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[[File:Olney Hymns page 53 Amazing Grace.jpg|thumb|''[[Olney Hymns]]'' page 53, showing the first verse "1 Chronicles 17:16-17, Faith's Review and Expectation"]] |
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{{Infobox hymn |
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| Name = Amazing Grace |
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"'''Amazing Grace'''" is a Christian [[hymn]] with lyrics written by an 18th century slave trader turned Anglican minister named [[John Newton]]. With a message that forgiveness and redemption is possible regardless of what sins people commit and the soul can be delivered from despair through the mercy of God, "Amazing Grace" is one of the most recognized songs in the English-speaking world. Newton wrote the words from personal experience. He grew up without any particular religious conviction, but had several near-death experiences and his life's path was formed by a variety of twists and coincidences that were often put into motion by his recalcitrant insubordination. He was [[Impressment|pressed]] into the Royal Navy and traded to a slave ship where he began a career in slave trading. On board his ship one night, the vessel was battered by a terrible storm and he became so frightened that he called out for mercy from God, which sparked a spiritual conversion. His career in slave trading lasted a few years more until he quit going to sea altogether and began to study theology. |
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| MusicBy = trad. arr. William Walker |
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| WordsBy = [[John Newton]] |
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Newton was ordained in the Anglican Church in 1764, and settled in [[Olney, Buckinghamshire|Olney, England]] and began to write hymns with [[William Cowper]]. "Amazing Grace" was used to illustrate a sermon on New Year's Day in 1773. If there was any music accompanying the verses, it is unknown, and it may have been chanted by the congregation without music. It debuted in print in 1779 in Newton and Cowper's ''[[Olney Hymns]]''. In the United States, "Amazing Grace" was adopted as a consistent element in worship services across many denominations and was specifically popular during the [[Great Awakenings]], a national religious movement during the early 19th century. It has been associated with more than 20 melodies, but in 1835 it was joined to a traditional song named "New Britain" that has since been irrevocably united with the lyrics written by Newton to form the song it is known as today. |
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| Meter = 8.6.8.6 |
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| written = 1772 |
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Although the song is respected in the United Kingdom, in the U.S. it has achieved that status of a national treasure. Gilbert Chase, author of ''America's Music: From Pilgrims to the Present'', wrote in 1987 that "Amazing Grace" is "Without a doubt the most famous of all the folk hymns",<ref>Chase, p. 181.</ref> and according to Jonathan Aitken, a Newton biographer, it is performed about 10 million times annually.<ref>Aitken, p. 224.</ref> Not only has it had a particular influence in [[folk music]], but has become an emblematic [[Spiritual (music)|African American spiritual]]. Its universal message has been a significant factor in its crossover into secular music. "Amazing Grace" saw a resurgence in popularity in the U.S. during the 1960s and has been recorded numerous times during and since the 20th century, sometimes appearing on popular music charts. |
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| OrigLanguage = English words |
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== John Newton's conversion == |
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{{Main|John Newton}} |
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{{Quote box |
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| quote = 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. |
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| source = John Newton, 1778<ref name="moyers"/> |
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}} |
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"'''Amazing Grace'''" is a [[Christian]] [[hymn]] by [[English people|Englishman]] [[John Newton]] which first appeared in print in Newton's [[Olney Hymns]] (1779). |
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=== Early life === |
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== John Newton and the lyrics to Amazing Grace == |
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{{wikisource}} |
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John Newton, author of the lyrics to Amazing Grace, was born in 1725 in [[Wapping]], London, [[England]].<ref name=creation>[http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.natlib.ihas.200149085/default.html "The Creation of 'Amazing Grace'"]. ''Performing Arts Encyclopedia''. [[Library of Congress]]. ''This article incorporates text from this source, which (as a US government publication) is in the [[public domain]].''</ref> Despite the powerful message of "Amazing Grace," Newton's religious beliefs initially lacked conviction; his youth was marked by religious confusion and a lack of moral self-control and discipline. |
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The ''Dictionary of American Hymnology'' states that "Amazing Grace" is John Newton's autobiography in verse.<ref name="dah">[http://www.hymnary.org/text/amazing_grace_how_sweet_the_sound Amazing Grace How Sweet the Sound], ''Dictionary of American Hymnology''. Retrieved on October 31, 2009.</ref> In 1725 Newton was born in [[Wapping]], a district with a connection to sailors and seagoing trades in London near the [[Thames]]. He was the only child of a shipping merchant who was brought up Catholic but had Protestant sympathies, and a mother who was a devout Independent unaffiliated with the Anglican Church who had intended him to go into clergy. Newton's mother died of [[tuberculosis]] when he was six years old while his father was at sea.<ref>Martin (1950), p. 8–9.</ref> For the next few years, Newton was raised by his distant stepmother while his father was absent, and spent some time at a boarding school where he was mistreated.<ref>Newton (1824), p. 12.</ref> At the age of eleven, he joined his father on a ship as was the custom for adolescent males to begin an apprenticeship in a career; his would be marked by headstrong disobedience. |
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[[Image:JohnNewtonColour.jpg|thumb|right|160px|[[John Newton]]]] |
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After a brief time in the [[Royal Navy]], Newton began his career in [[History of slavery|slave trading]]. The turning point in Newton's spiritual life was a violent storm that occurred one night while at sea. Moments after he left the deck, the crewman who had taken his place was swept overboard. Although he manned the vessel for the remainder of the tempest, he later commented that, throughout the tumult, he realized his helplessness and concluded that only the grace of God could save him. Prodded by what he had read in [[Thomas à Kempis]]' ''Imitation of Christ,'' Newton took the first step toward accepting faith.<ref name=creation/> |
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As a youth, Newton began a pattern of coming very close to death, examining his relationship with God, then relapsing into bad habits. When he was twelve he was thrown from a horse and nearly impaled on stakes nearby; two years later, a friend drowned on an outing in a small boat when Newton was scheduled to join him.<ref>Newton (1824), p. 14.</ref><ref>Martin (1950), p. 15.</ref> Newton was a reader from an early age and enjoyed it as he grew older. He claimed later that ''Characteristics'', a book by the [[Anthony Ashley Cooper, 4th Earl of Shaftesbury|Earl of Shaftesbury]] who argues that doubting religion is not akin to [[atheism]] and each man must form his own truth as it is relative to his experience, influenced his activities for the next several years. In 1742 Newton's father arranged to have him sail to [[Jamaica]] to be a slave overseer after hearing that Newton would not be a successful sea captain. On the way to meet the ship, Newton stopped at the home of the family who took him in when he was six so he would not witness his mother's death. He fell in love with the daughter; her name was Mary "Polly" Catlett and she was thirteen years old.<ref>Martin, p. 23.</ref> |
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These incidents and his 1750 marriage to Mary Catlett changed Newton significantly. On his slave voyages, he encouraged the sailors under his charge to pray. He also began to ensure that every member of his crew treated their human cargo with gentleness and concern. Nevertheless, it would be another 40 years until Newton openly challenged the trafficking of slaves.<ref name=creation/> |
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=== Press-ganged === |
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Some three years after his marriage, Newton suffered a [[stroke]] that prevented him from returning to sea; in time, he interpreted this as another step in his spiritual voyage. He assumed a post in the [[HM Customs and Excise|Customs Office]] in the [[port of Liverpool]] and began to explore Christianity more fully. As Newton attempted to experience all the various expressions of Christianity, it became clear that he was being called to the ministry. Since Newton lacked a [[Academic degree|university degree]], he could not be ordained through normal channels. However, the landlord of the parish at [[Olney, Buckinghamshire|Olney]] was so impressed with the letters Newton had written about his conversion that he offered the church to Newton; he was ordained in June 1764.<ref name=creation/> |
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After deliberately staying too long with the Catletts, Newton missed the ship he was to take to Jamaica. On it, he would have had protection from being forced to join the Royal Navy, or being [[press-gang]]ed, as Britain was on the verge of [[War of the Austrian Succession|war with France]], and sailors had license to take any able-bodied man into the service against his will. In London, several sailors found him and forced him into the Navy, where he started without rank.<ref>Martin (1950), p. 29–30.</ref> Aboard the HMS ''Harwich'', Newton resented the military discipline, but rose to [[midshipman]]. At some point in 1744, after discussing Shaftesbury's philosophy with another shipmate, Newton denounced all his faith, later writing "Like an unwary sailor who quits his port just before a rising storm, I renounced the hopes and comforts of the gospel at the very time when every other comfort was about to fail me."<ref>Newton (1824), p. 21–22.</ref> |
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Newton consistently overstayed his shore leave to visit Polly. He escaped severe punishment until he deserted completely after learning his ship was to sail for India and he would be gone for four or five years, only to be recaptured within days. 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 next few months, remarking that the only reason he did not murder the captain or commit suicide was because he did not want Polly to think badly of him.<ref>Martin (1950, p. 41–47.</ref> By remarkable coincidence Newton was offered and jumped at a chance to be traded from the Royal Navy to a ship with the [[Royal African Company]] bound for [[Guinea]]. His captain was only too obliging to be rid of him. Aboard his new ship, Newton later noted, connections to his father's name and reputation did not exist: "I now might be as abandoned as I pleased, without any control".<ref>Newton (1824), p. 27.</ref> |
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In Olney, in his position as the new curate, Newton met the poet [[William Cowper]], also a newly-converted Christian. Their friendship led to a spiritual collaboration that led to the composition of many hymns by both poets. Newton wrote "Amazing Grace" most likely around Christmas 1772.<ref name=creation/> He apparently wrote the hymn, entitled "Faith's review and expectation," for use in a sermon preached on New Year's Day 1773, for which he left notes that correspond to the flow of the lyrics.<ref>The John Newton Project has posted online the sermon notes that Newton wrote to go along with the hymn: "Amazing Grace: The Sermon Notes". Transcribed from Princeton University Library, John Newton Diary, CO199 © Marylynn Rouse (2000) website url: http://www.johnnewton.org/Group/Group.aspx?id=32665 (Accessed April 10, 2007)</ref> The words are based on {{bibleverse|1|Chronicles|17:16-17|NRSV}}, a prayer of [[King David]] in which he marvels at God's choosing him and his house. The hymn is admired by evangelical [[Christianity|Christians]] for its brief and vivid summary of the doctrine of [[divine grace]]. |
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=== Slave trader === |
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==Music== |
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[[File:Newton j.jpg|thumb|left|[[John Newton]] in his later years]] |
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As with other hymns of this period, the words were sung to a number of tunes sharing the same [[Common metre|Common Meter]], and were not invariably linked to a single melody. The melody usually associated with the hymn today first appears in ''Columbian Harmony'' (1829), a sacred tunebook by Benjamin Shaw and Charles H. Spilman, but not as a setting of Newton's hymn. A variant of this melody was first printed with Newton's text as "New Britain" in William Walker's [[shape-note]] tunebook ''[[Southern Harmony]]'' (1835).<ref name=AFP>Mark Rhoads maintains a brief review of the early melodies at his website, Amazing Grace: Some Early Tunes, which can be found at the url: http://www.markrhoads.com/amazingsite/index.htm (accessed April 10, 2007)</ref> The tune is anonymous in both collections, suggesting that both compilers may have arranged a tune circulating in oral tradition. |
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Newton kept a series of detailed journals as a slave trader and was perhaps the first primary source of the [[Atlantic slave trade]] from the perspective of a merchant.<ref name="moyers">[[Bill Moyers|Moyers, Bill]] (director). ''Amazing Grace with Bill Moyers'', Public Affairs Television, Inc. (1990).</ref> He described how the slaves brought aboard from the west coast of Africa, exhausted from their ordeals after being kidnapped and held in conditions very similar to prisons, were bound in iron chains and packed as tightly as possible.<ref>Newton (1811), p. 14–15.</ref><ref>Martin and Spurrell (1962), p. 103–104.</ref> Women, naked or nearly so, upon their arrival on ship were claimed by the sailors, and Newton alluded to sexual misbehavior in his writings that have since been interpreted by historians to mean that he, along with other sailors, took whomever he chose.<ref name="martin82-85"/><ref>Aitken, p. 64.</ref> His obedience to authority still absent, he often openly mocked the captain by creating obscene poems and songs about him that took on so the crew began to join in.<ref>Martin (1950), p. 51–52.</ref> Newton entered into disagreements with several colleagues which resulted in his being nearly starved to death, imprisoned while at sea and chained like the slaves they carried, then outright enslaved and forced to work on a plantation in [[Sierra Leone]] near the [[Sherbro River]]. After several months he came to think of Sierra Leone as his home, but his father intervened, a ship found him by another remarkable coincidence, and Newton claimed the only reason he left was because of Polly.<ref>Martin (1950), p. 63.</ref> |
