Amazing GraceFor other uses, see Amazing Grace (disambiguation).The bottom of page 53 of Olney Hymns shows the rst stanza ofthe hymn beginning Amazing Grace!""AmazingGrace"isaChristianhymnpublishedin1779, with words written by the English poet and cler-gyman John Newton (17251807).Newton wrote the words from personal experience. Hegrew up without any particular religious conviction, buthis lifes path was formed by a variety of twists and coinci-dences that were often put into motion by his recalcitrantinsubordination. He was pressed (involuntarily forced)into service in the Royal Navy, and after leaving the ser-vice, he became involved in the Atlantic slave trade. In1748, a violent storm battered his vessel o the coast ofCounty Donegal, Ireland, so severely that he called outto God for mercy, a moment that marked his spiritualconversion. Whilst his boat was being repaired in LoughSwilly, he wrote the rst verse of his world famous song.He did however, continue his slave trading career until1754 or 1755, when he ended his seafaring altogether andbegan studying Christian theology.Ordained in the Church of England in 1764, Newton be-came curate of Olney, Buckinghamshire, where he be-gan to write hymns with poet William Cowper. Amaz-ing Grace was written to illustrate a sermon on NewYears Day of 1773. It is unknown if there was any mu-sic accompanying the verses;it may have simply beenchanted by the congregation. It debuted in print in 1779in Newton and Cowpers Olney Hymns but settled intorelative obscurity in England.In the United States how-ever, Amazing Grace was used extensively during theSecond Great Awakening in the early 19th century. It hasbeen associated with more than 20 melodies, but in 1835it was joined to a tune named New Britain to which itis most frequently sung today.With the message that forgiveness and redemption arepossible regardless of sins committed and that the soulcan be delivered from despair through the mercy of God,Amazing Grace is one of the most recognizable songs inthe English-speaking world. Author Gilbert Chase writesthat it is without a doubt the most famous of all thefolk hymns,[1] and Jonathan Aitken, a Newton biogra-pher, estimates that it is performed about 10 million timesannually.[2] It has had particular inuence in folk music,and has become an emblematic African American spiri-tual. Its universal message has been a signicant factor inits crossover into secular music. Amazing Grace saw aresurgence in popularity in the U.S. during the 1960s andhas been recorded thousands of times during and sincethe 20th century, occasionally appearing on popular mu-sic charts.1 John Newtons conversionHow industrious is Satan served. I was formerly one ofhis active undertemptors and had my inuence been equalto my wishes I would have carried all the human race withme. A common drunkard or proigate is a petty sinner towhat I was.John Newton, 1778[3]AccordingtotheDictionaryofAmericanHymnologyAmazing Grace is John Newton's spiritual autobiogra-phy in verse.[4]In 1725, Newton was born in Wapping, a district in Lon-don near the Thames. His father was a shipping merchantwho was brought up as a Catholic but had Protestant sym-pathies, and his mother was a devout Independent unal-iated with the Anglican Church. She had intended New-12 1 JOHN NEWTONS CONVERSIONton to become a clergyman, but she died of tuberculosiswhen he was six years old.[5]For the next few years,Newton was raised by his emotionally distant stepmotherwhile his father was at sea,and spent some time at aboarding school where he was mistreated.[6] At the ageof eleven, he joined his father on a ship as an apprentice;his seagoing career would be marked by headstrong dis-obedience.As a youth, Newton began a pattern of coming very closeto death, examining his relationship with God, then re-lapsing into bad habits. As a sailor, he denounced hisfaith after being inuenced by a shipmate who discussedCharacteristics of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times, a bookby the Third Earl of Shaftesbury, with him. In a series ofletters he later wrote, Like an unwary sailor who quits hisport just before a rising storm, I renounced the hopes andcomforts of the Gospel at the very time when every othercomfort was about to fail me.[7] His disobedience causedhim to be pressed into the Royal Navy, and he took ad-vantage of opportunities to overstay his leave and nallydeserted to visit Mary Polly Catlett, a family friend withwhom he had fallen in love.[8] After enduring humilia-tion for deserting,[lower-alpha 1] he managed to get himselftraded to a slave ship where he began a career in slavetrading.[lower-alpha 2]John Newton in his later yearsNewton often openly mocked the captain by creating ob-scene poems and songs about him that became so pop-ular the crew began to join in.[9] He entered into dis-agreements with several colleagues that resulted in his be-ing starved almost to death, imprisoned while at sea andchained like the slaves they carried, then outright enslavedand forced to work on a plantation in Sierra Leone nearthe Sherbro River. After several months he came to thinkof Sierra Leone as his home, but his father intervened af-ter Newton sent hima letter describing his circumstances,and a ship found him by coincidence.[lower-alpha 3] Newtonclaimed the only reason he left was because of Polly.[10]While aboard the shipGreyhound, Newton gained no-toriety for being one of the most profane men the cap-tain had ever met. In a culture where sailors commonlyused oaths and swore, Newton was admonished severaltimes for not only using the worst words the captain hadever heard, but creating new ones to exceed the limits ofverbal debauchery.[11] In March 1748, while the Grey-hound was in the North Atlantic, a violent storm cameupon the ship that was so rough it swept overboard a crewmember who was standing where Newton had been mo-ments before.[lower-alpha 4] After hours of the crew emp-tying water from the ship and expecting to be capsized,Newton and another mate tied themselves to the shipspump to keep from being washed overboard, working forseveral hours.[12] After proposing the measure to the cap-tain, Newton had turned and said, If this will not do, thenLord have mercy upon us!"[13][14] Newton rested brieybefore returning to the deck to steer for the next elevenhours. During his time at the wheel he pondered his di-vine challenge.