	John Newton
Meter	eight.vi.8.6 (Common metre)
Melody	New Britain
Audio sample
"Amazing Grace" as performed by the United states of america Marine Band (vocalist with band accessory) file help

"Astonishing Grace" is a Christian hymn published in 1779, with words written in 1772 by the English poet and Anglican clergyman John Newton (1725–1807). It is an immensely popular hymn, peculiarly in the United States, where information technology is used for both religious and secular purposes.

Newton wrote the words from personal experience. He grew up without any particular religious conviction, but his life's path was formed past a variety of twists and coincidences that were often put into move by others' reactions to what they took equally his recalcitrant insubordination. He was pressed (conscripted) into service in the Regal Navy. After leaving the service, he became involved in the Atlantic slave trade. In 1748, a violent storm battered his vessel off the coast of County Donegal, Ireland, so severely that he chosen out to God for mercy. This moment marked his spiritual conversion but he continued slave trading until 1754 or 1755, when he ended his seafaring altogether. Newton began studying Christian theology and later 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. "Astonishing Grace" was written to illustrate a sermon on New year's day's Day of 1773. It is unknown if in that location was any music accompanying the verses; it may have been chanted by the congregation. It debuted in print in 1779 in Newton and Cowper'due south Olney Hymns just settled into relative obscurity in England. In the United states, "Amazing Grace" became a popular vocal used by Baptist and Methodist preachers as part of their evangelizing, especially in the South, during the 2d Bang-up Awakening of the early 19th century. Information technology has been associated with more than 20 melodies. In 1835, American composer William Walker set it to the melody known as "New Great britain" in a shape note format; this is the version nigh frequently sung today.

With the message that forgiveness and redemption are possible regardless of sins committed and that the soul can be delivered from despair through the mercy of God, "Astonishing Grace" is 1 of the most recognisable songs in the English-speaking globe. Author Gilbert Chase writes that information technology is "without a dubiousness the most famous of all the folk hymns".^[1] Jonathan Aitken, a Newton biographer, estimates that the vocal is performed most ten one thousand thousand times annually.^[2]

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

History [edit]

John Newton's conversion [edit]

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

John Newton, 1778^[3]

Co-ordinate to the Lexicon of American Hymnology, "Amazing Grace" is John Newton'south spiritual autobiography in poesy.^[iv]

In 1725, Newton was born in Wapping, a commune in London virtually the Thames. His father was a shipping merchant who was brought upwardly every bit a Cosmic but had Protestant sympathies, and his mother was a devout Independent, unaffiliated with the Anglican Church building. She had intended Newton to get a clergyman, just she died of tuberculosis when he was six years old.^[5] For the next few years, while his father was at sea Newton was raised by his emotionally afar stepmother. He was also sent to boarding school, where he was mistreated.^[vi] At the age of eleven, he joined his begetter on a send every bit an amateur; his seagoing career would exist marked past headstrong disobedience.

As a youth, Newton began a pattern of coming very close to death, examining his relationship with God, then relapsing into bad habits. As a sailor, he denounced his faith after being influenced by a shipmate who discussed with him Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times, a volume by the Tertiary Earl of Shaftesbury. In a serial of letters Newton later wrote, "Similar an unwary sailor who quits his port just earlier a rising storm, I renounced the hopes and comforts of the Gospel at the very time when every other comfort was virtually to fail me."^[7] His defiance caused him to be pressed into the Regal Navy, and he took advantage of opportunities to overstay his leave.

He deserted the navy to visit Mary "Polly" Catlett, a family unit friend with whom he had fallen in beloved.^[8] Subsequently enduring humiliation for deserting,^[a] he was traded as coiffure to a slave transport.

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

Newton often openly mocked the captain by creating obscene poems and songs most him, which became then pop that the coiffure began to join in.^[9] His disagreements with several colleagues resulted in his being starved most 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. Subsequently several months he came to recollect of Sierra Leone equally his dwelling, but his begetter intervened after Newton sent him a letter describing his circumstances, and crew from some other send happened to notice him.^[c] Newton claimed the only reason he left Sierra Leone was because of Polly.^[10]

While aboard the ship Greyhound, Newton gained notoriety as being one of the most profane men the captain had e'er met. In a culture where sailors habitually swore, Newton was admonished several times for not only using the worst words the helm had always heard, but creating new ones to exceed the limits of verbal debauchery.^[xi] In March 1748, while the Greyhound was in the North Atlantic, a violent storm came upon the ship that was then rough it swept overboard a crew member who was standing where Newton had been moments earlier.^[d] After hours of the coiffure elimination water from the ship and expecting to be capsized, Newton and some other mate tied themselves to the ship'south pump to keep from being washed overboard, working for several hours.^[12] After proposing the measure to the captain, Newton had turned and said, "If this will not do, then Lord have mercy upon us!"^{[13] [fourteen]} Newton rested briefly before returning to the deck to steer for the next eleven hours. During his time at the wheel, he pondered his divine challenge.^[12]