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[[Image:New Britain.png|thumb|235px|[[Shaped notes|Shape Note]] version from 1835.]] |
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This tune was not established as the 'standard' for this hymn until an arrangement of it appeared in a series of popular hymnbooks in the early twentieth century. (See also the versions in the [[Sacred harp#Origins of the music|Sacred Harp]] article.) |
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While aboard the ship ''Greyhound'', Newton gained notoriety for being one of the most profane men the captain had ever met. In a culture where sailors commonly used oaths and swore, Newton was admonished several times for not only using the worst words the captain had ever heard, but creating new ones to exceed the limits of verbal debauchery.<ref>Martin (1950), p. 67–68.</ref> In March 1748, while the ''Greyhound'' was in the North Atlantic carrying livestock, wood, and beeswax from the coast of Africa, a violent storm came upon the ship that was so rough it swept overboard a crew member who had been standing where Newton was moments before. After hours of the crew emptying water from the ship and expecting to be capsized, he offered a desperate suggestion to the captain, who ordered it so. Newton turned and said, "If this will not do, then Lord have mercy upon us!"<ref>Newton (1824), p. 41.</ref><ref>Martin (1950, p. 70–71.</ref> He returned to the pump where he and another mate tied themselves to it to keep from being washed over. After an hour's rest, an exhausted Newton returned to the deck to steer for the next eleven hours where he pondered what he had said.<ref>Martin (1950), p. 73.</ref> |
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Another tune to which it has sometimes been sung is the so-called "Old [[Regular Baptist]]" tune. It was sung by the Congregation of the Little [[Zion]] Church, Jeff, [[Kentucky]], on the [[album]] ''The [[Jean Ritchie|Ritchie Family]] of Kentucky'' on the [[Folkways Records|Folkways]] label (1958). |
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About two weeks later, the battered ship and starving crew landed in [[Lough Swilly|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 (book)|The Imitation of Christ]]'' by [[Thomas à Kempis]]. The memory of the uttered phrase in a moment of desperation did not leave him; he began to ask if he was worthy of God's mercy or in any way redeemable as he had not only neglected his faith but directly opposed it, mocking others who showed theirs, deriding and denouncing God as a myth. He came to beieve that God had sent him a profound message and had begun to work through him.<ref>Aitken, p. 81–84.</ref> |
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The [[Blind Boys of Alabama]] have also helped to popularise a long-standing association to the tune [[House of the Rising Sun]].<ref>{{cite web |
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| last=Rhoads |
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| first=Mark |
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| url=http://www.markrhoads.com/amazingsite/index.htm |
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| title=Amazing Grace: Some Early Tunes |
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| accessdate=2008-02-23 |
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}}</ref> |
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=== |
=== Career end === |
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Newton's conversion was not immediate, but he contacted Polly's family and announced his intentions to marry her. Her parents were hesitant as he was known to be inconsistent, unreliable, and impetuous. They knew he was profane, but they allowed him to write to Polly, and he set to begin to submit to authority for her sake.<ref name="martin82-85">Martin (1950), p. 82–85.</ref> 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 about before; the only action he was able to free himself from was profanity. After a severe illness his resolve was renewed yet he retained the same attitude about slavery as his contemporaries<ref group=note>When Newton began his journal in 1750, not only was slave trading seen as a respectable profession by the majority of Britons, its necessity to the overall prosperity of the kingdom was communally understood and approved. Only [[Quaker]]s, who were much in the minority and perceived as eccentric, had raised any protest about the practice. (Martin and Spurrell [1962], p. xi–xii.)</ref> and continued in the trade through several voyages where he sailed up rivers in Africa—now as a captain—procured slaves being offered and sold them in larger ports to be sent to North or South America. In between voyages, he married Polly in 1750 and he found it more difficult to leave her at the beginning of each trip. After three shipping experiences in the slave trade, Newton was promised to captain a ship with cargo unrelated to slavery, when at thirty years old, he collapsed and never sailed again.<ref>Aitken, p. 125.</ref><ref group=note>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 doctor advised him not to go to sea again, and Newton complied. Jonathan Aitken called it a stroke or seizure, but it is unknown what caused it. (Martin [1950], p. 140–141.)(Aitken, p. 125.)</ref> |
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The association with [[Highland bagpipes]] is relatively modern; the tune was largely unknown in the British Isles until it was introduced by folk revival musicians in the 1960s. Recorded by the [[pipe band|pipes and drums]] of the [[Royal Scots Dragoon Guards]] in 1972, the piece reached [[List of number-one singles from the 1970s (UK)|number one]] in the U.K. and other countries. Since then the tune has become a standard, and is often associated with public funerals, especially those of military personnel, police and firefighters. {{Citation needed|date=September 2009}} |
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== Olney curate == |
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==Performances and recordings== |
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[[File:Olney vicarage.jpg|thumb|250 px|The vicarage in Olney where Newton wrote the hymn that would become "Amazing Grace".]] |
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Owing to its ability to be adapted easily, the song is a popular recording choice. In essence, it has a very basic tune. Singers can then very easily add [[melismatic]] phrases, and alter the melody to make it match their own style/genre of singing. It has been recorded by many artists over the last century; [[Allmusic]] lists over 1800 recordings.<ref>Allmusic search (allmusic.com), accessed 21 August 2007 (this site is not linkable.</ref> |
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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 so impressive that his friends suggested he become a minister. With no university experience, he was turned down by the Archbishop in 1758.<ref>Martin (1950), p. 166–188.</ref> Newton continued his devotions, and after being encouraged by a friend, he wrote about his experiences in the slave trade and his conversion. The [[George Legge, 3rd Earl of Dartmouth|Earl of Dartmouth]], impressed with his story and wanting a [[curate]] for in the church in [[Olney, Buckinghamshire]], ordained Newton in 1764.<ref>Martin (1950), p. 198–200.</ref> |
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"Amazing Grace" was not recorded until 1922, reflecting the penchant of record companies to record marches, standard popular tunes, classical music, and comedic songs and sketches in the years before World War I. By the 1920s, however, many in the recording industry became convinced that traditional music could be profitably marketed to immigrant groups, African-American communities, and white rural southerners. The commercially recorded versions of "Amazing Grace" fit neatly into what the companies at the time termed either their "race" catalogs, or their "hillbilly" and "old-time" catalogs.<ref name=recordings>[http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/loc.natlib.ihas.200149088/default.html "Sound Recordings of 'Amazing Grace' in the LC Collections"]. ''Encyclopedia of the Arts''. [[Library of Congress]]. ''This article incorporates text from this source, which (as a US government publication) is in the [[public domain]].''</ref> |
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{{Quote box |
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{{Listen|filename=Amazing grace 1922.ogg|title=As performed by the Original Sacred Harp Choir, 1922|format=[[Ogg]]}} |
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| quote = <poem>Amazing grace! How sweet the sound, |
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That saved a wretch like me! |
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I once was lost but now am found |
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Was blind, but now I see. |
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'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, |
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The first company to record "Amazing Grace" was Brunswick Records which in 1922 released a small series of recordings of Sacred Harp songs. Brunswick created a special label for this series that incorporated shape-note notation in its design. Other recordings in the Sacred Harp tradition include J. T. Allison's Sacred Harp Singers, Denson-Parris Sacred Harp Singers, and Dye's Sacred Harp Singers.<ref name=recordings/> |
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And grace my fears relieved; |
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How precious did that grace appear |
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The hour I first believed! |
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Through many dangers, toils, and snares, |
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Several early recordings of "Amazing Grace" feature African-American "singing preachers," the most popular of whom was Reverend J. M. Gates. Gates viewed the song as "one of the good old familiar hymns" that would help his listeners return to the traditional religious values of the past. Gates' first recording for Columbia proved quite popular—dealers ordered 3,400 advanced copies and requested more than ten times that number for his second release.<ref name=recordings/> |
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We have already come; |
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'Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far, |
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And grace will lead me home. |
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The Lord has promised good to me, |
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Owing largely to the popularity of Gates' recordings, dozens of other black preachers made recordings of religious songs and sermons. Other black preachers who recorded "Amazing Grace" included J. C. Burnett (with a more fiery delivery than Gates'), Reverend M. L. Thrasher, and Reverend H. R. Tomlin. These performances usually were preceded by a short statement on the religious significance of the song. As well, the performances often included the practice of [[lining out]] the song, a traditional method of delivery in both the African- and Anglo-American religious traditions in which the preacher spoke a line of the song and the congregation sang it back.<ref name=recordings/> |
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His word my hope secures; |
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He will my shield and portion be |
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As long as life endures. |
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Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail, |
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At the same time that commercial companies were recording "Amazing Grace" with an eye toward profit, folklorists were documenting the song for scholarly purposes. From its inception in 1928 the Library of Congress' Archive of American Folk-Song sent collectors into the field first with wax cylinder recorders, then instantaneous disc recorders. Though somewhat limited in fidelity compared to the equipment used by the commercial companies, these recorders had the advantage of being portable. As such, field recordings could capture a performance in its intended physical and cultural context and often were accompanied by interviews documented on the recording or through field notes. Collectors such as the Lomax Family (John A., Alan, and Ruby T.), Herbert Halpert, Sydney Robertson, and John Henry Faulk made recordings that demonstrate the wide diffusion of "Amazing Grace" through many different communities.<ref name= recordings/> |
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And mortal life shall cease, |
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I shall possess, within the veil, |
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A life of joy and peace. |
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The earth shall soon dissolve like snow, |
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* [[Judy Collins]] — 1970–72. [[UK Singles Chart]]: 67 weeks, a record for a female artist; peaked at number five.<ref>{{cite web|title=Chart stats - Judy Collins - Amazing Grace|url=http://www.chartstats.com/songinfo.php?id=5517|accessdate=2008-03-01}}</ref> |
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The sun forbear to shine; |
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* [[The Byrds]] - a live rendition appears on the remastered and expanded edition of their 1970 album, ''[[Untitled (The Byrds album)|(Untitled)]]''. |
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But God, who called me here below, |
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* Pipes and Drums and Military Band of the [[Royal Scots Dragoon Guards]] - 1972 instrumental version. UK Singles Chart: five weeks at number one; also top spot in Australia.<ref>{{cite web|title=Chart stats - Pipes And Drums And The Military Band Of The Royal Scots Dragoon Guard - Amazing Grace|url=http://www.chartstats.com/songinfo.php?id=5822|accessdate=2008-03-07}}</ref> |
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Will be forever mine. |
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*[[Elvis Presley]] - 1972 gospel album, ''[[He Touched Me]]''. |
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</poem> |
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*[[Aretha Franklin]] - 1972 gospel album ''[[Amazing Grace (Aretha Franklin album)|Amazing Grace]]'' |
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*[[Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan]] (1982 film) - [[Mr. Scott]] plays 'Amazing Grace' on the bagpipes during the funeral of [[Mr. Spock]]. |
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*[[Joan Baez]] - 1985, to open the U.S. portion of [[Live Aid]] |
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*[[Kylie Minogue]] performed the song on her VHS release "Kylie: Live in Dublin" (1991). |