[12]About two weeks later,the battered ship and starvingcrew landed in Lough Swilly, Ireland. For several weeksbefore the storm, Newton had been reading The Chris-tians Pattern, a summary of the 15th-century The Imita-tion of Christ by Thomas Kempis. The memory of theuttered phrase in a moment of desperation did not leavehim; he began to ask if he was worthy of Gods mercy orin any way redeemable as he had not only neglected hisfaith but directly opposed it, mocking others who showedtheirs, deriding and denouncing God as a myth. He cameto believe that God had sent him a profound message andhad begun to work through him.[15]Newtons conversion was not immediate, but he con-tactedPollysfamilyandannouncedhisintentionstomarry her. Her parents were hesitant as he was knownto be unreliable and impetuous. They knew he was pro-fane, but they allowed him to write to Polly, and he set tobegin to submit to authority for her sake.[16] He sought aplace on a slave ship bound for Africa, and Newton andhis crewmates participated in most of the same activitieshe had written about before; the only immorality fromwhich he was able to free himself was profanity. Af-ter a severe illness his resolve was renewed, yet he re-tained the same attitude towards slavery as was held byhis contemporaries.[lower-alpha 5] Newton continued in theslave trade through several voyages where he sailed uprivers in Africa now as a captain procured slaves be-ing oered for sale in larger ports, and subsequently trans-ported them to North America. In between voyages, hemarried Polly in 1750 and he found it more dicult toleave her at the beginning of each trip. After three ship-ping experiences in the slave trade, Newton was promised2.1 Olney Hymns 3a position as ships captain with cargo unrelated to slaverywhen, at the age of thirty, he collapsed and never sailedagain.[17][lower-alpha 6]The vicarage in Olney, where Newton wrote the hymn that wouldbecome Amazing Grace2 Olney curateWorking as a customs agent in Liverpool starting in 1756,Newton began to teach himself Latin, Greek, and theol-ogy. He and Polly immersed themselves in the churchcommunity, and Newtons passion was so impressive thathis friends suggested he become a priest in the Church ofEngland. He was turned down by the Bishop of York in1758, ostensibly for having no university degree,[18] al-though the more likely reasons were his leanings towardevangelism and tendency to socialize with Methodists.[19]Newton continued his devotions, and after being encour-aged by a friend, he wrote about his experiences in theslave trade and his conversion. The Earl of Dartmouth,impressed with his story, sponsored Newton for ordina-tion with the Bishop of Lincoln, and oered him thecuracy of Olney, Buckinghamshire, in 1764.[20]2.1 Olney HymnsMain article: Olney HymnsAmazing grace! (how sweet the sound)That sav'd 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 reliev'd;How precious did that grace appearThe hour I rst believ'd!Thro' many dangers, toils, and snares,I have already come;'Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,And grace will lead me home.The Lord has promisd good to me,His word my hope secures;He will my shield and portion beAs long as life endures.Yes, when this esh 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 call'd me here below,Will be forever mine.John Newton, Olney Hymns, 1779Olney was a village of about 2,500 residents whose mainindustry was making lace by hand. The people weremostly illiterate and many of them were poor.[2] New-tons preaching was unique in that he shared many of hisown experiences from the pulpit; many clergy preachedfrom a distance, not admitting any intimacy with temp-tation or sin. He was involved in his parishioners livesand was much loved, although his writing and deliverywere sometimes unpolished.[21] But his devotion and con-viction were apparent and forceful, and he often said hismission was to break a hard heart and to heal a brokenheart.[22] He struck a friendship with William Cowper,a gifted writer who had failed at a career in law and suf-fered bouts of insanity, attempting suicide several times.Cowper enjoyed Olney and Newtons company; he wasalso new to Olney and had gone through a spiritual con-version similar to Newtons. Together, their eect on thelocal congregation was impressive. In 1768, they foundit necessary to start a weekly prayer meeting to meet theneeds of an increasing number of parishioners. They alsobegan writing lessons for children.[23]Partly from Cowpers literary inuence, and partly be-cause learned vicars were expected to write verses, New-ton began to try his hand at hymns, which had becomepopular through the language, made plain for commonpeople to understand. Several prolic hymn writers wereat theirmost productiveinthe18thcentury, includ-ing Isaac Watts whose hymns Newton had grown uphearing[24] and Charles Wesley, with whom Newtonwas familiar. Wesleys brother John, the eventual founderof the Methodist Church, had encouraged Newton to gointo the clergy.[lower-alpha 7] Watts was a pioneer in Englishhymn writing, basing his work the Psalms. The mostprevalent hymns by Watts and others were written in thecommon meter in 8.6.8.6: the rst line is eight syllablesand the second is six.[25]Newton and Cowper attempted to present a poem orhymn for each prayer meeting. The lyrics to AmazingGrace were written in late 1772 and probably used in aprayer meeting for the rst time on January 1, 1773.[25]A collection of the poems Newton and Cowper had writ-ten for use in services at Olney was bound and publishedanonymously in 1779 under the title Olney Hymns. New-ton contributed 280 of the 348 texts in Olney Hymns; 14 3 DISSEMINATIONChronicles 17:1617, Faiths Review and Expectationwas the title of the poem with the rst line Amazinggrace! (how sweet the sound)".[4]2.2 Critical analysisThe general impact of Olney Hymns was immediate and itbecame a widely popular tool for evangelicals in Britainfor many years. Scholars appreciated Cowpers poetrysomewhat more than Newtons plaintive and plain lan-guage driven from his forceful personality. The mostprevalent themes in the verses written by Newton in OlneyHymns are faith in salvation, wonder at Gods grace, hislove for Jesus, and his cheerful exclamations of the joy hefound in his faith.[26] As a reection of Newtons connec-tion to his parishioners, he wrote many of the hymns inrst person, admitting his own experience with sin. BruceHindmarsh in Sing Them Over Again To Me: Hymns andHymnbooks in America considers Amazing Grace anexcellent example of Newtons testimonial style aordedby the use of this perspective.