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Amazing Grace

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Amazing Grace" is a well-known Christian hymn. The wordswere written late in 1772 by Englishman John Newton. They firstppeared in print in Newton's Olney Hymns (1779), which he

worked on with William Cowper.

History

ohn Newton wrote this hymn some time after converting to Christianity in the village of Kineton, in WarwickshireEngland. The lyrics are based on his reflections on an Old Testament text he was preparing to preach on, adding hisperspective about his own conversion while on his slave ship, the Greyhound, in 1748.

Newton's lyrics have become a favorite for Christians, largely becausehe hymn vividly and briefly sums up the doctrine of divine grace. Theyrics are based on 1 Chronicles 17:16-17http://php.ug.cs.usyd.edu.au/~jnot4610/bibref.php?book=1%

20Chronicles&verse=17:16-17&src=NRSV), a prayer of King Davidn which he marvels at God's choosing him and his house. Newtonpparently wrote this for use in a sermon he preached on this passage

on New Year's Day 1773, and for which he left his sermon notes,

which correspond to the flow of the lyrics[1]. (He entitled the pieceFaith's review and expectation.")

The song has also become known as a favorite with supporters ofreedom and human rights, both Christian and non-Christian, in partbecause many assume it to be his testimony about his slave tradingpast.

The hymn was quite popular on both sides in the American Civil War.

n recent years, this song has also become popular in America withdrug and alcohol recovery groups, particularly Christian ones, atelebrations of how they "once were lost, but now are found."

Extra verses

"Amazing Grace"

Music by William Walker

Words by John Newton

Language Irish melody, English words

Contents

1 History 1.1 Extra verses 1.2 Cherokee lyrics

2 Music 2.1 Bagpipes

3 Performances and recordings 4 Awards 5 References 6 See also 7 External links 8 Audio samples

"Amazing Grace"

Amazing grace, how sweet the soundThat savd 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 feaAnd grace my fears relievd;How precious did that grace appear,

The hour I first believd!

Thro many dangers, toils and snares,I have already come;Tis grace has brought me safe thus farAnd grace will lead me home.

The Lord has promisd good to me,His word my hope secures;He will my shield and portion be,As long as life endures.

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n her novel Uncle Tom's Cabin, Harriet BeecherStowe includes an extra, final verse which may havebeen taken from another hymn:

When weve been there ten thousand years,Bright shining as the sun,We've no less days to sing Gods praiseThan when weve first begun.

This additional verse is credited by some to John P.

Rees (1828-1900)[2] and became firmly established aspart of the hymn from the early twentienth century,ppearing in many hymnal

Cherokee lyrics

While on the "Trail of Tears," the Cherokee were not always able to give their dead a full burial. Instead, they sang

ranslation (or rather, paraphrase) previously made by Samuel Worcester.[3] For this reason, many contemporary NaAmerican musicians have recorded the song.

Music

As with other hymns of this period, the words were sung to a number of tunes before and after they first became linko the now familiar variant of the tune "New Britain" of which the composer is unknown and is in William Walker's

hape-note tunebook Southern Harmony, 1835.[4]

New Britain" first appears in a shape note hymnal from 1829 called ColumbianHarmony. The melody is believed to be Scottish or Irish in origin; it is pentatonic anduggests a bagpipe tune; the hymn is frequently performed on bagpipes and has

become associated with that instrument. This tune seems to have been firmlystablished as the 'standard' for this hymn after an arrangement of it appeared in aeries of popular hymnbooks in the early twentieth century. (See also the versions inhe Sacred Harp article.)

Another tune to which it has sometimes been sung is the so-called "Old Regular Baptist" tune. It was sung by theCongregation of the Little Zion Church, Jeff, Kentucky, on the album The Ritchie Family of Kentucky on the Folkwabel (1958).

The Blind Boys of Alabama have also helped to popularise a long-standing association to the tune House of the Risi

Sun.[5]

Bagpipes

The association with bagpipes is relatively modern; for over a century, the tunewas nearly forgotten in the British Isles until the folk revival of the 1960s beganarrying traditional musicians back and forth between the British Isles and the United States (where "Amazing Grac

had remained a very popular hymn). It was little known outside church congregations or folk festivals until ArthurPenn's filmAlice's Restaurant(1969), in which Lee Hays of The Weavers leads worshipers in singing "AmazingGrace."

Performances and recordings

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 calld me here below,Will be forever mine.

John Newton, Olney Hymns (London: W. Oliver, 1779

Shape Note version from1835.




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Owing to its ability to be adapted easily, the song is a popular recording choice. Inssence, 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. Ithas been recorded by many artists over the last century; All Music Guide lists over

800 recordings.[6]

Between 1970 and 1972, a version by Judy Collins spent 67 weeks in the

UK Singles Chart, a record for a female artist, and peaked at number five.[7] In 1972, an instrumental version by the Pipes and Drums and Military Band

of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards spent five weeks at number one in theUK Singles Chart; it also reached the top spot in Australia.

Christian metal pioneers Stryper also recorded a version of this song titled10,000 Years on their 2005 comeback albumReborn. The Christianalternative rock band The Almost recorded a version entitled "AmazingBecause It Is" on their album Southern Weather.

The Italian one-man band Il Guardiano del Faro recorded an instrumentalversion in 1972, played on the Moog synthesizer that was very trendy at thetime. It was titledIl Gabbiano Infelice (The Unhappy Seagull).