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*[[Jerry Garcia]], [[Tony Rice]], and [[David Grisman]] in [[The Pizza Tapes]] (1993) |
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*[[Bob Snyder (musician)|Bob Snyder]] - 1995 album ''Sunday at the Grand - Amazing Grace'' |
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*[[Kristin Hersh]] - 1995 EP ''[[The Holy Single]]'' |
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*[[Crystal Gayle]] for the album "[[Someday (Crystal Gayle album)|Someday]]" (1995). |
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*[[Ani DiFranco]] - 1996 album ''[[Dilate (Ani DiFranco album)|Dilate]]'' |
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*[[Charlotte Church]] - 1998 album ''[[Voice of an Angel]]'' |
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*[[Destiny's Child]] for the album "[[The Writing's on the Wall|The Writing's on the Wall]]" (1999) |
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*[[Dropkick Murphys]] - 1999 album "The Gang's All Here". |
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*[[Béla Fleck & The Flecktones]] - 2002 album (DVD) [[Live at the Quick]] |
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*[[Ioan Gruffudd]] performs the song in the motion picture of the same name (2002) |
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*[[Mika Nakashima]] - 2nd single ''[[Crescent Moon (song)|CRESCENT MOON]]'' (2002) |
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*[[Hayley Westenra]] - 2003 album ''[[Pure]]'' (in one of her Japanese albums, she sings this song with Japanese vocalist [[Minako Honda]]) |
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*[[Todd Agnew]] - 2004 album included his version of Amazing Grace called [[Grace Like Rain]]. |
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*[[Minako Honda]] - 2005 album ''Amazing Grace'' - Japan |
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*[[Chris Caffery]] - 2005 album ''W.A.R.P.E.D'' |
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*[[Tori Amos]] - Various live concerts since 1991 |
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*[[Sarah Brightman]] - 2008 album ''[[A Winter Symphony]]'' |
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*[[Il Divo]] - 2008 album ''[[The Promise (Il Divo album)|The Promise]]'' |
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*[[KOKIA]] - 2008 Christmas album ''[[Christmas gift]]'' |
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*[[Faryl Smith]] - 2009 album ''[[Faryl]]'' |
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*[[Mami Kawada]] - from the Anime ''[[Steam Detectives]] |
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*[[Chris Tomlin]] - "Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone)" from his 2006 album [[See the Morning]] and the 2006 album [[Music Inspired By the Motion Picture Amazing Grace]] |
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*[[Yuki Kaida]] - from the Anime ''[[The Prince of Tennis]] |
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*[[Ronnie Milsap]]- from his 2009 gospel album, [[Then Sings My Soul (Ronnie Milsap album)|Then Sings My Soul]] |
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*[[Billy Ray Cyrus]]- from his 2009 album, [[Back_to_Tennessee |Back To Tennessee]] |
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| source = [[John Newton]], ''[[Olney Hymns]]'', 1779 |
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== References == |
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}} |
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{{reflist|2}} |
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=== ''Olney Hymns'' === |
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{{Main|Olney Hymns}} |
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Olney was a hamlet of about 2,500 residents whose main industry was making lace by hand. They were mostly illiterate and many of them were poor.<ref name="aitken224">Aitken, p. 224.</ref> 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 he was much loved although his writing and delivery were sometimes unpolished.<ref>Martin (1950), p. 208–217.</ref> His devotion and conviction were apparent and forceful however, and his mission he often said was to “break a hard heart and to heal a broken heart”.<ref name="pollock"/> 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's company; he was also new to Olney and had gone through a spiritual conversion similar to Newton's. Together, their effect on the local congregation was impressive. In 1768, they found it necessary to start a weekly prayer meeting in order to meet the needs of an increasing number of parishioners. They also began writing lessons for children, long before the concept of [[Sunday School]].<ref>Turner, p. 76.</ref> |
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== Further reading == |
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* Turner, Steve. ''Amazing Grace: The Story of America's Most Beloved Song''. HarperCollins (2002). ISBN 0060002190. |
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Partly from Cowper's literary influence, and partly because learned vicars were expected to write verses, Newton began to try his hand at hymns, which had became popular through the language, made plain for common people to understand. Several prolific hymn writers were at their most productive at this time, including [[Isaac Watts]], and [[Charles Wesley]], with whom Newton was familiar. <ref group=note>Watts had previously written a hymn named "Alas! And Did My Saviour Bleed" that contained the lines "Amazing pity! Grace unknown!/ And love beyond degree!". Philip Doddridge, another well-known hymn writer wrote another in 1755 titled "The Humiliation and Exaltation of God's Israel" that began "Amazing grace of God on high!" and included other similar wording to Newton's verses. (Turner, p. 82–83.)</ref> Wesley's brother John, the eventual founder of the Methodist Church, had encouraged Newton to go into the clergy. Newton and Cowper attempted to present a poem or hymn for each prayer meeting. The lyrics to "Amazing Grace" were written and probably used in a prayer meeting for the first time in January 1773.<ref>Turner, p. 77–79.</ref> A collection of the poems Newton and Cowper had written for use in services at Olney were bound and published anonymously in 1779 under the title ''[[Olney Hymns]]''. Newton contributed 280 of the 348 texts in ''Olney Hymns''; "1 Chronicles 17:16-17, Faith's Review and Expectation" was the title of the poem with the first line "Amazing grace! How sweet the sound".<ref name="dah"/> |
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==External links== |
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=== Critical analysis === |
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As a reflection of Newton's connection to his parishioners, he wrote many of the hymns in [[first-person narrative|first 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 use of first person.<ref name="hindmarsh6">Noll and Blumhofer, p. 6.</ref> Jonathan Aitken calls Newton an "unashamedly middlebrow lyricist writing for a lowbrow congregation", noting that only twenty-one of the words used in all six verses have more than one syllable.<ref>Aitken, p. 226.</ref> |
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William Phipps in the ''Anglican Theological Review'' and author James Basker have interpreted the first line of "Amazing Grace" as evidence of Newton's realization that his participation in the slave trade was his wretchedness, perhaps representing a wider common understanding of Newton's motivations.<ref name="phipps">Phipps, William (Summer 1990). " 'Amazing Grace' in the hymnwriter's life", ''Anglican Theological Review'', '''72''' (3).</ref><ref name="basker281"/> Newton joined forces with a young man named [[William Wilberforce]] after he had left Olney in the 1780s to become an ardent and outspoken [[abolitionist]], but he never connected the construction of the hymn that became "Amazing Grace" to anti-slavery sentiments.<ref>Aitken, p. 231.</ref> For Newton, the beginning of the year was a time to reflect on one's spiritual progress. At the same time that he completed a diary—which has since been lost—that he had begun 17 years before, two years after he quit sailing. The last entry of 1772 was a recounting of how much he had changed since then.<ref name="aitken227">Aitken, p. 227.</ref> |
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| quote = And David the king sat before the Lord, and said, "Who am I, O Lord God, and what is mine house, that thou hast brought me hitherto? And yet this was a small thing in thine eyes, O God; for thou hast also spoken of thy servant's house for a great while to come, and hast regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree, O Lord God. |
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| source = 1 Chronicles 17:16–17, King James Version |
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The lyrics in ''Olney Hymns'' were arranged by their association to the Biblical verses that would be used by Newton and Cowper in their prayer meetings and did not address any political objective. The title ascribed to the hymn, "[[1 Chronicles]] 17:16-17", refers to [[David]]'s reaction to the prophet [[Nathan (prophet)|Nathan]] telling him that God intends to maintain his family line forever. Some Christians interpret this as a prediction that Jesus Christ, as a descendant of David, was promised by God as the salvation for all people.<ref name="hindmarsh8">Noll and Blumhofer, p. 8.</ref> Newton's sermon on that January day in 1773 focused on the necessity to express one's gratefulness for God's guidance, that God is involved in the daily lives of Christians though they may not be aware of it, and that patience for deliverance from the daily trials of life is warranted when the glories of eternity await.<ref>Turner, p. 81.</ref> Newton saw himself a sinner like David who had been chosen and was humbled by it. According to Newton, unconverted sinners were "blinded by the god of this world" until "mercy came to us not only undeserved but undesired ... our hearts endeavored to shut him out till he overcame us by the power of his grace."<ref name="aitken227"/> |
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The [[New Testament]] served as the basis for many of the lyrics of "Amazing Grace". The first verse, for example, can be 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 the Pharisees that he can now see is told in the [[Gospel of John]]. Newton used the words "I was blind but now I see" and declared "Oh to grace how great a debtor!" in his letters and diary entries as early as 1752.<ref name="aitken228">Aitken, p. 228.</ref> The first words of the verse, according to Bruce Hindmarsh, allow an instant release of energy in the exclamation "Amazing grace!", to be followed by a qualifying reply in "how sweet the sound". Grace is recalled three times in the following verse, culminating in Newton's most personal story of his conversion, underscoring the use of his personal testimony with his parishioners.<ref name="hindmarsh6"/> |
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The sermon preached by Newton was the last of his William Cowper heard in Olney for Cowper's mental instability returned shortly thereafter. Steve Turner, author of ''Amazing Grace: The Story of America's Most Beloved Song'', suggests Newton may have had his friend in mind, employing the themes of assurance and deliverance from despair for Cowper's benefit.<ref>Turner, p. 86.</ref> |
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== Dissemination == |
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[[File:New Britain Southern Harmony Amazing Grace.jpg|thumb|250 px|An 1847 publication of ''[[Southern Harmony]]'', showing the title "New Britain" and [[shape note]] music]] |
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Though it had its roots in England, "Amazing Grace" became an integral part of the Christian tapestry in the United States. A significant number of Newton and Cowper's hymns were republished in other British hymnals and magazines, but "Amazing Grace" was not, appearing only once in a 1780 hymnal sponsored by the Countess of Huntingdon. Of the 61 hymns penned by Newton commonly used in the U.K., the one known as "Amazing Grace" was not among them. Scholar [[John D. Julian]] commented in his 1892 ''[[A Dictionary of Hymnology]]'' that outside of the United States, the song was unknown and it was "far from being a good example of Newton's finest work".<ref>Turner, p. 114.</ref><ref group=note>Only since the 1950s has it gained some popularity in the U.K.; not until 1964 was it published with the music most commonly associated with it. (Noll and Blumhofer, p. 8)</ref> Between 1789 and 1799, four variations of Newton's hymn were published in the U.S. in [[Baptist]], [[Dutch Reformed]], and [[Congregationalist]] hymnodies;<ref name="hindmarsh8"/> by 1830 [[Presbyterian]]s and [[Methodist]]s also included Newton's verses in their hymnals.<ref name="hindmarsh10">Noll and Blumhofer, p. 10.</ref><ref>Aitken, p. 232–233.</ref> At the time, hymnbooks did not contain music and were simply small books of religious poetry. |
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At the turn of the 19th century, a tremendous religious movement was overtaking the U.S. [[The Great Awakening]] was marked by growth and popularity of churches and religious revivals that got their start in Kentucky and Tennessee. Unprecedented gatherings of thousands of people attended camp meetings where people would come to experience salvation; preaching was fiery and focused on saving the sinner from temptation and backsliding.<ref name="turner115-116">Turner, p. 115–116.</ref> Religion was stripped of ornament and ceremony, made as plain and simple as possible and often used repetition to get across to a rural population of poor and mostly uneducated people the necessity of turning away from sin. Witnessing and testifying became an integral component to these meetings, where a congregation member or even a stranger would rise and recount his turn from a sinful life to one of piety and peace.<ref name="hindmarsh10"/> "Amazing Grace" was one of many hymns that punctuated fervent sermons, although the contemporary style used a refrain that borrowed from other hymns such as: |
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<center><poem>Amazing grace! How sweet the sound |
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That saved a wretch like me. |
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I once was lost, but now am found, |
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Was blind but now I see. |
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Shout, shout for glory, |
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Shout, shout aloud for glory; |
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Brother, sister, mourner, |
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All shout glory hallelujah.<ref name="turner115-116"/> |
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</poem></center> |
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=== Shape note singing === |