[27] Several of Newtonshymns were recognized as great work (Amazing Gracewas not among them) while others seem to have been in-cluded to ll in when Cowper was unable to write.[28]Jonathan Aitken calls Newton, specically referring toAmazing Grace, an unashamedly middlebrow lyricistwriting for a lowbrow congregation, noting that onlytwenty-one of the nearly 150 words used in all six verseshave more than one syllable.[29]William Phipps in the Anglican Theological Review andauthor James Basker have interpreted the rst stanza ofAmazing Grace as evidence of Newtons realizationthat his participation in the slave trade was his wretched-ness, perhaps representing a wider common understand-ing of Newtons motivations.[30][31] Newton joined forceswithayoungmannamedWilliamWilberforce, theBritish Member of Parliament who led the Parliamentar-ian campaign to abolish the slave trade in the British Em-pire, culminating in the Slave Trade Act 1807. However,Newton became an ardent and outspoken abolitionist af-ter he left Olney in the 1780s; he never connected theconstruction of the hymn that became Amazing Graceto anti-slavery sentiments.[32] The lyrics in Olney Hymnswere arranged by their association to the Biblical versesthat would be used by Newton and Cowper in their prayermeetings and did not address any political objective. ForNewton, the beginning of the year was a time to reect onones spiritual progress. At the same time he completed adiary which has since been lost that he had begun 17years before, two years after he quit sailing. The last entryof 1772 was a recounting of how much he had changedsince then.[33]And David the king came and sat before the LORD, andsaid, Who am I, O LORD God, and what is mine house,that thou hast brought me hitherto?And yet this was asmall thing in thine eyes, O God; for thou hast also spo-ken of thy servants house for a great while to come, andhast regarded me according to the estate of a man of highdegree, O LORD God.1 Chronicles 17:1617, King James VersionThe title ascribed to the hymn, "1 Chronicles 17:1617,refers to David's reaction to the prophet Nathan tellinghim that God intends to maintain his family line forever.Some Christians interpret this as a prediction that JesusChrist, as a descendant of David, was promised by Godas the salvation for all people.[34] Newtons sermon onthat January day in 1773 focused on the necessity to ex-press ones gratefulness for Gods guidance, that God isinvolved in the daily lives of Christians though they maynot be aware of it, and that patience for deliverance fromthe daily trials of life is warranted when the glories ofeternity await.[35] Newton sawhimself a sinner like Davidwho had been chosen, perhaps undeservedly,[36] and washumbled by it. According to Newton, unconverted sin-ners were blinded by the god of this world until mercycame to us not only undeserved but undesired ... ourhearts endeavored to shut him out till he overcame us bythe power of his grace.[33]The New Testament served as the basis for many of thelyrics of Amazing Grace. The rst verse, for example,can be traced to the story of the Prodigal Son. In theGospel of Luke the father says, For this son of mine wasdead and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. Thestory of Jesus healing a blind man who tells the Phariseesthat he can now see is told in the Gospel of John. New-ton used the words I was blind but now I see and de-clared Oh to grace how great a debtor!" in his letters anddiary entries as early as 1752.[37] The eect of the lyri-cal arrangement, according to Bruce Hindmarsh, allowsan instant release of energy in the exclamation Amaz-ing grace!", to be followed by a qualifying reply in howsweet the sound. In An Annotated Anthology of Hymns,Newtons use of an exclamation at the beginning of hisverse is called crude but eective in an overall com-position that suggest(s) a forceful, if simple, statementof faith.[36] Grace is recalled three times in the follow-ing verse, culminating in Newtons most personal storyof his conversion, underscoring the use of his personaltestimony with his parishioners.[27]The sermon preached by Newton was his last, of thosethat William Cowper heard in Olney, since Cowpersmental instabilityreturnedshortlythereafter. SteveTurner, author of Amazing Grace: The Story of Amer-icas Most Beloved Song, suggests Newton may have hadhis friend in mind, employing the themes of assuranceand deliverance from despair for Cowpers benet.[38]3 DisseminationAlthough it had its roots in England, Amazing Gracebecame an integral part of the Christian tapestry in the5An1847publicationof Southern Harmony, showingthetitleNew Britain and shape note music.United States. More than 60 of Newton and Cowpershymns were republished in other British hymnals andmagazines, but Amazing Grace was not, appearing onlyonce in a 1780 hymnal sponsored by the Countess ofHuntingdon. Scholar John Julian commented in his 1892ADictionaryofHymnology that outside of the UnitedStates, the song was unknown and it was far from beinga good example of Newtons nest work.[39][lower-alpha 8]Between 1789 and 1799, four variations of Newtonshymn were published in the U.S. in Baptist, Dutch Re-formed,and Congregationalist hymnodies;[34]by 1830Presbyterians andMethodists alsoincludedNewtonsverses in their hymnals.[40][41]The greatest inuences in the 19th century that propelledAmazing Grace to spread across the U.S. and becomea staple of religious services in many denominations andregions were the Second Great Awakening and the devel-opment of shape note singing communities. A tremen-dous religious movement swept the U.S. in the early 19thcentury, marked by the growth and popularity of churchesand religious revivals that got their start in Kentucky andTennessee. Unprecedented gatherings of thousands ofpeople attended camp meetings where they came to expe-rience salvation; preaching was ery and focused on sav-ing the sinner from temptation and backsliding.[42] Reli-gion was stripped of ornament and ceremony, and madeas plain and simple as possible; sermons and songs oftenused repetition to get across to a rural population of poorand mostly uneducated people the necessity of turningaway from sin. Witnessing and testifying became an inte-gral component to these meetings, where a congregationmember or even a stranger would rise and recount his turnfrom a sinful life to one of piety and peace.