About two weeks later, the battered send and starving coiffure landed in Lough Swilly, Ireland. For several weeks before the storm, Newton had been reading The Christian's Pattern, a summary of the 15th-century The Imitation of Christ past Thomas à Kempis. The memory of his ain "Lord have mercy upon the states!" uttered during a moment of agony in the storm did not go out him; he began to ask if he was worthy of God's mercy or in whatsoever way redeemable. Not simply had he neglected his organized religion but directly opposed it, mocking others who showed theirs, deriding and denouncing God equally a myth. He came to believe that God had sent him a profound message and had begun to work through him.^[15]

Newton'south conversion was non immediate, but he contacted Polly'southward family unit and announced his intention to marry her. Her parents were hesitant equally he was known to be unreliable and impetuous. They knew he was profane too but immune him to write to Polly, and he set to begin to submit to authority for her sake.^[16] He sought a identify on a slave send jump for Africa, and Newton and his crewmates participated in most of the same activities he had written almost before; the simply immorality from which he was able to gratis himself was profanity. After a severe illness his resolve was renewed, all the same he retained the same attitude towards slavery as was held by his contemporaries.^[eastward] Newton continued in the slave trade through several voyages where he sailed the coasts of Africa, now equally a helm, and procured slaves being offered for auction in larger ports, transporting them to North America.

In between voyages, he married Polly in 1750, and he found it more difficult to leave her at the offset of each trip. After iii shipping voyages in the slave trade, Newton was promised a position as ship's captain with cargo unrelated to slavery. But at the age of xxx, he collapsed and never sailed again.^{[17] [f]}

Olney curate [edit]

The vicarage in Olney, where Newton wrote the hymn that would get "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 down by John Gilbert, Archbishop of York, in 1758, ostensibly for having no university degree,^[18] although the more likely reasons were his leanings toward evangelism and trend to socialise with Methodists.^[19] Newton continued his devotions, and after being encouraged past a friend, he wrote about his experiences in the slave trade and his conversion. William Legge, 2d Earl of Dartmouth, impressed with his story, sponsored Newton for ordination past John Green, Bishop of Lincoln, and offered him the curacy of Olney, Buckinghamshire, in 1764.^[twenty]

Olney Hymns [edit]

Amazing grace! (how sweet the sound)
That sav'd a wretch like me!
I one time was lost, but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears reliev'd;
How precious did that grace appear
The hr I showtime believ'd!

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

The Lord has promis'd skillful to me,
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be
Equally long as life endures.

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

The earth shall presently dissolve like snow,
The dominicus forbear to smoothen;
Merely God, who phone call'd me here below,
Will be forever mine.

John Newton, Olney Hymns, 1779

Olney was a hamlet of about two,500 residents whose main manufacture was making lace past hand. The people were mostly 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 distance, not admitting any intimacy with temptation or sin. He was involved in his parishioners' lives and was much loved, although his writing and commitment were sometimes unpolished.^[21] But his devotion and confidence were credible and forceful, and he ofttimes said his mission was to "break a difficult heart and to heal a broken heart".^[22] He struck a friendship with William Cowper, a gifted author who had failed at a career in constabulary 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 similar to Newton'southward. Together, their effect on the local congregation was impressive. In 1768, they found it necessary to start a weekly prayer meeting to meet the needs of an increasing number of parishioners. They also began writing lessons for children.^[23]

Partly from Cowper'southward literary influence, and partly considering learned vicars were expected to write verses, Newton began to endeavor his hand at hymns, which had become popular through the linguistic communication, made evidently for mutual people to understand. Several prolific hymn writers were at their most productive in the 18th century, including Isaac Watts – whose hymns Newton had grown up 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.^[chiliad] Watts was a pioneer in English hymn writing, basing his work after the Psalms. The most prevalent hymns by Watts and others were written in the common meter in 8.six.8.6: the beginning line is 8 syllables and the second is six.^[25]

Newton and Cowper attempted to present a poem or hymn for each prayer meeting. The lyrics to "Amazing Grace" were written in belatedly 1772 and probably used in a prayer meeting for the offset time on one January 1773.^[25] A collection of the poems Newton and Cowper had written for employ in services at Olney was bound and published anonymously in 1779 under the title Olney Hymns. Newton contributed 280 of the 348 texts in Olney Hymns; "ane Chronicles 17:sixteen–17, Faith'southward Review and Expectation" was the title of the verse form with the first line "Astonishing grace! (how sweet the sound)".^[iv]