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Simultaneously, an unrelated movement 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 symbolize 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 simple to learn and teach, so schools were established throughout the South and West. Communities would come together for an entire day of singing, to a large building where they sat in four distinct areas surrounding an open space with one member directing the group as a whole. Most of the music was religious, 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 capella]].<ref>Turner, p. 117.</ref> |
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=== "New Britain" === |
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[[File:Walker w.jpg|thumb|left|upright|William Walker, the composer who first joined John Newton's verses to "New Britain", the song that has become "Amazing Grace"]] |
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When originally used in Olney, it is unknown what music if any accompanied the verses written by John Newton. The first instance of Newton's lines joined to music was in an 1808 British hymnal. The song was "Harmony Grove" and itself was first associated with a hymn written by [[Isaac Watts]] named "There Is A Land of Pure Delight" in 1790.<ref>Turner, p. 118.</ref> More than twenty versions of "Amazing Grace" circulated with varying popularity until 1835 when [[William Walker (composer)|William Walker]] assigned Newton's words to a traditional song named "New Britain", which was itself an amalgamation of two songs probably first published without words in the ''Columbia Harmony'' in 1829. They were titled "Gallaher" and "St. Mary" and recorded on paper by Charles Spilman and Benjamin Shaw. Spilman was probably from Kentucky, and endeavored to provide music for spiritual purposes most suitable for pubic worship and revivals. Most of the tunes had been previously published, but "Gallaher" and "St. Mary" had not.<ref>Turner, p. 120–122.</ref> Their origins are unknown, but scholars have speculated that they may have been a Scottish folk ballad; many of the new residents of Kentucky and Tennessee were Scots. |
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"Amazing Grace", with the words written by Newton and joined with the melody most currently associated with it, appeared for the first time in Walker's hymnal ''[[Southern Harmony]]''.<ref>Noll and Blumhofer, p. 11.</ref> The format of the verses were adaptable to a number of folk melodies, but Walker assigned the title "New Britain", and it was, according to author Steve Turner, a "marriage made in heaven", that include a rise in music where the words refer to confession, and low tones where the lyrics speak of blindness.<ref>Turner, p. 124.</ref> Serendipitously, Walker's entire collection of hymns and music was enormously popular, selling about 600,000 copies all over the U.S. Another shape note songbook was released in 1844 called ''[[The Sacred Harp]]'' that referred to the voice instead of any instrument. It presented "Amazing Grace" with a four-part harmony instead of the three-part harmony that had previously been published. The ''Sacred Harp'' songbook became so popular that it was synonymous with shape note singing.<ref name="turner126">Turner, p. 126.</ref> |
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"Amazing Grace" came to be an emblem of a religious movement and a symbol of the U.S. itself as the the country was involved in a great political experiment, attempting to employ democracy as a means of government. Simultaneously, the U.S. began to expand westward 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.<ref name="turner126"/> This became poignantly true during the most serious test of American cohesion in the [[U.S. Civil War]] (1861–1865). "Amazing Grace" set to "New Britain" was included in two hymnals distributed to soldiers and with death so real and imminent, religious services in the military became commonplace.<ref>Turner, p. 127–128.</ref> |
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=== African American spiritual music === |
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Just as Newton's third verse rang true with white American settlers in the 19th century, they resounded deeply with African Americans who were enslaved. Three verses were emblematically sung by the main character of [[Harriet Beecher Stowe]]'s immensely influential anti-slavery 1852 novel ''[[Uncle Tom's Cabin]]'' in Tom's hour of deepest crisis.<ref>Stowe, p. 417.</ref> Tom sings the sixth and fifth verses in that order, and Stowe included another verse not written by Newton that had been passed down orally in African American communities for at least 50 years. It was originally one of 70 verses of a song titled "Jerusalem, My Happy Home": |
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<center><poem> |
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When we've been here ten thousand years, |
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Bright shining as the sun, |
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We've no less days to sing God's praise, |
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Than when we first begun.<ref>Aitken, p. 235.</ref> |
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</poem></center> |
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"Amazing Grace" has had a specific influence in [[Spiritual (music)|African American spiritual music]]. 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.<ref name="basker281">Basker, p. 281.</ref> 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.<ref>Turner, p. 148.</ref> |
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{{Listen |
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|title = "Amazing Grace" a capella, lined out by three singers |
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|description = This recording was done for the ''Archive of American Folk-Song'' in Livingston, Alabama in 1939, and is in the U.S. Library of Congress |
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}} |
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It was notably a staple of services where music was "[[Lining out|lined out]]"; rural churches in the U.S. had no hymn books and often few parishioners—either black or white—could read. "Lining out" is also referred to as "surging" for the sound it makes, or "Dr. Watts" because the songs came predominantly from hymnals written by Isaac Watts. "Amazing Grace", coming from Newton, is a notable exception and the most popular of all hymns, often used to illustrate the many styles of lining because it has been used so often in so many places.<ref name="bailey">Bailey, Ben (Spring 1978). "The Lined-Hymn Tradition in Black Mississippi Churches", ''The Black Perspective in Music'', '''6'''' (1), p. 3–17.</ref> |
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In services where music was lined, a [[deacon]] or other leader would rise and call the first line of the song and it would be repeated and sung by the congregation slowly; as the congregation ended, the last verse would invariably be hummed as the deacon led the prayer. Members of the congregation would call out, either in agreement with the deacon or pastor, or would appeal loudly and directly to God during the singing, as he or she was singing, or during prayer. This calling out during the singing or the deacon-led prayer existed during slavery and lasted in rural areas until the mid 20th century. This was a precursor to [[call and response]], a style of gospel music where one singer called out and another or a choir responded. The slow rumbling of voices trailing at the end of hymns had an influence on other genres such as the [[blues]], and call and response became a staple of [[soul music]].<ref name="tallmadge">Tallmadge, William (May 1961). "Dr. Watts and Mahalia Jackson: The Development, Decline, and Survival of a Folk Style in America", ''Ethnomusicology'', '''5''' (2), p. 95–99.</ref> Hymns were sung in ''short meter''<!-- this does not refer to short meter poetry-->, a simple version where the notes and syllables were sung together without ornamentation, and ''long meter'', where several notes represented a syllable and the vocals were more dramatic and lilting, so much so that when several voices sang long meter together, the general sense of melody and rhythm disappeared.<ref name="tallmadge"/><ref>Turner, p. 150–151.</ref> |
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=== Urban revival === |
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Although "Amazing Grace" set to "New Britain" was popular, other versions existed regionally. [[Primitive Baptist]]s in the Appalachian region often 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.<ref>Patterson, p. 137.</ref><ref>Sutton, Brett (January 1982). "Shape-Note Tune Books and Primitive Hymns", ''Ethnomusicology'', '''26''' (1), p. 11–26.</ref> A tune named "Arlington" was vying for the popularity of "New Britain" with Newton's lyrics until two musical arrangers named [[Dwight Moody]] and [[Ira Sankey]] heralded another religious revival in the cities of the U.S. and Europe. |
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Moody's preaching and Sankey's musical gifts were significant; their arrangements were the forerunners of [[gospel music]], and churches all over the U.S. were eager to have their musical arrangements in the 1870s.<ref>Turner, p. 133–135.</ref> Moody and Sankey began publishing their arrangements in 1875, and "Amazing Grace" appeared three times with three different melodies, but they were the first to give it its title; hymns were typically published using the first line of the song. A publisher named 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 it more contemporary and giving "New Britain" some distance from its rural folk-music origins. Excell's version was more palatable for a growing urban middle class and arranged for larger church choirs. Several editions featuring Newton's first three stanzas and the verse previously included by Harriet Beecher Stowe in ''Uncle Tom's Cabin'' were published by Excell between 1900 and 1910, and his version of "Amazing Grace" became the standard form of the song in American churches.<ref>Noll and Blumhofer, p. 13.</ref><ref>Turner, p. 137–138, 140–145.</ref> |
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== Recorded versions == |
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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 different 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 more than 5,500 versions of the song as of November 2009.<ref>[http://allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=17:57419 Amazing Grace], Allmusic. Retrieved on November 1, 2009.</ref> Its first recording was an [[a capella]] version in 1922 by the Sacred Harp Choir. It was included from 1926 to 1930 in [[Okeh Records]]' catalog, which typically concentrated strongly on blues and jazz. Demand was high for black gospel recordings of the song by H.R. Tomlin and [[J.M. Gates]]. It was recorded with musical accompaniment for the first time in 1930 by [[Fiddlin' John Carson]], although to the "In the Pines" melody, not to "New Britain".<ref name="loclist"/> 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.<ref>Turner, p. 154–155.</ref> Gospel superstar [[Mahalia Jackson]]'s 1947 version received significant airplay, and as her popularity grew throughout the 1950s and 1960s, she often sang it at public events such as concerts at [[Carnegie Hall]].<ref>"Mahalia Jackson." ''Dictionary of American Biography'', Supplement 9: 1971-1975. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1994.</ref> |
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| quote = Those songs come out of conviction and suffering. The worst voices can get through singing them 'cause they're telling their experiences. |
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| source = [[Mahalia Jackson]]<ref>Turner, p. 157.</ref> |
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In the 1960s with the [[African American 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 give magical protection—a charm to ward off danger, an incantation to the angels of heaven to descend.... I was not sure the magic worked outside the church walls .... in the open air of Mississippi. But I wasn't taking any chances."<ref>Aitken, p. 236.</ref> Folk singer [[Judy Collins]], who knew the song before she could remember learning it, witnessed [[Fannie Lou Hamer]] leading marchers in Mississippi in 1964, singing "Amazing 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.<ref name="moyers"/> It was one of [[Joan Baez]]' most requested songs from her audiences, but she never realized it had once been a hymn; by the time she was singing it in the 1960s she said it had "developed a life of its own".<ref>Turner, p. 162.</ref> It even made an appearance at the [[Woodstock Music Festival]] in 1969 during [[Arlo Guthrie]]'s performance.<ref>Turner, p. 175.</ref> |
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Collins decided to record it in the late 1960s amid an atmosphere of counterculture introspection; she was part of an [[encounter group]] that ended a meeting by singing it as it was the only song they all knew the words to. Her producer heard it, and suggested she include a version of it on her 1970 album ''[[Whales & Nightingales]]''. Collins, who has a history of alcohol abuse, claimed that the song was able to "pull her through" to recovery. It was recorded in [[St. Paul's Chapel (New York, New York)|St. Paul's]], the chapel at [[Columbia University]], chosen for the acoustics. She chose an a capella arrangement that was close to Edwin Othello Excell's, 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 do, I thought...but sing 'Amazing Grace'.<ref>Collins, p. 165.</ref> Gradually and unexpectedly, the song began to be played on the radio, and then be requested. It rose to #15 on the [[Billboard Hot 100]], remaining on the charts for 15 weeks,<ref>Whitburn, p. 144.</ref> as if, she wrote, her fans had been "waiting to embrace it".<ref>Collins, p. 166.</ref> In the U.K. it charted eight times between 1970 and 1972, peaking at number 5 and spending a total of 75 weeks on popular music charts.<ref>Brown, p. 179.</ref> |
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| quote = For the three minutes that song is going on, everybody is free. It just frees the spirit and frees the person. |
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| source = [[Johnny Cash]], 1990 |
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Although Collins used it as a catharsis for her opposition to the Vietnam War, two years after she recorded it, a military band named the [[Royal Scots Dragoon Guards]] recorded an instrumental of "New Britain" in 1972, featuring a [[bagpipe]] soloist accompanied by a [[pipe and drum]] band. Their version was based on Collins', with a bagpipe introduction, similar to her lone voice, then accompanied by the band, where in her version she is backed up by a chorus of voices. It hit number 1 in the U.K., spending 24 weeks total on the charts and rose as high as number 11 in the U.S.<ref>Brown, p. 757.</ref><ref>Whitburn, p. 610.</ref> As of 2003, it was the best-selling instrumental record in British history, and a controversial one, as it combined pipes with a military band. The pipe president of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards was summoned to Edinburgh Castle and chastised for demeaning the bagpipes.<ref>Turner, p. 188.</ref> |