[40] Amaz-ing Grace was one of many hymns that punctuated fer-vent sermons, although the contemporary style used a re-frain, borrowed from other hymns, that employed sim-plicity and repetition such as:Amazing grace! How sweet the soundThat 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.[1]1. ^ Cite error: The named reference turner115-116was invoked but never dened (see the help page).Simultaneously, an unrelated movement of communalsinging was established throughout the South and West-ern states. A format of teaching music to illiterate peopleappeared in 1800. It used four sounds to symbolize thebasic scale: fa-sol-la-fa-sol-la-mi-fa. Each sound was ac-companied by a specically shaped note and thus becameknown as shape note singing. The method was simple tolearn and teach, so schools were established throughoutthe South and West. Communities would come togetherfor an entire day of singing in a large building where theysat in four distinct areas surrounding an open space, onemember directing the group as a whole. Most of the mu-sic was Christian, but the purpose of communal singingwas not primarily spiritual. Communities either couldnot aord music accompaniment or rejected it out of aCalvinistic sense of simplicity, so the songs were sung acappella.[43]William Walker, the composer who rst joined John Newtonsverses toNewBritain, tocreatethesongthat has becomeAmazing Grace6 3 DISSEMINATION3.1 New Britain tuneWhen originally used in Olney, it is unknown what mu-sic, if any, accompanied the verses written by John New-ton. Contemporary hymnbooks did not contain musicand were simply small books of religious poetry. Therst known instance of Newtons lines joined to musicwas inACompaniontotheCountess ofHuntingdonsHymns (London, 1808), where it is set to the tune Hep-hzibah by English composer John Jenkins Husband.[44]Common meter hymns were interchangeable with a va-rietyoftunes; morethantwentymusical settingsofAmazing Grace circulated with varying popularity un-til 1835 when William Walker assigned Newtons wordsto a traditional song named New Britain, which was it-self an amalgamation of two melodies (Gallaher andSt. Mary) rst published in the Columbian Harmonyby Charles H. Spilman and Benjamin Shaw (Cincinnati,1829). Spilman and Shaw, both students at KentuckysCentre College, compiled their tunebook both for publicworship and revivals, to satisfy the wants of the Churchin her triumphal march. Most of the tunes had been pre-viously published, but Gallaher and St. Mary hadnot.[45] As neither tune is attributed and both show ele-ments of oral transmission, scholars can only speculatethat they are possibly of British origin.[46] A manuscriptfrom 1828 by Lucius Chapin, a famous hymn writer ofthat time, contains a tune very close to St. Mary, butthat does not mean that he wrote it.[47]Amazing Grace, with the words written by Newton andjoined with New Britain, the melody most currently as-sociated with it, appeared for the rst time in Walkersshape note tunebookSouthernHarmony in 1847.[48] Itwas, according to author Steve Turner, a marriage madein heaven ... The music behind 'amazing' had a sense ofawe to it. The music behind 'grace' sounded graceful.There was a rise at the point of confession, as though theauthor was stepping out into the open and making a bolddeclaration, but a corresponding fall when admitting hisblindness.[49] Walkers collection was enormously popu-lar, selling about 600,000 copies all over the U.S. whenthe total population was just over 20 million. Anothershape note tunebook named The Sacred Harp (1844) byGeorgia residents Benjamin Franklin White and ElishaJ. King became widely inuential and continues to beused.[50]Another versewas rst recordedinHarriet BeecherStowe'simmenselyinuential 1852anti-slaverynovelUncle Toms Cabin. Three verses were emblematicallysung by Tom in his hour of deepest crisis.[51] He sings thesixth and fth verses in that order, and Stowe included an-other verse not written by Newton that had been passeddown orally in African American communities for at least50 years. It was originally one of between 50 to 70 versesof a song titled Jerusalem, My Happy Home that rstappeared in a 1790 book called A Collection of SacredBallads:When we've been there ten thousand years,Bright shining as the sun,We've no less days to sing Gods praise,Than when we rst begun.[1][2]1. ^ Aitken, p. 235.2. ^ Watson, p. 216.Amazing Grace came to be an emblem of a Chris-tian movement and a symbol of the U.S. itself as thecountry was involved in a great political experiment, at-tempting to employ democracy as a means of govern-ment. Shape note singing communities, with all the mem-bers sitting around an open center, each song employinga dierent director, illustrated this in practice. Simul-taneously, the U.S. began to expand westward into previ-ously unexplored territory that was often wilderness. Thedangers, toils, and snares of Newtons lyrics had bothliteral and gurative meanings for Americans.[50]Thisbecame poignantly true during the most serious test ofAmerican cohesion in the U.S. Civil War (18611865).Amazing Grace set to New Britain was included intwo hymnals distributed to soldiers and with death soreal and imminent, religious services in the military be-came commonplace.[52]The hymn was translated intoother languages as well: while on the Trail of Tears, theCherokee sang Christian hymns as a way of coping withthe ongoing tragedy, and a version of the song by SamuelWorcester that had been translated into the Cherokee lan-guage became very popular.[53][54]3.2 Urban revivalAlthough Amazing Grace set to New Britain waspopular, other versions existed regionally. Primitive Bap-tists in the Appalachian region often used New Britainwithotherhymns, andsometimessingthewordsofAmazing Grace to other folk songs, including titlessuch as "In the Pines", Pisgah, Primrose, and Evan,as all are able to be sung in common meter, of which themajority of their repertoire consists.[55][56] A tune namedArlington accompanied Newtons verses as much asNew Britain for a time in the late 19th century.Two musical arrangers named Dwight Moody and IraSankey heralded another religious revival in the cities ofthe U.S. and Europe, giving the song international expo-sure. Moodys preaching and Sankeys musical gifts weresignicant;their arrangements were the forerunners ofgospel music, and churches all over the U.S. were eagerto acquire them.