Critical analysis [edit]

The general affect of Olney Hymns was immediate and it became a widely popular tool for evangelicals in U.k. for many years. Scholars appreciated Cowper's poetry somewhat more than Newton'due south plaintive and plain linguistic communication, expressing his forceful personality. The most prevalent themes in the verses written by Newton in Olney Hymns are faith in conservancy, wonder at God'due south grace, his dearest for Jesus, and his cheerful exclamations of the joy he found in his faith.^[26] Equally a reflection of Newton's connection to his parishioners, he wrote many of the hymns in first person, admitting his own feel with sin. Bruce Hindmarsh in Sing Them Over Again To Me: Hymns and Hymnbooks in America considers "Amazing Grace" an fantabulous case of Newton's testimonial mode afforded past the use of this perspective.^[27] Several of Newton's hymns were recognised as cracking piece of work ("Astonishing Grace" was not among them), while others seem to have 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 simply twenty-one of the about 150 words used in all half-dozen verses accept more than i syllable.^[29]

William Phipps in the Anglican Theological Review and author James Basker accept interpreted the commencement stanza of "Amazing Grace" as bear witness of Newton'south realisation that his participation in the slave merchandise was his wretchedness, perhaps representing a wider mutual understanding of Newton's motivations.^{[30] [31]} Newton joined forces with a young man 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 not become an ardent and outspoken abolitionist until after he left Olney in the 1780s; he is non known to have connected writing the hymn known every bit "Amazing Grace" to anti-slavery sentiments.^[32]

The lyrics in Olney Hymns were arranged by their association to the Biblical verses that would be used past Newton and Cowper in their prayer meetings, and did non address whatever political objective. For Newton, the beginning of the year was a time to reflect on one's spiritual progress. At the aforementioned time he completed a diary – which has since been lost – that he had begun 17 years before, two years subsequently he quit sailing. The last entry of 1772 was a recounting of how much he had changed since so.^[33]

And David the king came and saturday before the LORD, and said, Who am I, O FiftyORD God, and what is mine house, that chiliad hast brought me hitherto? And however this was a pocket-sized thing in thine eyes, O God; for thou hast likewise spoken of thy retainer's firm for a great while to come up, and hast regarded me according to the estate of a homo of high degree, O LORD God.

1 Chronicles 17:16–17, King James Version

The title ascribed to the hymn, "1 Chronicles 17:sixteen–17", refers to David'due south reaction to the prophet Nathan telling him that God intends to maintain his family line forever. Some Christians interpret this as a prediction that Jesus Christ, equally a descendant of David, was promised by God as the conservancy for all people.^[34] Newton's sermon on that Jan day in 1773 focused on the necessity to limited i's gratitude for God'southward guidance, that God is involved in the daily lives of Christians though they may not be enlightened of it, and that patience for deliverance from the daily trials of life is warranted when the glories of eternity await.^[35] Newton saw himself a sinner like David who had been called, perhaps undeservedly,^[36] and was humbled past it. According to Newton, unconverted sinners were "blinded by the god of this earth" until "mercy came to united states not only undeserved but undesired ... our hearts endeavored to close him out till he overcame us by the ability of his grace."^[33]

The New Attestation served as the basis for many of the lyrics of "Amazing Grace". The start verse, for example, can be traced to the story of the Dissipated Son. In the Gospel of Luke the father says, "For this son of mine was dead and is alive once again; he was lost, and is found". The story of Jesus healing a bullheaded homo who tells the Pharisees that he can at present come across is told in the Gospel of John. Newton used the words "I was bullheaded but now I encounter" and declared "Oh to grace how great a debtor!" in his messages and diary entries as early equally 1752.^[37] The effect of the lyrical arrangement, according to Bruce Hindmarsh, allows an instant release of energy in the exclamation "Amazing grace!", to be followed by a qualifying reply in "how sweetness the sound". In An Annotated Album of Hymns, Newton's utilise of an exclamation at the showtime of his verse is called "rough but effective" in an overall composition that "propose(southward) a forceful, if simple, argument of organized religion".^[36] Grace is recalled three times in the post-obit poetry, culminating in Newton's almost personal story of his conversion, underscoring the use of his personal testimony with his parishioners.^[27]

The sermon preached past Newton was his last of those that William Cowper heard in Olney, since Cowper's mental instability returned shortly thereafter. 1 author suggests Newton may have had his friend in mind, employing the themes of assurance and deliverance from despair for Cowper's benefit.^[38]