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[[Aretha Franklin]] and [[Rod Stewart]] also recorded "Amazing Grace", and both of their renditions were popular. All four versions by were marketed to distinct types of audiences thereby assuring its place as a pop song.<ref>Turner, p. 192.</ref> [[Johnny Cash]] recorded it on his 1975 album ''[[Sings Precious Memories]]'', dedicating it to his older brother Jack, who had been killed in a mill accident when they were boys in [[Dyess, Arkansas]]. Cash and his family sang it to themselves while they worked in the cotton fields following Jack's death. Cash often included the song when he toured prisons, saying "For the three minutes that song is going on, everybody is free. It just frees the spirit and frees the person."<ref name="moyers"/> |
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The [[U.S. Library of Congress]] has a collection of 3,000 versions of "Amazing Grace", some of which were first-time recordings by folklorists Alan and John Lomax, a father and son team who in 1932 traveled thousands of miles across the South to capture the different regional styles of the song. More contemporary versions include samples from such popular music groups as [[Sam Cooke]] and the [[Soul Stirrers]] (1963), [[The Byrds]] (1970), [[Skeeter Davis]] (1972), [[Amazing Rhythm Aces]] (1975), [[Willie Nelson]] (1976), [[The Lemonheads]] (1992), and [[Elvis Presley]] (1994).<ref name="loclist">[http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/html/grace/grace-timeline.html Amazing Grace: Special Presentation: Amazing Grace Timeline] United States Library of Congress Performing Arts Encyclopedia. Retrieved on November 1, 2008.</ref> |
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=== Popular use === |
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Several films have used the song, including ''[[Alice's Restaurant]]'' and ''[[Coal Miner's Daughter]]''. A notable use of "Amazing Grace" is in the 1982 science fiction film ''[[Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan]]''. The [[Star Trek]] franchise often frames the futuristic plots and conflicts with extra-terrestrial characters with Western and Judeo-Christian ideologies.<ref>Porter and McLaren, p. 139–140.</ref> Author Bruce Hindmarch considers its symbolism "perfect" in the film. Set three centuries in the future, the plot of ''The Wrath of Khan'' revolves around an invention called the Genesis Device, that has the ability to create life on a planet where none existed, yet destroy all life if abused. In the course of the film, [[Mr. Spock]], the science officer and the captain's best friend, is killed while trying to save the spaceship ''Enterprise'' from Khan, the villain, who has activated the Genesis Device. He is laid to rest on a planet once barren, but newly brought to life with the device; during his funeral [[Montgomery Scott|Mr. Scott]], the ship's engineer, plays "Amazing Grace" on the bagpipes.<ref name="porter157">Porter and McLaren, p. 157.</ref> In the third installment of the ''Star Trek'' films, ''[[The Search for Spock]]'', Spock comes back to life, as an effect of Genesis. Hindmarch writes, "The whole film offers a picture of redemption replete with biblical allusions but reset within a secular cosmology and indeed a secular eschatology. At the center of this, 'Amazing Grace' functions as a subtle quotation..."<ref>Noll and Blumhofer, p. 15.</ref> |
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| quote = Somehow, "Amazing Grace" [embraced] core American values without ever sounding triumphant or jingoistic. It was a song that could be song by young and old, Republican and Democrat, Southern Baptist and Roman Catholic, African American and Native American, high-ranking military officer and anticapitalist campaigner. |
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| source = Steve Turner, 2003<ref>Turner, p. 205.</ref> |
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Larry Kreitzer in ''Star Trek and Sacred Ground: Explorations of Star Trek, Religion, and American Culture'' suggests that "Amazing Grace" was used in part because of the Christian imagery in the film, but more practically because the song has become "instantly recognizable to many in the audience as music that sounds appropriate for a funeral".<ref name="porter157"/> Following the appropriation of the hymn in secular music, "Amazing Grace" became such an icon in American culture that it has been used for a variety of secular purposes and marketing campaigns, placing it in danger of becoming a [[cliché]]. It has been mass produced as a souvenir, lent its name to a [[Amazing Grace (comics)|Superman villain]], appeared on ''[[The Simpsons]]'' to demonstrate the redemption of a murderous character named [[Sideshow Bob]], and incorporated into [[Hare Krishna]] chants and adapted for [[Wicca]] ceremonies.<ref>Turner, p. 195–205.</ref> It 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. Since 1954 when an organ instrumental of "New Britain" became a bestseller, "Amazing Grace" has been associated with funerals and memorial services.<ref>Turner, p. 159.</ref> It has been played following national disasters such as the [[Space Shuttle Challenger disaster]], the [[Oklahoma City bombing]], and the [[September 11 attacks]]. |
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=== Modern interpretations === |
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In recent years, the words of the hymn have been changed in 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 as "That saved and strengthened me" or "save a soul like me". Kathleen Norris in her book ''Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith'' characterizes this transformation of the original words as "wretched English" making the line that replaces the original "laughably bland".<ref>Norris, p. 66.</ref> Part of the reason for this change has been the altered interpretations of wretchedness and what a state of grace means. Newton quite honestly saw himself as a sinner so vile that he was unable to be change his life or be redeemed without God's help. When Newton allowed that transformation to take place, it was a profound supernatural conversion.<ref>Turner, p. 214.</ref> |
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The communal understanding of redemption and human self-worth has clearly changed since Newton's time. In the past 30 years, self-help books, psychology, and modern Christianity view this disparity in terms of grace being an innate quality within all people who must be inspired or strong enough to find it, something to achieve. Wretchedness is instead an obstacle of physical, social, or spiritual nature to overcome in order to achieve a state of grace. Since its immense popularity and iconic nature, "grace" and the meaning behind the words of "Amazing Grace" have become as individual as the singer or listener.<ref>Turner, p. 218–220.</ref> Bruce Hindmarch suggests that the secular popularity of "Amazing Grace" is due to the absence of any mention about God in the lyrics until the fourth verse—by Excell's version, the fourth verse begins "When we've been here ten 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", however, to John Newton may have had a clearer meaning, as he may have used the word to represent God.<ref>Noll & Blumhofer, p. 16.</ref> |
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Journalist [[Bill Moyers]] investigated the power of the song in a documentary released in 1990, 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; that it exhibited elements "a really good spiritual can convey—unity, community, and transformative power”.<ref name="pollock">Pollock, John (2009). "Amazing Grace: The great Sea Change in the Life of John Newton", ''The Trinity Forum Reading'', The Trinity Forum.</ref> James Basker also acknowledged this force when he explained why he chose "Amazing Grace" to represent 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."<ref>Basker, p. xxxiv.</ref> |
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Moyers interviewed Collins, Cash, opera singer [[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 [[Huntsville Unit|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]]'s 70th birthday, stated, "I don't know whether it's the text—I don't know whether we're talking about the lyrics when we say that it touches so many people—or whether it's that tune that everybody knows." A prisoner interviewed by Moyers explained his literal interpretation of the second verse: "'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved" by saying that the fear became immediately real to him when he realized he may never get his life in order, compounded by the loneliness and restriction in prison. Gospel singer [[Marion Williams]] summed up its effect: "That's a song that gets to everybody".<ref name="moyers"/> |
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The ''Dictionary of American Hymnology'' claims it is included in over a thousand published hymnals, but recommends its use for "occasions of worship when we need to confess with joy that we re 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 faith or after the sermon."<ref name="dah"/> |
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== Notes == |
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<references group=note/> |
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== Citations == |
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{{reflist|3}} |
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== Bibliography == |
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* Aitken, Jonathan (2007). ''John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace'', Crossway Books. ISBN 1581348484 |
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* Basker, James (2002). ''Amazing Grace: An Anthology of Poems About Slavery, 1660–1810'', Yale University Press. ISBN 0300091729 |
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* Brown, Tony; Kutner, Jon; Warwick, Neil (2000). ''Complete Book of the British Charts: Singles & Albums'', Omnibus. ISBN 0711976708 |
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* [[Judy Collins|Collins, Judy]] (1998). ''Singing Lessons: A Memoir of Love, Loss, Hope, and Healing '', Pocket Books. ISBN 067102745X |
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* Martin, Bernard (1950). ''John Newton: A Biography'', William Heineman, Ltd. |
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* Martin, Bernard and Spurrell, Mark, (eds.)(1962). ''The Journal of a Slave Trader (John Newton)'', The Epworth Press |
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* Newton, John (1811). ''Thoughts Upon the African Slave Trade'', Samuel Whiting and Co. |
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* [[John Newton|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. |
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* Noll, Mark A.; Blumhofer, Edith L. (eds.) (2006). ''Sing Them Over Again to Me: Hymns and Hymnbooks in America'', University of Alabama Press. |
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* Norris, Kathleen (1999). ''Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith'', Riverhead. ISBN 1573220787 |
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* Patterson, Beverly Bush (1995). ''The Sound of the Dove: Singing in Appalachian Primitive Baptist Churches'', University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0252021231 |
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* Porter, Jennifer; McLaren, Darcee (eds.)(1999). ''Star Trek and Sacred Ground: Explorations of Star Trek, Religion, and American Culture'', State University of New York Press, ISBN 058529190X |
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* [[Harriet Beecher Stowe|Stowe, Harriet Beecher]] (1852). ''[[Uncle Tom's Cabin|Uncle Tom's Cabin, or Life Among the Lowly]]'', R. F. Fenno & Company. |
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* Turner, Steve (2002). ''Amazing Grace: The Story of America's Most Beloved Song'', HarperCollins. ISBN 0060002190 |
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* [[Joel Whitburn|Whitburn, Joel]] (2003). ''Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles, 1955–2002'', Record Research, Inc. ISBN 0898201551 |
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== External links == |
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{{Commons category|Amazing Grace}} |
{{Commons category|Amazing Grace}} |
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{{wikisource}} |
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* [http://breizhpartitions.free.fr/en/download_score.php/18_Amazing_Grace Free sheet music and mp3 of Amazing Grace] on [http://breizhpartitions.free.fr/en/ Breizh Partitions] |
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*[http://lcweb2.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/html/grace/grace-timeline.html Library of Congress timeline of notable Amazing Grace sheet music and recordings, with audio samples] |
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*[http:// |
* [http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/html/grace/grace-home.html U.S. Library of Congress Amazing Grace collection] |
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* [http://www.mkheritage.co.uk/cnm/collection_galleries/collection_items_html/OLNCN_65.html Cowper & Newton Museum] in Olney, England |
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*[http://agmusical.com Amazing Grace:The True Story] Broadway musical |
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*[http://www. |
* [http://www.markrhoads.com/amazingsite/index.htm Amazing Grace: Some Early Tunes Anthology of the American Hymn-Tune Repertory] |
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*[http://pagesforprinting.com/cgi-bin/display.pl?id=22&title=Amazing_Grace Amazing Grace lyrics in suitable-for-framing PDF format] |
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Revision as of 14:27, 13 November 2009
"Amazing Grace" is a Christian hymn with lyrics written by an 18th century slave trader turned Anglican minister named John Newton. With a message that forgiveness and redemption is possible regardless of what sins people commit and the soul can be delivered from despair through the mercy of God, "Amazing Grace" is one of the most recognized songs in the English-speaking world. Newton wrote the words from personal experience. He grew up without any particular religious conviction, but had several near-death experiences and his life's path was formed by a variety of twists and coincidences that were often put into motion by his recalcitrant insubordination. He was pressed into the Royal Navy and traded to a slave ship where he began a career in slave trading. On board his ship one night, the vessel was battered by a terrible storm and he became so frightened that he called out for mercy from God, which sparked a spiritual conversion. His career in slave trading lasted a few years more until he quit going to sea altogether and began to study theology.
Newton was ordained in the Anglican Church in 1764, and settled in Olney, England and began to write hymns with William Cowper. "Amazing Grace" was used to illustrate a sermon on New Year's Day in 1773. If there was any music accompanying the verses, it is unknown, and it may have been chanted by the congregation without music. It debuted in print in 1779 in Newton and Cowper's Olney Hymns. In the United States, "Amazing Grace" was adopted as a consistent element in worship services across many denominations and was specifically popular during the Great Awakenings, a national religious movement during the early 19th century. It has been associated with more than 20 melodies, but in 1835 it was joined to a traditional song named "New Britain" that has since been irrevocably united with the lyrics written by Newton to form the song it is known as today.