[57] Moody and Sankey began publish-ing their compositions in 1875, and Amazing Grace ap-peared three times with three dierent melodies, but theywere the rst to give it its title; hymns were typically pub-lished using the rst line of the lyrics, or the name of thetune such as New Britain. A publisher named EdwinOthello Excell gave the version of Amazing Grace set7to New Britain immense popularity by publishing it ina series of hymnals that were used in urban churches.Excell altered some of Walkers music, making it morecontemporary and European, giving New Britain somedistance from its rural folk-music origins. Excells ver-sion was more palatable for a growing urban middle classand arranged for larger church choirs. Several editionsfeaturing Newtons rst three stanzas and the verse previ-ously included by Harriet Beecher Stowe in Uncle TomsCabin were published by Excell between 1900 and 1910,and his version of Amazing Grace became the standardform of the song in American churches.[58][59]4 Recorded versionsWith the advent of recorded music and radio, Amaz-ing Grace began to cross over from primarily a gospelstandard to secular audiences. The ability to record com-bined with the marketing of records to specic audiencesallowed Amazing Grace to take on thousands of dif-ferent forms in the 20th century. Where Edwin OthelloExcell sought to make the singing of Amazing Graceuniform throughout thousands of churches, records al-lowed artists to improvise with the words and music spe-cic to each audience. AllMusic lists more than 7,000recordings including re-releases and compilations asof September 2011.[60] Its rst recording is an a cap-pella version from 1922 by the Sacred Harp Choir. Itwas included from 1926 to 1930 in Okeh Records' cata-logue, which typically concentrated strongly on blues andjazz. Demand was high for black gospel recordings ofthe song by H. R. Tomlin and J. M. Gates. A poignantsense of nostalgia accompanied the recordings of severalgospel and blues singers in the 1940s and 1950s who usedthe song to remember their grandparents, traditions, andfamily roots.[61] It was recorded with musical accompa-niment for the rst time in 1930 by Fiddlin' John Car-son, although to another folk hymn named At the Cross,not to NewBritain.[62] Amazing Grace is emblematicof several kinds of folk music styles, often used as thestandard example to illustrate such musical techniques aslining out and call and response, that have been practicedin both black and white folk music.[63]Those songs come out of conviction and suering. Theworst voices can get through singing them 'cause they'retelling their experiences.Mahalia Jackson[64]Mahalia Jackson's 1947 version received signicant ra-dio airplay, and as her popularity grew throughout the1950s and 1960s, she often sang it at public events suchas concerts at Carnegie Hall.[65] Author James Baskerstates that the song has been employed by African Amer-icans as the paradigmatic Negro spiritual because itexpresses the joy felt at being delivered from slaveryand worldly miseries.[31] Anthony Heilbut, author of TheGospel Sound, states that the dangers, toils, and snaresof Newtons words are a universal testimony of theAfrican American experience.[66] In the 1960s with theAfrican American Civil Rights Movement and oppositionto the Vietnam War, the song took on a political tone.Mahalia Jackson employed Amazing Grace for CivilRights marchers, writing that she used it to give magi-cal protection a charm to ward o danger, an incanta-tion to the angels of heaven to descend ... I was not surethe magic worked outside the church walls ... in the openair of Mississippi. But I wasn't taking any chances.[67]Folk singer Judy Collins, who knew the song before shecould remember learning it, witnessed Fannie Lou Hamerleading marchers in Mississippi in 1964, singing Amaz-ing Grace. Collins also considered it a talisman of sorts,and saw its equal emotional impact on the marchers, wit-nesses, and law enforcement who opposed the civil rightsdemonstrators.[3]According to fellow folk singer JoanBaez, it was one of the most requested songs from heraudiences, but she never realized its origin as a hymn;by the time she was singing it in the 1960s she said ithad developed a life of its own.[68] It even made an ap-pearance at the Woodstock Music Festival in 1969 duringArlo Guthrie's performance.[69]Collins decided to record it in the late 1960s amid an at-mosphere of counterculture introspection; she was partof an encounter group that ended a contentious meetingby singing Amazing Grace as it was the only song towhich all the members knew the words. Her producerwas present and suggested she include a version of it onher 1970 albumWhales&Nightingales. Collins, whohad a history of alcohol abuse, claimed that the song wasable to pull her through to recovery.[3] It was recordedin St. Pauls, the chapel at Columbia University, chosenfor the acoustics. She chose an a cappella arrangementthat was close to Edwin Othello Excells, accompaniedby a chorus of amateur singers who were friends of hers.Collins connected it to the Vietnam War, to which sheobjected: I didn't know what else to do about the warin Vietnam. I had marched, I had voted, I had gone tojail on political actions and worked for the candidates Ibelieved in. The war was still raging. There was noth-ing left to do, I thought ... but sing 'Amazing Grace'.[70]Gradually and unexpectedly, the song began to be playedon the radio, and then be requested. It rose to number15 on the Billboard Hot 100, remaining on the charts for15 weeks,[71] as if, she wrote, her fans had been waitingto embrace it.[72] In the UK, it charted 8 times between1970 and 1972, peaking at number 5 and spending a totalof 75 weeks on popular music charts.[73]Although Collins used it as a catharsis for her oppositionto the Vietnam War, two years after her rendition, theRoyal Scots Dragoon Guards, senior Scottish regiment ofthe British Army, recorded an instrumental version fea-turing a bagpipe soloist accompanied by a pipe and drumband. The tempo of their arrangement was slowed to al-8 6 MODERN INTERPRETATIONSlow for the bagpipes, but it was based on Collins: it be-gan with a bagpipe solo introduction similar to her lonevoice, then it was accompanied by the band of bagpipesand horns, whereas in her version she is backed up by achorus.It hit number 1 in the UK singles chart in April1972, spending 24 weeks total on the charts, topped theRPM national singles chart in Canada for three weeks,[74]and rose as high as number 11 in the U.S.