Dissemination [edit]

More than 60 of Newton and Cowper's hymns were republished in other British hymnals and magazines, just "Amazing Grace" was not, actualization only one time in a 1780 hymnal sponsored by the Countess of Huntingdon. Scholar John Julian commented in his 1892 A Dictionary of Hymnology that exterior of the The states, the song was unknown and it was "far from beingness a practiced example of Newton'south finest work".^{[39] [h]} Betwixt 1789 and 1799, iv variations of Newton'south hymn were published in the US in Baptist, Dutch Reformed, and Congregationalist hymnodies;^[34] by 1830 Presbyterians and Methodists as well included Newton'southward 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.. The greatest influences in the 19th century that propelled "Astonishing Grace" to spread across the The states and become a staple of religious services in many denominations and regions were the Second Cracking Awakening and the development of shape notation singing communities. A tremendous religious movement swept the The states 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 experience salvation; preaching was fiery and focused on saving the sinner from temptation and backsliding.^[42] Religion was stripped of decoration and ceremony, and made as plain and unproblematic as possible; sermons and songs often used repetition to get across to a rural population of poor and generally uneducated people the necessity of turning away from sin. Witnessing and testifying became an integral component to these meetings, where a congregation fellow member or stranger would rise and recount his plough from a sinful life to one of piety and peace.^[40] "Amazing Grace" was 1 of many hymns that punctuated fervent sermons, although the contemporary manner used a refrain, borrowed from other hymns, that employed simplicity and repetition such as:

Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me.
I in one case was lost, but now am found,
Was blind simply at present I meet.

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 four sounds to symbolise the bones scale: fa-sol-la-fa-sol-la-mi-fa. Each sound was accompanied past a specifically shaped note and thus became known every bit shape note singing. The method was simple to learn and teach, so schools were established throughout the South and West. Communities would come together for an unabridged day of singing in a large edifice where they saturday in four distinct areas surrounding an open up space, one member directing the grouping every bit a whole. Other groups would sing exterior, on benches set up up in a square. Preachers used shape annotation hymns to teach people on the frontier and to raise the emotion of camp meetings. Most of the music was Christian, but the purpose of communal singing was not primarily spiritual. Communities either could not afford music accompaniment or rejected it out of a Calvinistic sense of simplicity, so the songs were sung a cappella.^[43]

"New United kingdom" tune [edit]

William Walker, the American composer who offset set up John Newton's verses to the "New Uk" tune, creating version of the song known as "Astonishing Grace"

When originally used in Olney, information technology is unknown what music, if any, accompanied the verses written past John Newton. Contemporary hymnbooks did not contain music and were just small books of religious verse. The first known instance of Newton'south lines joined to music was in A Companion to the Countess of Huntingdon's Hymns (London, 1808), where it is set up to the melody "Hephzibah" past English language composer John Jenkins Husband.^[44] Common meter hymns were interchangeable with a diverseness of tunes; more than than twenty musical settings of "Amazing Grace" circulated with varying popularity until 1835, when American composer William Walker assigned Newton's words to a traditional song named "New Britain". This was an amalgamation of two melodies ("Gallaher" and "St. Mary"), first published in the Columbian Harmony by Charles H. Spilman and Benjamin Shaw (Cincinnati, 1829). Spilman and Shaw, both students at Kentucky's Eye College, 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, but "Gallaher" and "St. Mary" had not.^[45] As neither tune is attributed and both show elements of oral transmission, scholars tin can only speculate that they are peradventure of British origin.^[46] A manuscript from 1828 by Lucius Chapin, a famous hymn writer of that time, contains a tune very shut to "St. Mary", but that does not mean that he wrote it.^[47]

"Amazing Grace", with the words written by Newton and joined with "New Britain", the melody most currently associated with it, appeared for the first time in Walker'due south shape note tunebook Southern Harmony in 1847.^[48] It was, co-ordinate to author Steve Turner, a "matrimony fabricated in sky ... The music backside 'amazing' had a sense of awe to it. The music behind 'grace' sounded graceful. There was a rise at the betoken of confession, as though the author was stepping out into the open and making a assuming proclamation, only a respective fall when albeit 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 1000000. Another shape note tunebook named The Sacred Harp (1844) past Georgia residents Benjamin Franklin White and Elisha J. Rex became widely influential and continues to be used.^[50]

Another verse was outset recorded in Harriet Beecher Stowe'due south immensely influential 1852 anti-slavery novel Uncle Tom's Motel. Three verses were emblematically sung by Tom in his 60 minutes of deepest crunch.^[51] He sings the sixth and 5th verses in that order, and Stowe included another poesy, not written by Newton, that had been passed downward orally in African-American communities for at to the lowest degree fifty years. Information technology was i of betwixt 50 and lxx verses of a vocal titled "Jerusalem, My Happy Habitation", which was start published in a 1790 book called A Collection of Sacred Ballads:

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

"Amazing Grace" came to be an emblem of a Christian movement and a symbol of the United states itself every bit the country was involved in a great political experiment, attempting to use democracy equally a means of government. Shape-note singing communities, with all the members sitting effectually an open eye, each song employing a different vocal leader, illustrated this in practice. Simultaneously, the US began to expand w into previously unexplored territory that was often wilderness. The "dangers, toils, and snares" of Newton'due south lyrics had both literal and figurative meanings for Americans.^[50] This became poignantly truthful during the most serious examination of American cohesion in the U.S. Civil War (1861–1865). "Amazing Grace", ready to "New Britain", was included in two hymnals distributed to soldiers. With death so existent and imminent, religious services in the armed forces became commonplace.^[54] The hymn was translated into other languages as well: 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 language became very popular.^{[55] [56]}

Urban revival [edit]

Although "Astonishing Grace" set to "New Britain" was popular, other versions existed regionally. Primitive Baptists in the Appalachian region ofttimes used "New U.k." 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'southward verses were sung to a tune named "Arlington" as oft every bit to "New Britain" for a fourth dimension.

2 musical arrangers named Dwight Moody and Ira Sankey heralded another religious revival in the cities of the US and Europe, giving the song international exposure. Moody'due south preaching and Sankey's musical gifts were significant; their arrangements were the forerunners of gospel music, and churches all over the US were eager to acquire them.^[59] Moody and Sankey began publishing their compositions in 1875, and "Amazing Grace" appeared three times with three unlike melodies, but they were the starting time to give it its title; hymns were typically published using the incipits (first line of the lyrics), or the proper noun of the melody such as "New Britain". Publisher Edwin Othello Excell gave the version of "Amazing Grace" ready to "New Uk" immense popularity by publishing it in a series of hymnals that were used in urban churches. Excell altered some of Walker'southward music, making it more than gimmicky and European, giving "New U.k." some distance from its rural folk-music origins. Excell's version was more than palatable for a growing urban heart class and arranged for larger church choirs. Several editions featuring Newton's first iii stanzas and the poesy previously included by Harriet Beecher Stowe in Uncle Tom's Cabin were published by Excell between 1900 and 1910. His version of "Amazing Grace" became the standard form of the song in American churches.^{[60] [61]}

Recorded versions [edit]

With the advent of recorded music and radio, "Astonishing Grace" began to cross over from primarily a gospel standard to secular audiences. The power to tape combined with the marketing of records to specific audiences allowed "Amazing Grace" to have 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 – every bit of 2019.^[62] Its offset recording is an a cappella version from 1922 by 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 high for black gospel recordings of the song past H. R. Tomlin and J. M. Gates. A poignant sense of nostalgia accompanied the recordings of several gospel and blues singers in the 1940s and 1950s who used the song to remember their grandparents, traditions, and family roots.^[63] Information technology was recorded with musical accompaniment for the first fourth dimension in 1930 by Fiddlin' John Carson, although to another folk hymn named "At the Cross", not to "New Britain".^[64] "Amazing Grace" is emblematic of several kinds of folk music styles, often used as the standard example to illustrate such musical techniques as lining out and phone call and response, that take been practised in both black and white folk music.^[65]

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

Mahalia Jackson^[66]

Mahalia Jackson's 1947 version received meaning radio airplay, and as her popularity grew throughout the 1950s and 1960s, she often sang it at public events such as 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 being 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 feel.^[68] During the civil rights movement and opposition to the Vietnam War, the song took on a political tone. Mahalia Jackson employed "Amazing Grace" for Civil Rights marchers, writing that she used it "to requite magical protection – a charm to ward off danger, an incantation to the angels of heaven to descend ... I was not sure the magic worked exterior the church building walls ... in the open air of Mississippi. Simply I wasn't taking any chances."^[69] Folk vocalist Judy Collins, who knew the song before she could remember learning information technology, 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 police force enforcement who opposed the civil rights demonstrators.^[iii] According to fellow folk singer Joan Baez, it was one of the most requested songs from her audiences, but she never realised its origin as a hymn; past the time she was singing it in the 1960s she said it had "developed a life of its own".^[seventy] It even fabricated an appearance at the Woodstock Music Festival in 1969 during Arlo Guthrie's functioning.^[71]