Although the song is respected in the United Kingdom, in the U.S. it has achieved that status of a national treasure. Gilbert Chase, author of America's Music: From Pilgrims to the Present, wrote in 1987 that "Amazing Grace" is "Without a doubt the most famous of all the folk hymns",[1] and according to Jonathan Aitken, a Newton biographer, it is performed about 10 million times annually.[2] Not only has it had a particular influence in folk music, but has become an emblematic African American spiritual. Its universal message has been a significant factor in its crossover into secular music. "Amazing Grace" saw a resurgence in popularity in the U.S. during the 1960s and has been recorded numerous times during and since the 20th century, sometimes appearing on popular music charts.
John Newton's conversion
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]
Early life
The Dictionary of American Hymnology states that "Amazing Grace" is John Newton's autobiography in verse.[4] In 1725 Newton was born in Wapping, a district with a connection to sailors and seagoing trades in London near the Thames. He was the only child of a shipping merchant who was brought up Catholic but had Protestant sympathies, and a mother who was a devout Independent unaffiliated with the Anglican Church who had intended him to go into clergy. Newton's mother died of tuberculosis when he was six years old while his father was at sea.[5] For the next few years, Newton was raised by his distant stepmother while his father was absent, and spent some time at a boarding school where he was mistreated.[6] At the age of eleven, he joined his father on a ship as was the custom for adolescent males to begin an apprenticeship in a career; his would be marked by 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. When he was twelve he was thrown from a horse and nearly impaled on stakes nearby; two years later, a friend drowned on an outing in a small boat when Newton was scheduled to join him.[7][8] Newton was a reader from an early age and enjoyed it as he grew older. He claimed later that Characteristics, a book by the Earl of Shaftesbury who argues that doubting religion is not akin to atheism and each man must form his own truth as it is relative to his experience, influenced his activities for the next several years. In 1742 Newton's father arranged to have him sail to Jamaica to be a slave overseer after hearing that Newton would not be a successful sea captain. On the way to meet the ship, Newton stopped at the home of the family who took him in when he was six so he would not witness his mother's death. He fell in love with the daughter; her name was Mary "Polly" Catlett and she was thirteen years old.[9]
Press-ganged
After deliberately staying too long with the Catletts, Newton missed the ship he was to take to Jamaica. On it, he would have had protection from being forced to join the Royal Navy, or being press-ganged, as Britain was on the verge of war with France, and sailors had license to take any able-bodied man into the service against his will. In London, several sailors found him and forced him into the Navy, where he started without rank.[10] Aboard the HMS Harwich, Newton resented the military discipline, but rose to midshipman. At some point in 1744, after discussing Shaftesbury's philosophy with another shipmate, Newton denounced all his faith, later writing "Like an unwary sailor who quits his port just before a rising storm, I renounced the hopes and comforts of the gospel at the very time when every other comfort was about to fail me."[11]
Newton consistently overstayed his shore leave to visit Polly. He escaped severe punishment until he deserted completely after learning his ship was to sail for India and he would be gone for four or five years, only to be recaptured within days. 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 next few months, remarking that the only reason he did not murder the captain or commit suicide was because he did not want Polly to think badly of him.[12] By remarkable coincidence Newton was offered and jumped at a chance to be traded from the Royal Navy to a ship with the Royal African Company bound for Guinea. His captain was only too obliging to be rid of him. Aboard his new ship, Newton later noted, connections to his father's name and reputation did not exist: "I now might be as abandoned as I pleased, without any control".[13]
Slave trader
Newton kept a series of detailed journals as a slave trader and was perhaps the first primary source of the Atlantic slave trade from the perspective of a merchant.[3] He described how the slaves brought aboard from the west coast of Africa, exhausted from their ordeals after being kidnapped and held in conditions very similar to prisons, were bound in iron chains and packed as tightly as possible.[14][15] Women, naked or nearly so, upon their arrival on ship were claimed by the sailors, and Newton alluded to sexual misbehavior in his writings that have since been interpreted by historians to mean that he, along with other sailors, took whomever he chose.[16][17] His obedience to authority still absent, he often openly mocked the captain by creating obscene poems and songs about him that took on so the crew began to join in.[18] Newton entered into disagreements with several colleagues which resulted in his being nearly starved to death, imprisoned while at sea and chained like the slaves they carried, then outright enslaved and forced to work on a plantation in Sierra Leone near the Sherbro River. After several months he came to think of Sierra Leone as his home, but his father intervened, a ship found him by another remarkable coincidence, and Newton claimed the only reason he left was because of Polly.[19]
While aboard the ship Greyhound, Newton gained notoriety for being one of the most profane men the captain had ever met. In a culture where sailors commonly used oaths and swore, Newton was admonished several times for not only using the worst words the captain had ever heard, but creating new ones to exceed the limits of verbal debauchery.[20] In March 1748, while the Greyhound was in the North Atlantic carrying livestock, wood, and beeswax from the coast of Africa, a violent storm came upon the ship that was so rough it swept overboard a crew member who had been standing where Newton was moments before. After hours of the crew emptying water from the ship and expecting to be capsized, he offered a desperate suggestion to the captain, who ordered it so. Newton turned and said, "If this will not do, then Lord have mercy upon us!"[21][22] He returned to the pump where he and another mate tied themselves to it to keep from being washed over. After an hour's rest, an exhausted Newton returned to the deck to steer for the next eleven hours where he pondered what he had said.[23]
About two weeks later, the battered ship and starving crew 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 by Thomas à Kempis. The memory of the uttered phrase in a moment of desperation did not leave him; he began to ask if he was worthy of God's mercy or in any way redeemable as he had not only neglected his faith but directly opposed it, mocking others who showed theirs, deriding and denouncing God as a myth. He came to beieve that God had sent him a profound message and had begun to work through him.[24]
Career end
Newton's conversion was not immediate, but he contacted Polly's family and announced his intentions to marry her. Her parents were hesitant as he was known to be inconsistent, unreliable, and impetuous. They knew he was profane, but they 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 about before; the only action he was able to free himself from was profanity. After a severe illness his resolve was renewed yet he retained the same attitude about slavery as his contemporaries[note 1] and continued in the trade through several voyages where he sailed up rivers in Africa—now as a captain—procured slaves being offered and sold them in larger ports to be sent to North or South America. In between voyages, he married Polly in 1750 and he found it more difficult to leave her at the beginning of each trip. After three shipping experiences in the slave trade, Newton was promised to captain a ship with cargo unrelated to slavery, when at thirty years old, he collapsed and never sailed again.[25][note 2]
Olney curate
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 so impressive that his friends suggested he become a minister. With no university experience, he was turned down by the Archbishop in 1758.[26] Newton continued his devotions, and after being encouraged by a friend, he wrote about his experiences in the slave trade and his conversion. The Earl of Dartmouth, impressed with his story and wanting a curate for in the church in Olney, Buckinghamshire, ordained Newton in 1764.[27]
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost but now am found
Was blind, but now I see.
'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed!
Through many dangers, toils, and snares,
We have already come;
'Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.
The Lord has promised good to me,
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be
As 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 soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine;
But God, who called me here below,
Will be forever mine.
John Newton, Olney Hymns, 1779
Olney Hymns
Olney was a hamlet of about 2,500 residents whose main industry was making lace by hand. They were mostly illiterate and many of them were poor.[28] 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 he was much loved although his writing and delivery were sometimes unpolished.[29] His devotion and conviction were apparent and forceful however, and his mission he often said was to “break a hard heart and to heal a broken heart”.[30] 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's company; he was also new to Olney and had gone through a spiritual conversion similar to Newton's. Together, their effect on the local congregation was impressive. In 1768, they found it necessary to start a weekly prayer meeting in order to meet the needs of an increasing number of parishioners. They also began writing lessons for children, long before the concept of Sunday School.[31]
Partly from Cowper's literary influence, and partly because learned vicars were expected to write verses, Newton began to try his hand at hymns, which had became popular through the language, made plain for common people to understand. Several prolific hymn writers were at their most productive at this time, including Isaac Watts, and Charles Wesley, with whom Newton was familiar. [note 3] Wesley's brother John, the eventual founder of the Methodist Church, had encouraged Newton to go into the clergy. Newton and Cowper attempted to present a poem or hymn for each prayer meeting. The lyrics to "Amazing Grace" were written and probably used in a prayer meeting for the first time in January 1773.[32] A collection of the poems Newton and Cowper had written for use in services at Olney were bound and published anonymously in 1779 under the title Olney Hymns. Newton contributed 280 of the 348 texts in Olney Hymns; "1 Chronicles 17:16-17, Faith's Review and Expectation" was the title of the poem with the first line "Amazing grace! How sweet the sound".[4]
Critical analysis
As a reflection of Newton's connection to his parishioners, he wrote many of the hymns in first 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 use of first person.[33] Jonathan Aitken calls Newton an "unashamedly middlebrow lyricist writing for a lowbrow congregation", noting that only twenty-one of the words used in all six verses have more than one syllable.[34]
William Phipps in the Anglican Theological Review and author James Basker have interpreted the first line of "Amazing Grace" as evidence of Newton's realization that his participation in the slave trade was his wretchedness, perhaps representing a wider common understanding of Newton's motivations.[35][36] Newton joined forces with a young man named William Wilberforce after he had left Olney in the 1780s to become an ardent and outspoken abolitionist, but he never connected the construction of the hymn that became "Amazing Grace" to anti-slavery sentiments.[37] For Newton, the beginning of the year was a time to reflect on one's spiritual progress. At the same time that he completed a diary—which has since been lost—that he had begun 17 years before, two years after he quit sailing. The last entry of 1772 was a recounting of how much he had changed since then.[38]
And David the king sat before the Lord, and said, "Who am I, O Lord God, and what is mine house, that thou hast brought me hitherto? And yet this was a small thing in thine eyes, O God; for thou hast also spoken of thy servant's house for a great while to come, and hast regarded me according to the estate of a man of high degree, O Lord God.
1 Chronicles 17:16–17, King James Version
The lyrics in Olney Hymns were arranged by their association to the Biblical verses that would be used by Newton and Cowper in their prayer meetings and did not address any political objective. The title ascribed to the hymn, "1 Chronicles 17:16-17", refers to David's 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, as a descendant of David, was promised by God as the salvation for all people.[39] Newton's sermon on that January day in 1773 focused on the necessity to express one's gratefulness for God's guidance, that God is involved in the daily lives of Christians though they may not be aware of it, and that patience for deliverance from the daily trials of life is warranted when the glories of eternity await.[40] Newton saw himself a sinner like David who had been chosen and was humbled by it. According to Newton, unconverted sinners were "blinded by the god of this world" until "mercy came to us not only undeserved but undesired ... our hearts endeavored to shut him out till he overcame us by the power of his grace."[38]
The New Testament served as the basis for many of the lyrics of "Amazing Grace". The first verse, for example, can be 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 the Pharisees that he can now see is told in the Gospel of John. Newton used the words "I was blind but now I see" and declared "Oh to grace how great a debtor!" in his letters and diary entries as early as 1752.[41] The first words of the verse, according to Bruce Hindmarsh, allow an instant release of energy in the exclamation "Amazing grace!", to be followed by a qualifying reply in "how sweet the sound". Grace is recalled three times in the following verse, culminating in Newton's most personal story of his conversion, underscoring the use of his personal testimony with his parishioners.[33]
The sermon preached by Newton was the last of his William Cowper heard in Olney for Cowper's mental instability returned shortly thereafter. Steve Turner, author of Amazing Grace: The Story of America's Most Beloved Song, suggests Newton may have had his friend in mind, employing the themes of assurance and deliverance from despair for Cowper's benefit.[42]
Dissemination
Though it had its roots in England, "Amazing Grace" became an integral part of the Christian tapestry in the United States. A significant number of Newton and Cowper's hymns were republished in other British hymnals and magazines, but "Amazing Grace" was not, appearing only once in a 1780 hymnal sponsored by the Countess of Huntingdon. Of the 61 hymns penned by Newton commonly used in the U.K., the one known as "Amazing Grace" was not among them. Scholar John D. Julian commented in his 1892 A Dictionary of Hymnology that outside of the United States, the song was unknown and it was "far from being a good example of Newton's finest work".[43][note 4] Between 1789 and 1799, four variations of Newton's hymn were published in the U.S. in Baptist, Dutch Reformed, and Congregationalist hymnodies;[39] by 1830 Presbyterians and Methodists also included Newton's verses in their hymnals.[44][45] At the time, hymnbooks did not contain music and were simply small books of religious poetry.