[75][76] It isalso a controversial instrumental, as it combined pipeswith a military band. The Pipe Major of the Royal ScotsDragoon Guards was summoned to Edinburgh Castle andchastised for demeaning the bagpipes.[77] Funeral proces-sions for killed police, re, and military personnel haveoften played a bagpipes version ever since.Aretha Franklin and Rod Stewart also recorded Amaz-ing Grace around the same time, and both of their ren-ditions were popular.[lower-alpha 9] All four versions weremarketed to distinct types of audiences thereby assuringits place as a pop song.[78] Johnny Cash recorded it on his1975 album Sings Precious Memories, dedicating it to hisolder brother Jack, who had been killed in a mill accidentwhen they were boys in Dyess, Arkansas. Cash and hisfamily sang it to themselves while they worked in the cot-ton elds following Jacks death. Cash often included thesong when he toured prisons, saying For the three min-utes that song is going on, everybody is free. It just freesthe spirit and frees the person.[3]The U.S. Library of Congress has a collection of 3,000versions of and songs inspired by Amazing Grace, someof which were rst-time recordings by folklorists Alanand John Lomax, a father and son team who in 1932traveled thousands of miles across the South to capturethedierent regional stylesofthesong. Morecon-temporary renditions include samples from such popu-lar artists as Sam Cooke and The Soul Stirrers (1963),The Byrds (1970), Elvis Presley (1971), Skeeter Davis(1972), Mighty Clouds of Joy (1972), Andy Williams(1972), Amazing Rhythm Aces (1975), Willie Nelson(1976), The Lemonheads (1992) and Dropkick Murphys(1999).[62]Somehow, Amazing Grace [embraced] core Ameri-can values without ever sounding triumphant or jingois-tic. It was a song that could be sung by young and old,Republican and Democrat, Southern Baptist and RomanCatholic, African American and Native American, high-ranking military ocer and anticapitalist campaigner.Steve Turner, 2002[79]5 In popular cultureFollowing the appropriation of the hymn in secular mu-sic, Amazing Grace became such an icon in Ameri-can culture that it has been used for a variety of secu-lar purposes and marketing campaigns, placing it in dan-ger of becoming a clich. It has been mass-producedon souvenirs, lent its name to a Superman villain, ap-peared on The Simpsons to demonstrate the redemptionof a murderous character named Sideshow Bob, incor-porated into Hare Krishna chants and adapted for Wiccaceremonies.[80] The hymn has been employed in severallms, including Alices Restaurant, Coal Miners Daugh-ter, andSilkwood. It isreferencedinthe2006lmAmazing Grace, which highlights Newtons inuence onthe leading British abolitionist William Wilberforce,[81]and in the upcoming lm biography of Newton, NewtonsGrace.[82] The 1982 science ction lm Star Trek II: TheWrath of Khan used Amazing Grace amid a context ofChristian symbolism, to memorialize Mr. Spock follow-ing his death,[81] but more practically, because the songhas become instantly recognizable to many in the audi-ence as music that sounds appropriate for a funeral ac-cording to a Star Trek scholar.[83] Since 1954 when anorgan instrumental of New Britain became a bestseller,Amazing Grace has been associated with funerals andmemorial services.[84] It has become a song that inspireshope in the wake of tragedy, becoming a sort of spiri-tual national anthem according to authors Mary Rourkeand Emily Gwathmey.[85] For example, President BarackObama recited and then sang the hymn at the memorialservice for Clementa Pinckney, one of the victims of the2015 Charleston church shooting.[86]6 Modern interpretationsIn recent years, the words of the hymn have been changedin some religious publications to downplay a sense ofimposed self-loathing by its singers. The second line,That saved a wretch like me!" has been rewritten asThat savedandstrengthenedme, saveasoul likeme, or that saved and set me free.[87] Kathleen Nor-ris in her book Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faithcharacterizes this transformation of the original wordsas wretched English making the line that replaces theoriginal laughablybland.[88]Part of thereasonforthis change has been the altered interpretations of whatwretchedness and grace means. Newtons Calvinisticview of redemption and divine grace formed his perspec-tive that he considered himself a sinner so vile that he wasunable to change his life or be redeemed without Godshelp. Yet his lyrical subtlety, in Steve Turners opinion,leaves the hymns meaning open to a variety of Chris-tian and non-Christian interpretations.[89] Wretch alsorepresents a period in Newtons life when he saw himselfoutcast and miserable, as he was when he was enslaved inSierra Leone; his own arrogance was matched by how farhe had fallen in his life.[90]The communal understanding of redemption and humanself-worth has changed since Newtons time. Since the1970s, self-help books, psychology, and some modernexpressions of Christianity have viewed this disparity in9A Canadian bagpiper playing Amazing Grace during a memo-rial service, October 29, 2009, at Forward Operating Base Wil-son, Afghanistanterms of grace being an innate quality within all peo-ple who must be inspired or strong enough to nd it:something to achieve. In contrast to Newtons vision ofwretchedness as his willful sin and distance from God,wretchedness has instead come to mean an obstacle ofphysical, social, or spiritual nature to overcome in orderto achieve a state of grace, happiness, or contentment.Since its immense popularity and iconic nature, graceand the meaning behind the words of Amazing Gracehave become as individual as the singer or listener.[91]Bruce Hindmarsh suggests that the secular popularity ofAmazing Grace is due to the absence of any mention ofGod in the lyrics until the fourth verse (by Excells ver-sion, the fourth verse begins When we've been there tenthousand years), and that the song represents the abilityof humanity to transform itself instead of a transforma-tion taking place at the hands of God. Grace, however,to John Newton had a clearer meaning, as he used theword to represent God or the power of God.[92]The transformative power of the song was investigated byjournalist Bill Moyers in a documentary released in 1990.Moyers was inspired to focus on the songs power afterwatching a performance at Lincoln Center, where the au-dience consisted of Christians and non-Christians, and henoticed that it had an equal impact on everybody in at-tendance, unifying them.