Collins decided to record it in the late 1960s amidst an atmosphere of counterculture introspection; she was part of an see grouping that ended a contentious meeting by singing "Amazing Grace" equally it 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 alcohol corruption, claimed that the vocal was able to "pull her through" to recovery.^[3] Information technology was recorded in St. Paul'southward, the chapel at Columbia University, chosen for the acoustics. She chose an a cappella arrangement that was shut to Edwin Othello Excell'southward, accompanied by 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 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 practise, I idea ... just sing 'Astonishing Grace'."^[72] Gradually and unexpectedly, the song began to exist played on the radio, and then be requested. It rose to number fifteen on the Billboard Hot 100, remaining on the charts for 15 weeks,^[73] equally if, she wrote, her fans had been "waiting to embrace it".^[74] In the Great britain, it charted viii times betwixt 1970 and 1972, peaking at number 5 and spending a total of 75 weeks on popular music charts.^[75] Her rendition also reached number 5 in New Zealand^[76] and number 12 in Ireland in 1971.^[77]

In 1972, the Majestic Scots Dragoon Guards, the senior Scottish regiment of the British Ground forces, recorded an instrumental version featuring a bagpipe soloist accompanied by a piping band. The tempo of their organisation was slowed to allow for the bagpipes, but information technology was based on Collins': it began with a bagpipe solo introduction like to her lonely voice, and so it was accompanied by the band of bagpipes and horns, whereas in her version she is backed up past a chorus. It became an international hit, spending five weeks at number-one in the UK Singles Chart,^[78] topping the RPM national singles chart in Canada for iii weeks,^[79] and as well peaking at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.s.a..^{[80] [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 also recorded "Amazing Grace" around the same time, and both of their renditions were popular.^[i] All four versions were marketed to distinct types of audiences, thereby assuring its identify as a pop song.^[83] Johnny Cash recorded it on his 1975 album Sings Precious Memories, dedicating information technology to his older brother Jack, who had been killed in a mill blow when they were boys in Dyess, Arkansas. Cash and his family sang it to themselves while they worked in the cotton wool fields post-obit Jack's death. Cash often included the song when he toured prisons, proverb "For the 3 minutes that song is going on, everybody is gratis. It just frees the spirit and frees the person."^[3]

The U.S. Library of Congress has a collection of 3,000 versions of and songs inspired past "Amazing Grace", some of which were first-time recordings past folklorists Alan and John Lomax, a male parent and son team who in 1932 travelled thousands of miles across the southern states of the US to capture the different regional styles of the song. More than gimmicky renditions include samples from such popular artists as Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers (1963), the Byrds (1970), Elvis Presley (1971), Skeeter Davis (1972), Mighty Clouds of Joy (1972), Amazing 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. Information technology was a vocal that could be sung by young and old, Republican and Democrat, Southern Baptist and Roman Catholic, African American and Native American, high-ranking military officeholder and anticapitalist apostle.

Steve Turner, 2002^[84]

"Astonishing Grace" is an icon in American civilization that has been used for a diverseness of secular purposes and marketing campaigns. It has been mass-produced on souvenirs, used to proper name a Superman villain, incorporated into Hare Krishna chants and adjusted for Wicca ceremonies.^[85] The hymn has been employed in several films, including Alice'due south Eating house, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Coal Miner's Girl, and Silkwood. It is referenced in the 2006 film Amazing Grace, which highlights Newton'south influence on the leading British abolitionist William Wilberforce,^[86] in the moving picture biography of Newton, Newton's Grace.^[87] and the 2014 flick Freedom which tells the story of Newton's composition 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, condign a sort of "spiritual national anthem" according to authors Mary Rourke and Emily Gwathmey.^[89] For example, President Barack Obama recited and after sang the hymn at the memorial service for Clementa Pinckney, who was one of the nine victims of the Charleston church shooting in 2015.^[90]

Modern interpretations [edit]

In recent years, the words of the hymn have been inverse 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 gear up me free".^[91] Kathleen Norris in her book Astonishing Grace: A Vocabulary of Organized religion characterises this transformation of the original words as "wretched English" making the line that replaces the original "laughably bland".^[92] Part of the reason for this change has been the altered interpretations of what wretchedness and grace ways. Newton's Calvinistic view of redemption and divine grace formed his perspective that he considered himself a sinner so vile that he was unable to change his life or be redeemed without God's help. Yet his lyrical subtlety, in Steve Turner's opinion, leaves the hymn's meaning open to a variety of Christian and non-Christian interpretations.^[93] "Wretch" also represents a menstruation in Newton's life when he saw himself outcast and miserable, as he was when he was enslaved in Sierra Leone; his own arrogance was matched past 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 of operations Wilson, Afghanistan