At the turn of the 19th century, a tremendous religious movement was overtaking the U.S. The Great Awakening was marked by growth and popularity of churches and religious revivals that got their start in Kentucky and Tennessee. Unprecedented gatherings of thousands of people attended camp meetings where people would come to experience salvation; preaching was fiery and focused on saving the sinner from temptation and backsliding.[46] Religion was stripped of ornament and ceremony, made as plain and simple as possible and often used repetition to get across to a rural population of poor and mostly uneducated people the necessity of turning away from sin. Witnessing and testifying became an integral component to these meetings, where a congregation member or even a stranger would rise and recount his turn from a sinful life to one of piety and peace.[44] "Amazing Grace" was one of many hymns that punctuated fervent sermons, although the contemporary style used a refrain that borrowed from other hymns such as:
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now am found,
Was blind but now I see.
Shout, shout for glory,
Shout, shout aloud for glory;
Brother, sister, mourner,
All shout glory hallelujah.[46]
Shape note singing
Simultaneously, an unrelated movement 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 symbolize 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 simple to learn and teach, so schools were established throughout the South and West. Communities would come together for an entire day of singing, to a large building where they sat in four distinct areas surrounding an open space with one member directing the group as a whole. Most of the music was religious, 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 capella.[47]
"New Britain"
When originally used in Olney, it is unknown what music if any accompanied the verses written by John Newton. The first instance of Newton's lines joined to music was in an 1808 British hymnal. The song was "Harmony Grove" and itself was first associated with a hymn written by Isaac Watts named "There Is A Land of Pure Delight" in 1790.[48] More than twenty versions of "Amazing Grace" circulated with varying popularity until 1835 when William Walker assigned Newton's words to a traditional song named "New Britain", which was itself an amalgamation of two songs probably first published without words in the Columbia Harmony in 1829. They were titled "Gallaher" and "St. Mary" and recorded on paper by Charles Spilman and Benjamin Shaw. Spilman was probably from Kentucky, and endeavored to provide music for spiritual purposes most suitable for pubic worship and revivals. Most of the tunes had been previously published, but "Gallaher" and "St. Mary" had not.[49] Their origins are unknown, but scholars have speculated that they may have been a Scottish folk ballad; many of the new residents of Kentucky and Tennessee were Scots.
"Amazing Grace", with the words written by Newton and joined with the melody most currently associated with it, appeared for the first time in Walker's hymnal Southern Harmony.[50] The format of the verses were adaptable to a number of folk melodies, but Walker assigned the title "New Britain", and it was, according to author Steve Turner, a "marriage made in heaven", that include a rise in music where the words refer to confession, and low tones where the lyrics speak of blindness.[51] Serendipitously, Walker's entire collection of hymns and music was enormously popular, selling about 600,000 copies all over the U.S. Another shape note songbook was released in 1844 called The Sacred Harp that referred to the voice instead of any instrument. It presented "Amazing Grace" with a four-part harmony instead of the three-part harmony that had previously been published. The Sacred Harp songbook became so popular that it was synonymous with shape note singing.[52]
"Amazing Grace" came to be an emblem of a religious movement and a symbol of the U.S. itself as the the country was involved in a great political experiment, attempting to employ democracy as a means of government. Simultaneously, the U.S. began to expand westward 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.[52] This became poignantly true during the most serious test of American cohesion in the U.S. Civil War (1861–1865). "Amazing Grace" set to "New Britain" was included in two hymnals distributed to soldiers and with death so real and imminent, religious services in the military became commonplace.[53]
African American spiritual music
Just as Newton's third verse rang true with white American settlers in the 19th century, they resounded deeply with African Americans who were enslaved. Three verses were emblematically sung by the main character of Harriet Beecher Stowe's immensely influential anti-slavery 1852 novel Uncle Tom's Cabin in Tom's hour of deepest crisis.[54] Tom sings the sixth and fifth verses in that order, and Stowe included another verse not written by Newton that had been passed down orally in African American communities for at least 50 years. It was originally one of 70 verses of a song titled "Jerusalem, My Happy Home":
When we've been here ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We've no less days to sing God's praise,
Than when we first begun.[55]
"Amazing Grace" has had a specific influence in African American spiritual music. 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.[36] 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.[56]
It was notably a staple of services where music was "lined out"; rural churches in the U.S. had no hymn books and often few parishioners—either black or white—could read. "Lining out" is also referred to as "surging" for the sound it makes, or "Dr. Watts" because the songs came predominantly from hymnals written by Isaac Watts. "Amazing Grace", coming from Newton, is a notable exception and the most popular of all hymns, often used to illustrate the many styles of lining because it has been used so often in so many places.[57]
In services where music was lined, a deacon or other leader would rise and call the first line of the song and it would be repeated and sung by the congregation slowly; as the congregation ended, the last verse would invariably be hummed as the deacon led the prayer. Members of the congregation would call out, either in agreement with the deacon or pastor, or would appeal loudly and directly to God during the singing, as he or she was singing, or during prayer. This calling out during the singing or the deacon-led prayer existed during slavery and lasted in rural areas until the mid 20th century. This was a precursor to call and response, a style of gospel music where one singer called out and another or a choir responded. The slow rumbling of voices trailing at the end of hymns had an influence on other genres such as the blues, and call and response became a staple of soul music.[58] Hymns were sung in short meter, a simple version where the notes and syllables were sung together without ornamentation, and long meter, where several notes represented a syllable and the vocals were more dramatic and lilting, so much so that when several voices sang long meter together, the general sense of melody and rhythm disappeared.[58][59]
Urban revival
Although "Amazing Grace" set to "New Britain" was popular, other versions existed regionally. Primitive Baptists in the Appalachian region often 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.[60][61] A tune named "Arlington" was vying for the popularity of "New Britain" with Newton's lyrics until two musical arrangers named Dwight Moody and Ira Sankey heralded another religious revival in the cities of the U.S. and Europe.
Moody's preaching and Sankey's musical gifts were significant; their arrangements were the forerunners of gospel music, and churches all over the U.S. were eager to have their musical arrangements in the 1870s.[62] Moody and Sankey began publishing their arrangements in 1875, and "Amazing Grace" appeared three times with three different melodies, but they were the first to give it its title; hymns were typically published using the first line of the song. A publisher named 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 it more contemporary and giving "New Britain" some distance from its rural folk-music origins. Excell's version was more palatable for a growing urban middle class and arranged for larger church choirs. Several editions featuring Newton's first three stanzas and the verse previously included by Harriet Beecher Stowe in Uncle Tom's Cabin were published by Excell between 1900 and 1910, and his version of "Amazing Grace" became the standard form of the song in American churches.[63][64]
Recorded versions
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 different 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 more than 5,500 versions of the song as of November 2009.[65] Its first recording was an a capella version in 1922 by the Sacred Harp Choir. It was included from 1926 to 1930 in Okeh Records' catalog, which typically concentrated strongly on blues and jazz. Demand was high for black gospel recordings of the song by H.R. Tomlin and J.M. Gates. It was recorded with musical accompaniment for the first time in 1930 by Fiddlin' John Carson, although to the "In the Pines" melody, not to "New Britain".[66] 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.[67] Gospel superstar Mahalia Jackson's 1947 version received significant airplay, and as her popularity grew throughout the 1950s and 1960s, she often sang it at public events such as concerts at Carnegie Hall.[68]
Those songs come out of conviction and suffering. The worst voices can get through singing them 'cause they're telling their experiences.
In the 1960s with the African American 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 give magical protection—a charm to ward off danger, an incantation to the angels of heaven to descend.... I was not sure the magic worked outside the church walls .... in the open air of Mississippi. But I wasn't taking any chances."[70] Folk singer Judy Collins, who knew the song before she could remember learning it, witnessed Fannie Lou Hamer leading marchers in Mississippi in 1964, singing "Amazing 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] It was one of Joan Baez' most requested songs from her audiences, but she never realized it had once been a hymn; by the time she was singing it in the 1960s she said it had "developed a life of its own".[71] It even made an appearance at the Woodstock Music Festival in 1969 during Arlo Guthrie's performance.[72]
Collins decided to record it in the late 1960s amid an atmosphere of counterculture introspection; she was part of an encounter group that ended a meeting by singing it as it was the only song they all knew the words to. Her producer heard it, and suggested she include a version of it on her 1970 album Whales & Nightingales. Collins, who has a history of alcohol abuse, claimed that the song was able to "pull her through" to recovery. It was recorded in St. Paul's, the chapel at Columbia University, chosen for the acoustics. She chose an a capella arrangement that was close to Edwin Othello Excell's, 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 do, I thought...but sing 'Amazing Grace'.[73] Gradually and unexpectedly, the song began to be played on the radio, and then be requested. It rose to #15 on the Billboard Hot 100, remaining on the charts for 15 weeks,[74] as if, she wrote, her fans had been "waiting to embrace it".[75] In the U.K. it charted eight times between 1970 and 1972, peaking at number 5 and spending a total of 75 weeks on popular music charts.[76]
For the three minutes that song is going on, everybody is free. It just frees the spirit and frees the person.
Johnny Cash, 1990
Although Collins used it as a catharsis for her opposition to the Vietnam War, two years after she recorded it, a military band named the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards recorded an instrumental of "New Britain" in 1972, featuring a bagpipe soloist accompanied by a pipe and drum band. Their version was based on Collins', with a bagpipe introduction, similar to her lone voice, then accompanied by the band, where in her version she is backed up by a chorus of voices. It hit number 1 in the U.K., spending 24 weeks total on the charts and rose as high as number 11 in the U.S.[77][78] As of 2003, it was the best-selling instrumental record in British history, and a controversial one, as it combined pipes with a military band. The pipe president of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards was summoned to Edinburgh Castle and chastised for demeaning the bagpipes.[79]
Aretha Franklin and Rod Stewart also recorded "Amazing Grace", and both of their renditions were popular. All four versions by were marketed to distinct types of audiences thereby assuring its place as a pop song.[80] Johnny Cash recorded it on his 1975 album Sings Precious Memories, dedicating it to his older brother Jack, who had been killed in a mill accident when they were boys in Dyess, Arkansas. Cash and his family sang it to themselves while they worked in the cotton fields following Jack's death. Cash often included the song when he toured prisons, saying "For the three minutes that song is going on, everybody is free. It just frees the spirit and frees the person."[3]
The U.S. Library of Congress has a collection of 3,000 versions of "Amazing Grace", some of which were first-time recordings by folklorists Alan and John Lomax, a father and son team who in 1932 traveled thousands of miles across the South to capture the different regional styles of the song. More contemporary versions include samples from such popular music groups as Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers (1963), The Byrds (1970), Skeeter Davis (1972), Amazing Rhythm Aces (1975), Willie Nelson (1976), The Lemonheads (1992), and Elvis Presley (1994).[66]
Popular use
Several films have used the song, including Alice's Restaurant and Coal Miner's Daughter. A notable use of "Amazing Grace" is in the 1982 science fiction film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. The Star Trek franchise often frames the futuristic plots and conflicts with extra-terrestrial characters with Western and Judeo-Christian ideologies.[81] Author Bruce Hindmarch considers its symbolism "perfect" in the film. Set three centuries in the future, the plot of The Wrath of Khan revolves around an invention called the Genesis Device, that has the ability to create life on a planet where none existed, yet destroy all life if abused. In the course of the film, Mr. Spock, the science officer and the captain's best friend, is killed while trying to save the spaceship Enterprise from Khan, the villain, who has activated the Genesis Device. He is laid to rest on a planet once barren, but newly brought to life with the device; during his funeral Mr. Scott, the ship's engineer, plays "Amazing Grace" on the bagpipes.[82] In the third installment of the Star Trek films, The Search for Spock, Spock comes back to life, as an effect of Genesis. Hindmarch writes, "The whole film offers a picture of redemption replete with biblical allusions but reset within a secular cosmology and indeed a secular eschatology. At the center of this, 'Amazing Grace' functions as a subtle quotation..."[83]
Somehow, "Amazing Grace" [embraced] core American values without ever sounding triumphant or jingoistic. It was a song that could be song by young and old, Republican and Democrat, Southern Baptist and Roman Catholic, African American and Native American, high-ranking military officer and anticapitalist campaigner.