[22] James Basker also acknowl-edged this force when he explained why he chose Amaz-ing Grace to represent a collection of anti-slavery poetry:there is a transformative power that is applicable ... : thetransformation of sin and sorrow into grace, of sueringinto beauty, of alienation into empathy and connection,of the unspeakable into imaginative literature.[93]Moyers interviewed Collins, Cash, opera singer JessyeNorman, Appalachian folk musician Jean Ritchie and herfamily, white Sacred Harp singers in Georgia, black Sa-cred Harp singers in Alabama, and a prison choir at theTexas State Penitentiary at Huntsville. Collins, Cash, andNorman were unable to discern if the power of the songcame from the music or the lyrics. Norman, who oncenotably sang it at the end of a large outdoor rock concertfor Nelson Mandelas 70th birthday, stated, I don't knowwhether its the text I don't know whether we're talkingabout the lyrics when we say that it touches so many peo-ple or whether its that tune that everybody knows. Aprisoner interviewed by Moyers explained his literal in-terpretation of the second verse: "'Twas grace that taughtmy heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved by sayingthat the fear became immediately real to him when herealized he may never get his life in order, compoundedby the loneliness and restriction in prison. Gospel singerMarion Williams summed up its eect: Thats a songthat gets to everybody.[3]The Dictionary of American Hymnology claims it is in-cluded in more than a thousand published hymnals, andrecommends its use for occasions of worship when weneed to confess with joy that we are saved by Gods gracealone; as a hymn of response to forgiveness of sin or asan assurance of pardon; as a confession of faith or afterthe sermon.[4]7 ReferencesExplanatory notes[1] Stripped of his rank, whipped in public, and subjected tothe abuses directed to prisoners and other press-gangedmen in the Navy, he demonstrated insolence and rebellionduring his service for the next few months, remarking thatthe only reason he did not murder the captain or commitsuicide was because he did not want Polly to think badlyof him. (Martin [1950], pp. 4147.)[2] Newton kept a series of detailed journals as a slave trader;these are perhaps the rst primary source of the Atlanticslave trade from the perspective of a merchant (Moyers).Women, naked or nearly so, upon their arrival on shipwere claimed by the sailors, and Newton alluded to sexualmisbehavior in his writings that has since been interpretedby historians to mean that he, along with other sailors,took (and presumably raped) whomever he chose. (Mar-tin [1950], pp. 8285)(Aitken, p. 64.)[3] Newtons father was friends with Joseph Manesty, who in-tervened several times in Newtons life. Newton was sup-posed to go to Jamaica on Manestys ship, but missed it10 7 REFERENCESwhile he was with the Catletts. When Newtons father gothis sons letter detailing his conditions in Sierra Leone, heasked Manesty to nd Newton. Manesty sent the Grey-hound, which traveled along the African coast trading atvarious stops. An associate of Newton lit a re signaling toships he was interested in trading only 30 minutes beforethe Greyhound appeared. (Aitken, pp. 3435, 6465.)[4] Several retellings of Newtons life story claim that he wascarrying slaves during the voyage in which he experiencedhis conversion, but the ship was carrying livestock, wood,and beeswax from the coast of Africa. (Aitken, p. 76.)[5] When Newton began his journal in 1750, not only wasslave trading seen as a respectable profession by the ma-jority of Britons, its necessity to the overall prosperity ofthe kingdom was communally understood and approved.Only Quakers, who were much in the minority and per-ceived as eccentric, had raised any protest about the prac-tice. (Martin and Spurrell [1962], pp. xixii.)[6] Newtons biographers and Newton himself does not puta name to this episode other than a t in which he be-came unresponsive, suering dizziness and a headache.His doctor advised him not to go to sea again, and Newtoncomplied. Jonathan Aitken called it a stroke or seizure,but its cause is unknown. (Martin [1950], pp. 140141.)(Aitken, p. 125.)[7] Watts had previously written a hymn named Alas! AndDid My Saviour Bleed that contained the lines Amazingpity! Grace unknown!/ And love beyond degree!". PhilipDoddridge, another well-known hymn writer, wrote an-other in 1755 titled The Humiliation and Exaltation ofGods Israel that began Amazing grace of God on high!"and included other similar wording to Newtons verses.Newton biographer Jonathan Aitken states that Watts hadinspired most of Newtons compositions. (Turner,pp.8283.)(Aitken, pp. 2829.)[8] Only since the 1950s has it gained some popularity in theUK; not until 1964 was it published with the music mostcommonly associated with it. (Noll and Blumhofer, p. 8)[9] Franklins version is a prime example of long meterrendition: she sings several notes representing a syllableand the vocals are more dramatic and lilting. Her versionlasts over ten minutes in comparison to the Royal ScotsDragoon Guards that lasts under three minutes. (Tall-madge)(Turner, pp. 150151.)Citations[1] Chase, p. 181.[2] Aitken, p. 224.[3] Moyers, Bill (director). Amazing Grace with Bill Moyers,Public Aairs Television, Inc. (1990).[4] Amazing Grace How Sweet the Sound,Dictionary ofAmerican Hymnology. Retrieved on October 31, 2009.[5] Martin (1950), pp. 89.[6] Newton (1824), p. 12.[7] Newton (1824), pp. 2122.[8] Martin (1950), p. 23.[9] Martin (1950), pp. 5152.[10] Martin (1950), p. 63.[11] Martin (1950), pp. 6768.[12] Martin (1950), p. 73.[13] Newton (1824), p. 41.[14] Martin (1950), pp. 7071.[15] Aitken, pp. 8184.[16] Martin (1950), pp. 8285.[17] Aitken, p. 125.[18] Martin (1950), pp. 166188.[19] Aitken, pp. 153154.[20] Martin (1950), pp. 198200.[21] Martin (1950), pp. 208217.[22] Pollock, John (2009). Amazing Grace: The great SeaChange in the Life of John Newton, The Trinity ForumReading, The Trinity Forum.[23] Turner, p. 76.[24] Aitken, p. 28.[25] Turner, pp. 7779.[26] Benson, p. 339.[27] Noll and Blumhofer, p. 6.[28] Benson, p. 338.[29] Aitken, p. 226.[30] Phipps, William (Summer 1990). " 'Amazing Grace' inthe hymnwriters life, Anglican Theological Review, 72(3), pp. 306313.[31] Basker, p. 281.