Due to its immense popularity and iconic nature, the meaning backside the words of "Amazing Grace" has get as individual as the singer or listener.^[95] Bruce Hindmarsh suggests that the secular popularity of "Amazing Grace" is due to the absence of whatsoever mention of God in the lyrics until the quaternary poesy (by Excell's version, the quaternary poetry begins "When nosotros've been there ten chiliad years"), and that the song represents the power of humanity to transform itself instead of a transformation taking place at the hands of God. "Grace", however, had a clearer meaning to John Newton, as he used the word to represent God or the power of God.^[96]

The transformative power of the vocal was investigated by announcer Bill Moyers in a documentary released in 1990. Moyers was inspired to focus on the song'south ability afterwards watching a performance at Lincoln Heart, where the audience consisted of Christians and non-Christians, and he noticed that it had an equal impact on everybody in attendance, unifying them.^[22] James Basker likewise acknowledged this forcefulness 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, Cash, opera singer Jessye Norman, Appalachian folk musician Jean Ritchie and her family unit, white Sacred Harp singers in Georgia, blackness Sacred Harp singers in Alabama, and a prison house choir at the Texas Land 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 one time notably sang it at the end of a large outdoor rock concert for Nelson Mandela's 70th birthday, stated, "I don't know whether it'south the text – I don't know whether we're talking about the lyrics when we say that it touches so many people – or whether information technology's that melody that everybody knows." A prisoner interviewed by Moyers explained his literal interpretation of the second verse: "'Twas grace that taught my center to fright, and grace my fears relieved" past saying that the fear became immediately existent to him when he realised he may never become his life in order, compounded by the loneliness and restriction in prison. Gospel vocaliser Marion Williams summed up its consequence: "That's a song that gets to everybody".^[3]

The Lexicon of American Hymnology claims information technology is included in more than a thousand published hymnals, and recommends its utilise for "occasions of worship when we demand to confess with joy that we are saved by God's grace alone; as a hymn of response to forgiveness of sin or as an assurance of pardon; as a confession of religion or after the sermon".^[four]

Rendering electronic arrangements of the vocal [edit]

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

Wikiversity offers a practice session for this song

Notes [edit]

1. ^ Stripped of his rank, whipped in public, and subjected to the abuses directed to prisoners and other press-ganged men in the Navy, he demonstrated insolence and rebellion during his service for the adjacent few months, remarking that the only reason he did not murder the captain or commit suicide was considering he did not desire Polly to think badly of him. (Martin [1950], pp. 41–47.)
2. ^ Newton kept a series of detailed journals as a slave trader; these are maybe the starting time main source of the Atlantic slave trade from the perspective of a merchant (Moyers). Women, naked or nigh so, upon their inflow on ship were claimed by the sailors, and Newton alluded to sexual misbehavior in his writings that has since been interpreted by historians to mean that he, along with other sailors, took (and presumably raped) whomever he chose. (Martin [1950], pp. 82–85)(Aitken, p. 64.)
3. ^ Newton'south father was friends with Joseph Manesty, who intervened several times in Newton'south life. Newton was supposed to go to Jamaica on Manesty's transport, but missed it while he was with the Catletts. When Newton'south begetter got his son's letter detailing his atmospheric condition in Sierra Leone, he asked Manesty to notice Newton. Manesty sent the Greyhound, which travelled along the African coast trading at various stops. An acquaintance 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'south life story claim that he was carrying slaves during the voyage in which he experienced his conversion, just the ship was conveying livestock, woods, and beeswax from the declension of Africa. (Aitken, p. 76.)
5. ^ When Newton began his journal in 1750, not but was slave trading seen as a respectable profession by the bulk of Britons, its necessity to the overall prosperity of the kingdom was communally understood and approved. Only Quakers, who were much in the minority and perceived equally eccentric, had raised whatever protestation nearly the practice. (Martin and Spurrell [1962], pp. xi–xii.)
6. ^ Newton's biographers and Newton himself does not put a name to this episode other than a "fit" in which he became unresponsive, suffering dizziness and a headache. His dr. advised him non to go to sea again, and Newton complied. Jonathan Aitken called it a stroke or seizure, simply 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 pity! Grace unknown!/ And dearest across degree!". Philip Doddridge, another well-known hymn writer, wrote another in 1755 titled "The Humiliation and Exaltation of God's Israel" that began "Astonishing grace of God on high!" and included other like diction to Newton'due south verses. Newton biographer Jonathan Aitken states that Watts had inspired most of Newton'south compositions. (Turner, pp. 82–83.)(Aitken, pp. 28–29.)
8. ^ Only since the 1950s has it gained some popularity in the Uk; non until 1964 was it published with the music most 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 comparison to the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards' that lasts under three minutes. (Tallmadge)(Turner, pp. 150–151.)