Steve Turner, 2003[84]
Larry Kreitzer in Star Trek and Sacred Ground: Explorations of Star Trek, Religion, and American Culture suggests that "Amazing Grace" was used in part because of the Christian imagery in the film, but more practically because the song has become "instantly recognizable to many in the audience as music that sounds appropriate for a funeral".[82] Following the appropriation of the hymn in secular music, "Amazing Grace" became such an icon in American culture that it has been used for a variety of secular purposes and marketing campaigns, placing it in danger of becoming a cliché. It has been mass produced as a souvenir, lent its name to a Superman villain, appeared on The Simpsons to demonstrate the redemption of a murderous character named Sideshow Bob, and incorporated into Hare Krishna chants and adapted for Wicca ceremonies.[85] It 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. Since 1954 when an organ instrumental of "New Britain" became a bestseller, "Amazing Grace" has been associated with funerals and memorial services.[86] It has been played following national disasters such as the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, the Oklahoma City bombing, and the September 11 attacks.
Modern interpretations
In recent years, the words of the hymn have been changed in 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 as "That saved and strengthened me" or "save a soul like me". Kathleen Norris in her book Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith characterizes this transformation of the original words as "wretched English" making the line that replaces the original "laughably bland".[87] Part of the reason for this change has been the altered interpretations of wretchedness and what a state of grace means. Newton quite honestly saw himself as a sinner so vile that he was unable to be change his life or be redeemed without God's help. When Newton allowed that transformation to take place, it was a profound supernatural conversion.[88]
The communal understanding of redemption and human self-worth has clearly changed since Newton's time. In the past 30 years, self-help books, psychology, and modern Christianity view this disparity in terms of grace being an innate quality within all people who must be inspired or strong enough to find it, something to achieve. Wretchedness is instead an obstacle of physical, social, or spiritual nature to overcome in order to achieve a state of grace. Since its immense popularity and iconic nature, "grace" and the meaning behind the words of "Amazing Grace" have become as individual as the singer or listener.[89] Bruce Hindmarch suggests that the secular popularity of "Amazing Grace" is due to the absence of any mention about God in the lyrics until the fourth verse—by Excell's version, the fourth verse begins "When we've been here ten 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", however, to John Newton may have had a clearer meaning, as he may have used the word to represent God.[90]
Journalist Bill Moyers investigated the power of the song in a documentary released in 1990, 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; that it exhibited elements "a really good spiritual can convey—unity, community, and transformative power”.[30] James Basker also acknowledged this force when he explained why he chose "Amazing Grace" to represent 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."[91]
Moyers interviewed Collins, Cash, opera singer 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's 70th birthday, stated, "I don't know whether it's the text—I don't know whether we're talking about the lyrics when we say that it touches so many people—or whether it's that tune that everybody knows." A prisoner interviewed by Moyers explained his literal interpretation of the second verse: "'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved" by saying that the fear became immediately real to him when he realized he may never get his life in order, compounded by the loneliness and restriction in prison. Gospel singer Marion Williams summed up its effect: "That's a song that gets to everybody".[3]
The Dictionary of American Hymnology claims it is included in over a thousand published hymnals, but recommends its use for "occasions of worship when we need to confess with joy that we re 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 faith or after the sermon."[4]
Notes
- ^ When Newton began his journal in 1750, not only was slave trading seen as a respectable profession by the majority 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 as eccentric, had raised any protest about the practice. (Martin and Spurrell [1962], p. xi–xii.)
- ^ 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 doctor advised him not to go to sea again, and Newton complied. Jonathan Aitken called it a stroke or seizure, but it is unknown what caused it. (Martin [1950], p. 140–141.)(Aitken, p. 125.)
- ^ Watts had previously written a hymn named "Alas! And Did My Saviour Bleed" that contained the lines "Amazing pity! Grace unknown!/ And love beyond degree!". Philip Doddridge, another well-known hymn writer wrote another in 1755 titled "The Humiliation and Exaltation of God's Israel" that began "Amazing grace of God on high!" and included other similar wording to Newton's verses. (Turner, p. 82–83.)
- ^ Only since the 1950s has it gained some popularity in the U.K.; not until 1964 was it published with the music most commonly associated with it. (Noll and Blumhofer, p. 8)
Citations
- ^ Chase, p. 181.
- ^ Aitken, p. 224.
- ^ a b c d e Moyers, Bill (director). Amazing Grace with Bill Moyers, Public Affairs Television, Inc. (1990).
- ^ a b c Amazing Grace How Sweet the Sound, Dictionary of American Hymnology. Retrieved on October 31, 2009.
- ^ Martin (1950), p. 8–9.
- ^ Newton (1824), p. 12.
- ^ Newton (1824), p. 14.
- ^ Martin (1950), p. 15.
- ^ Martin, p. 23.
- ^ Martin (1950), p. 29–30.
- ^ Newton (1824), p. 21–22.
- ^ Martin (1950, p. 41–47.
- ^ Newton (1824), p. 27.
- ^ Newton (1811), p. 14–15.
- ^ Martin and Spurrell (1962), p. 103–104.
- ^ a b Martin (1950), p. 82–85.
- ^ Aitken, p. 64.
- ^ Martin (1950), p. 51–52.
- ^ Martin (1950), p. 63.
- ^ Martin (1950), p. 67–68.
- ^ Newton (1824), p. 41.
- ^ Martin (1950, p. 70–71.
- ^ Martin (1950), p. 73.
- ^ Aitken, p. 81–84.
- ^ Aitken, p. 125.
- ^ Martin (1950), p. 166–188.
- ^ Martin (1950), p. 198–200.
- ^ Aitken, p. 224.
- ^ Martin (1950), p. 208–217.
- ^ a b Pollock, John (2009). "Amazing Grace: The great Sea Change in the Life of John Newton", The Trinity Forum Reading, The Trinity Forum.
- ^ Turner, p. 76.
- ^ Turner, p. 77–79.
- ^ a b Noll and Blumhofer, p. 6.
- ^ Aitken, p. 226.
- ^ Phipps, William (Summer 1990). " 'Amazing Grace' in the hymnwriter's life", Anglican Theological Review, 72 (3).
- ^ a b Basker, p. 281.
- ^ Aitken, p. 231.
- ^ a b Aitken, p. 227.
- ^ a b Noll and Blumhofer, p. 8.
- ^ Turner, p. 81.
- ^ Aitken, p. 228.
- ^ Turner, p. 86.
- ^ Turner, p. 114.
- ^ a b Noll and Blumhofer, p. 10.
- ^ Aitken, p. 232–233.
- ^ a b Turner, p. 115–116.
- ^ Turner, p. 117.
- ^ Turner, p. 118.
- ^ Turner, p. 120–122.
- ^ Noll and Blumhofer, p. 11.
- ^ Turner, p. 124.
- ^ a b Turner, p. 126.
- ^ Turner, p. 127–128.
- ^ Stowe, p. 417.
- ^ Aitken, p. 235.
- ^ Turner, p. 148.
- ^ Bailey, Ben (Spring 1978). "The Lined-Hymn Tradition in Black Mississippi Churches", The Black Perspective in Music, 6' (1), p. 3–17.
- ^ a b Tallmadge, William (May 1961). "Dr. Watts and Mahalia Jackson: The Development, Decline, and Survival of a Folk Style in America", Ethnomusicology, 5 (2), p. 95–99.
- ^ Turner, p. 150–151.
- ^ Patterson, p. 137.
- ^ Sutton, Brett (January 1982). "Shape-Note Tune Books and Primitive Hymns", Ethnomusicology, 26 (1), p. 11–26.
- ^ Turner, p. 133–135.
- ^ Noll and Blumhofer, p. 13.
- ^ Turner, p. 137–138, 140–145.
- ^ Amazing Grace, Allmusic. Retrieved on November 1, 2009.
- ^ a b Amazing Grace: Special Presentation: Amazing Grace Timeline United States Library of Congress Performing Arts Encyclopedia. Retrieved on November 1, 2008.
- ^ Turner, p. 154–155.
- ^ "Mahalia Jackson." Dictionary of American Biography, Supplement 9: 1971-1975. Charles Scribner's Sons, 1994.
- ^ Turner, p. 157.
- ^ Aitken, p. 236.
- ^ Turner, p. 162.
- ^ Turner, p. 175.
- ^ Collins, p. 165.
- ^ Whitburn, p. 144.
- ^ Collins, p. 166.
- ^ Brown, p. 179.
- ^ Brown, p. 757.
- ^ Whitburn, p. 610.
- ^ Turner, p. 188.
- ^ Turner, p. 192.
- ^ Porter and McLaren, p. 139–140.
- ^ a b Porter and McLaren, p. 157.
- ^ Noll and Blumhofer, p. 15.
- ^ Turner, p. 205.
- ^ Turner, p. 195–205.
- ^ Turner, p. 159.
- ^ Norris, p. 66.
- ^ Turner, p. 214.
- ^ Turner, p. 218–220.
- ^ Noll & Blumhofer, p. 16.
- ^ Basker, p. xxxiv.
Bibliography
- Aitken, Jonathan (2007). John Newton: From Disgrace to Amazing Grace, Crossway Books. ISBN 1581348484
- Basker, James (2002). Amazing Grace: An Anthology of Poems About Slavery, 1660–1810, Yale University Press. ISBN 0300091729
- Brown, Tony; Kutner, Jon; Warwick, Neil (2000). Complete Book of the British Charts: Singles & Albums, Omnibus. ISBN 0711976708
- Collins, Judy (1998). Singing Lessons: A Memoir of Love, Loss, Hope, and Healing , Pocket Books. ISBN 067102745X
- Martin, Bernard (1950). John Newton: A Biography, William Heineman, Ltd.
- Martin, Bernard and Spurrell, Mark, (eds.)(1962). The Journal of a Slave Trader (John Newton), The Epworth Press
- Newton, John (1811). Thoughts Upon the African Slave Trade, Samuel Whiting and Co.
- 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, Mark A.; Blumhofer, Edith L. (eds.) (2006). Sing Them Over Again to Me: Hymns and Hymnbooks in America, University of Alabama Press.
- Norris, Kathleen (1999). Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith, Riverhead. ISBN 1573220787
- Patterson, Beverly Bush (1995). The Sound of the Dove: Singing in Appalachian Primitive Baptist Churches, University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0252021231
- Porter, Jennifer; McLaren, Darcee (eds.)(1999). Star Trek and Sacred Ground: Explorations of Star Trek, Religion, and American Culture, State University of New York Press, ISBN 058529190X
- Stowe, Harriet Beecher (1852). Uncle Tom's Cabin, or Life Among the Lowly, R. F. Fenno & Company.
- Turner, Steve (2002). Amazing Grace: The Story of America's Most Beloved Song, HarperCollins. ISBN 0060002190
- Whitburn, Joel (2003). Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Singles, 1955–2002, Record Research, Inc. ISBN 0898201551
External links
- 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