[32] Aitken, p. 231.[33] Aitken, p. 227.[34] Noll and Blumhofer, p. 8.[35] Turner, p. 81.[36] Watson, p. 215.[37] Aitken, p. 228.[38] Turner, p. 86.[39] Julian, p. 55.[40] Noll and Blumhofer, p. 10.[41] Aitken, pp. 232233.11[42] Turner, pp. 115116.[43] Turner, p. 117.[44] The Hymn Tune Index, Search="Hephzibah. Universityof Illinois at Champaign-Urbana Library website. Re-trieved on December 31, 2010.[45] Turner, pp. 120122.[46] Turner, p. 123.[47] Rachel Wells Hall (May 12, 2015). Did Lucius Chapinwrite the Amazing Grace tune?".[48] Noll and Blumhofer, p. 11.[49] Turner, p. 124.[50] Turner, p. 126.[51] Stowe, p. 417.[52] Turner, pp. 127128.[53] Duvall, p. 35.[54] Swiderski, p. 91.[55] Patterson, p. 137.[56] Sutton, Brett (January 1982). Shape-Note Tune Booksand Primitive Hymns, Ethnomusicology, 26 (1), pp. 1126.[57] Turner, pp. 133135.[58] Noll and Blumhofer, p. 13.[59] Turner, pp. 137138, 140145.[60] AllMusic search=Amazing Grace Song, AllMusic. Re-trieved on September 18, 2011.[61] Turner, pp. 154155.[62] Amazing Grace: Special Presentation: Amazing GraceTimeline United States Library of Congress PerformingArts Encyclopedia. Retrieved on November 1, 2008.[63] Tallmadge, William(May 1961). Dr. Watts and MahaliaJackson: The Development, Decline, and Survival of aFolk Style in America, Ethnomusicology, 5 (2), pp. 9599.[64] Turner, p. 157.[65] Mahalia Jackson.DictionaryofAmericanBiography,Supplement 9: 19711975. CharlesScribnersSons,1994.[66] Turner, p. 148.[67] Aitken, p. 236.[68] Turner, p. 162.[69] Turner, p. 175.[70] Collins, p. 165.[71] Whitburn, p. 144.[72] Collins, p. 166.[73] Brown, Kutner, and Warwick p. 179.[74] Top Singles Volume 17, No. 17, June 10 1972 RPMMagazine (June 10, 1972). Retrieved November 4, 2011.[75] Brown, Kutner, and Warwick p. 757.[76] Whitburn, p. 610.[77] Turner, p. 188.[78] Turner, p. 192.[79] Turner, p. 205.[80] Turner, pp. 195205.[81] Noll and Blumhofer, p. 15.[82] Wesley Young, A tale of grace: Local lmmaker bring-ing story of John Newton to life Winston-Salem Journal,August 1, 2013[83] Porter and McLaren, p. 157.[84] Turner, p. 159.[85] Rourke and Gwathmey, p. 108.[86] President Obama: Emanuel AME 'a phoenix rising fromthe ashes". MSNBC. 2014-09-17. Retrieved 2015-06-28.[87] Saunders, William(2003). LentenMusic ArlingtonCatholic Herald. Retrieved on February 7, 2010.[88] Norris, p. 66.[89] Turner, pp. 213214.[90] Bruner and Ware, pp. 3132.[91] Turner, pp. 218220.[92] Noll and Blumhofer, p. 16.[93] Basker, p. xxxiv.BibliographyAitken, Jonathan (2007). John Newton: From Dis-grace to Amazing Grace, Crossway Books. ISBN 1-58134-848-7Basker, James (2002). Amazing Grace:An Anthol-ogy of Poems About Slavery, 16601810, Yale Uni-versity Press. ISBN 0-300-09172-9Benson, Louis (1915). The English Hymn: Its Devel-opment and Use in Worship, The Presbyterian Boardof Publication, Philadelphia.Bradley, Ian (ed.)(1989). The Book of Hymns, TheOverlook Press. ISBN 0-87951-346-2Brown, Tony; Kutner, Jon; Warwick, Neil (2000).Complete Book of the British Charts: Singles & Al-bums, Omnibus. ISBN 0-7119-7670-812 8 EXTERNAL LINKSBruner, Kurt; Ware, Jim (2007). Finding God in theStory of Amazing Grace, Tyndale House Publishers,Inc. ISBN 1-4143-1181-8Chase, Gilbert (1987). Americas Music, From thePilgrims to the Present, McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-252-00454-XCollins, Judy (1998). Singing Lessons: A Memoirof Love, Loss, Hope, and Healing , Pocket Books.ISBN 0-671-02745-XDuvall, Deborah (2000). Tahlequah and the Chero-kee Nation, ArcadiaPublishing. ISBN0-7385-0782-2Julian, John (ed.)(1892). A Dictionary of Hymnol-ogy, Charles Scribners Sons, New York.Martin, Bernard (1950). John Newton: A Biogra-phy, William Heineman, Ltd., London.Martin, Bernard and Spurrell, Mark, (eds.)(1962).The Journal of a Slave Trader (John Newton), TheEpworth Press, London.Newton, John (1811). Thoughts Upon the AfricanSlave Trade, Samuel Whiting and Co., London.Newton, John (1824). The Works of the Rev. JohnNewtonLateRectoroftheUnitedParishesofSt.MaryWoolnothandSt. MaryWoolchurchHaw,London: Volume 1, Nathan Whiting, London.Noll, Mark A.; Blumhofer, Edith L. (eds.) (2006).Sing Them Over Again to Me: Hymns and Hymn-books inAmerica, UniversityofAlabamaPress.ISBN 0-8173-1505-5Norris, Kathleen (1999). Amazing Grace: A Vocab-ulary of Faith, Riverhead. ISBN 1-57322-078-7Patterson, BeverlyBush(1995). The Soundofthe Dove: Singing in Appalachian Primitive BaptistChurches, University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0-252-02123-1Porter, Jennifer; McLaren, Darcee(eds.)(1999).Star Trek and Sacred Ground: Explorations of StarTrek, Religion, and American Culture, State Univer-sity of New York Press, ISBN 0-585-29190-XRourke, Mary; Gwathmey, Emily (1996). AmazingGrace in America: Our Spiritual National Anthem,Angel City Press. ISBN 1-883318-30-0Stowe, Harriet Beecher (1899). Uncle Toms Cabin,or Life Among the Lowly, R. F. Fenno & Company,New York City.Swiderski, Richard (1996). The Metamorphosis ofEnglish: Versions of Other Languages, GreenwoodPublishing Group. ISBN 0-89789-468-5Turner, Steve (2002). Amazing Grace: The Story ofAmericas Most Beloved Song, HarperCollins. ISBN0-06-000219-0Watson, J. R. (ed.)(2002). An Annotated Anthol-ogy of Hymns, Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-826973-0Whitburn, Joel (2003). Joel Whitburns Top Pop Sin-gles, 19552002, Record Research, Inc. ISBN 0-89820-155-18 External linksAmazing Grace at Hymnary.orgThe Amazing GraceU.S. Library of Congress Amazing Grace collectionCowper & Newton Museum in Olney, EnglandAmazing Grace: Some Early Tunes Anthology ofthe American Hymn-Tune RepertoryAmazing Grace: The story behind the song and itsconnection to Lough SwillyAmazing Grace Versions Online Sort139 Text and image sources, contributors, and licenses9.1 Text AmazingGraceSource: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazing_Grace?oldid=675035165Contributors: Tbc~enwiki, Wesley, BryanDerksen, Ed Poor, WilliamAvery, Zoe, Heron, Frecklefoot, Liftarn, Ixfd64, Paul A, Ihcoyc, TUF-KAT, Notheruser, Kingturtle, Jiang, Ven-tura, Harris7, Tb, Hyacinth, Morven, Chidoll, Cjrother, Opus33, Raul654, Pollinator, UninvitedCompany, Robbot, Astronautics~enwiki,Academic Challenger, Jondel, Smb1001, Wikibot, Cymor, WiseWoman, Orpheus, Gamaliel, Wolfe, Sdsher, Mboverload, Siroxo, FalconKirtaran, Bobblewik, Andycjp, RobinCarmody, Cckkab, Antandrus, Elembis, 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