References [edit]

Citations [edit]

1. ^ Chase, p. 181.
2. ^ ^{a b} Aitken, p. 224.
3. ^ ^{a b c d e} Moyers, Bill (director). Amazing Grace with Beak Moyers, Public Diplomacy Television, Inc. (1990).
4. ^ ^{a b c} "Amazing Grace How Sweet the Sound", Dictionary of American Hymnology. Retrieved 31 October 2009.
5. ^ Martin (1950), pp. 8–9.
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). "Astonishing Grace: The great Sea Alter 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. 6.
28. ^ Benson, p. 338.
29. ^ Aitken, p. 226.
30. ^ Phipps, William (Summer 1990). " 'Amazing Grace' in the hymnwriter'southward life", Anglican Theological Review, 72 (iii), 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. 8.
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 tune?".
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 (January 1982). "Shape-Annotation 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=Amazing Grace Song Archived eleven February 2010 at the Wayback Machine, AllMusic. Retrieved 12 January 2019.
63. ^ Turner, pp. 154–155.
64. ^ ^{a b} Amazing Grace: Special Presentation: Amazing Grace Timeline United states of america Library of Congress Performing Arts Encyclopedia. Retrieved one November 2008.
65. ^ Tallmadge, William (May 1961). "Dr. Watts and Mahalia Jackson: The Development, Decline, and Survival of a Folk Style in America", Ethnomusicology, 5 (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. ^ Brown, Kutner, and Warwick p. 179.
76. ^ Flavor of New Zealand – search listener
77. ^ The Irish Charts – All at that place is to know
78. ^ "PIPES AND DRUMS AND THE War machine BAND OF THE ROYAL SCOTS DRAGOON Guard". The Official U.k. Charts Visitor. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
79. ^ Top Singles – Volume 17, No. 17 RPM Magazine. ten 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. xv.
87. ^ Young, Wesley (1 Baronial 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 ascension 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. sixteen.
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 Astonishing Grace, Crossway Books. ISBN 1-58134-848-7
• Basker, James (2002). Amazing Grace: An Anthology 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 Board of Publication, Philadelphia.
• Bradley, Ian (ed.)(1989). The Book of Hymns, The Overlook Press. ISBN 0-87951-346-two
• 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 Astonishing Grace, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. ISBN 1-4143-1181-8
• Chase, Gilbert (1987). America's Music, From the Pilgrims to the Present, McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-252-00454-X
• Collins, Judy (1998). Singing Lessons: A Memoir of Dearest, Loss, Hope, and Healing , Pocket Books. ISBN 0-671-02745-X
• Duvall, Deborah (2000). Tahlequah and the Cherokee Nation, Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 0-7385-0782-ii
• Julian, John (ed.)(1892). A Lexicon of Hymnology, Charles Scribner's 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 Trade, 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 one, Nathan Whiting, London.
• Noll, Mark A.; Blumhofer, Edith Fifty. (eds.) (2006). Sing Them Over Once more to Me: Hymns and Hymnbooks in America, University of Alabama Printing. ISBN 0-8173-1505-v
• Norris, Kathleen (1999). Astonishing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith, Riverhead. ISBN ane-57322-078-7
• Patterson, Beverly Bush (1995). The Sound of the Dove: Singing in Appalachian Primitive Baptist Churches, Academy of Illinois Printing. ISBN 0-252-02123-1
• Porter, Jennifer; McLaren, Darcee (eds.)(1999). Star Trek and Sacred Ground: Explorations of Star Expedition, Religion, and American Culture, Country University of New York Printing, ISBN 0-585-29190-X
• Rourke, Mary; Gwathmey, Emily (1996). Amazing Grace in America: Our Spiritual National Anthem, Angel City Press. ISBN 1-883318-thirty-0
• Stowe, Harriet Beecher (1899). Uncle Tom'due south Cabin, or Life Among the Lowly, R. F. Fenno & Visitor, New York City.
• Swiderski, Richard (1996). The Metamorphosis of English: Versions of Other Languages, Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0-89789-468-5
• Turner, Steve (2002). Astonishing Grace: The Story of America'south Most Beloved Vocal, HarperCollins. ISBN 0-06-000219-0
• Watson, J. R. (ed.)(2002). An Annotated Album of Hymns, Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-nineteen-826973-0
• Whitburn, Joel (2003). Joel Whitburn's Top Popular Singles, 1955–2002, Record Research, Inc. ISBN 0-89820-155-1

External links [edit]

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

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

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