Aretha Franklin recorded a notable version of the song nearly fifteen

minutes in length on her live gospel album of the same name. Rod Stewart and The Faces performed it live in their 1972-73 world tour. The Australian singer Kylie Minogue performed this song as the final encore

of her Let's Get To It Tour. Dropkick Murphys recorded this song for their The Gang's All Here cd in 1999. New Zealand soprano Hayley Westenra recorded a shortened version for her 2003 debut album Pure. Diamanda Gals recorded it in her "Vena Cava" album. Like all other tracks, it's not listed. Todd Agnew released the song Grace Like Rain in 2004, a rock version of Amazing Grace with an added cho Chris Tomlin recorded a version of the song on his 2006 album "See The Morning" that includes a different

chorus and only some of the original verses. Darius Rucker lead singer for Hootie & the Blowfish recorded this song on his solo project Back To Then. The Dirty Dozen Brass Band included a short instrumental interpretation of this song on their 2004 album

Funeral For a Friend. Phish has performed the song several times live, typically acapella Victor Wooten performs the song on his electric bass, noted for tuning his bass to the final pitches instead of

playing them on the fretboard. Chris Squire recorded a version on his bass guitar, and can be heard on the expanded version of the Yes album

"Going for the One", and the box set "Yesyears" Ani DiFranco often performs the song live, and she includes it on many of her albums including Dilate and

Living in Clip The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards have re-recorded it on their Spirit Of The Glen (2007) CD, between tours o

duty in Iraq. It is believed the pipes & drums played Amazing Grace as they entered Basra in 2003. Sufjan Stevens recorded a version on Disc 1: Noel [2001] Vol. 1 of his 2006 box set, "Songs for Christmas."

t has also been used in cultures beyond its Western origin:

Native American flautist Jay Red Eagle has recorded it. In Asia, Cantopop singer Joey Yung borrowed the tune for a version named "Tomorrow's Grace". Also in Asia, the group Nirgilis used the first verse of the hymn in the background of their song "Sakura," one

the opening themes to the anime Eureka Seven

Awards

Christian Music Hall of Fame and Museum, 2007.[8]

A piper plays "Amazing Gracon Memorial Day. "Amazing

Grace" is often played onbagpipes and in services to hon

the deceased.




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References

1. ^ The John Newton Project has posted online the sermon notes that Newton wrote to go along with the hymn: "AmazingGrace: The Sermon Notes". Transcribed from Princeton University Library, John Newton Diary, CO199 Marylynn Rou(2000) website url: http://www.johnnewton.org/Group/Group.aspx?id=32665 (Accessed April 10, 2007)

2. ^ Catholic Book of Worship III. Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops, Ottawa, Canada. (1986)3. ^ Duvall, Deborah (2000). Tahlequah and the Cherokee Nation. Arcadia Publishing. ISBN 0738507822.4. ^ Mark Rhoads maintains a brief review of the early melodies at his website, Amazing Grace: Some Early Tunes, which c

be found at the url: http://www.markrhoads.com/amazingsite/index.htm (accessed April 10, 2007)

5. ^ Rhoades, Mark. Amazing Grace: Some Early Tunes (http://www.markrhoads.com/amazingsite/index.htm). Retrieved on2008-02-23.

6. ^ All Music Guide search (allmusic.com), accessed 21 August 2007 (this site is not linkable.7. ^ Chart stats - Judy Collins - Amazing Grace (http://www.chartstats.com/songinfo.php?id=5517). Retrieved on 2008-03-08. ^ Christian Music Hall of Fame (http://hallmuseum.com/induction.htm). Retrieved on 2008-02-24.

See also

"Bury the chains: The British Struggle to Abolish Slavery", Hochschild, Adam, 2005 "Amazing Grace: The Story of America's Most Beloved Song", Turner, Steve, 2002.

External links

Amazing Grace: The Story of John Newton (http://www.texasfasola.org/biographies/johnnewton.html) Amazing Grace and other Gospel Lyrics (http://www.gospelhut.com/amazing-grace-lyrics) Amazing Grace Original Lyrics (http://www.anointedlinks.com/amazing_grace.html) Amazing Grace (http://www.snopes.com/religion/amazing.htm) myths at the Urban Legends Reference Pages Art of the States: Amazing Grace (http://artofthestates.org/cgi-bin/piece.pl?pid=288) variations on the hymn b

composer John Harbison

Audio samples

Amazing Grace and other Hymns from 1886 hymnal (http://www.antiquebooks.net/readpage.html#hymns)

Problems playing the files? See media help.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazing_Grace"

Amazing grace (download)

from the Library of Congress'John and Ruby Lomax 1939 Southern States Recording Trip; performed by Mr. and Mrs. N.V. Braley on 5 May 1939 at the homeof Beal D. Taylor near Medina, Texas



Performed on an Organ

Preceded by"Without You" by Nilsson

UK number one single (Royal Scots DragoonGuards version)

April 11, 1972

Succeeded by"Metal Guru" by T Rex




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Categories: Song articles missing an audio sample | Christian hymns | British poems | Folk songs adapted by Joan BKikki Danielsson songs | Billy "Crash" Craddock songs | Number-one singles in Australia | Number-one singles in

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