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- The Library of Congress Has An Amazing ‘Amazing Grace’ Collection.
- One of The Verses of ‘Amazing Grace’ Was stolen.
- Playing ‘Amazing Grace’ on Bagpipes Is A Recent Innovation.
- The Original Title Wasn’T ‘Amazing Grace.’
- We Don’T Know The Original Tune of ‘Amazing Grace.’
- ‘Amazing Grace’ Is A Paraphrase of The Words of King David.
- ‘Amazing Grace’ Is A Spiritual Practice.
The Library of Congress has a collection of more than 3,000 recorded performances of “Amazing Grace” by different musicians. The recordings were made on vinyl, cassette tape, CDs, and other media between the 1930s and 2000. The collection includes every imaginable genre from classical to country, and from gospel to rap to “world music.”
The original version of “Amazing Grace” had six verses, but in 1910 an enterprising hymnbook publisher named Edwin Othello Excell replaced the last three verses with the one that begins “When we’ve been there ten thousand years.” He took it from a hymn called “Jerusalem, Our Happy Home,” which had over 70 verses. Perhaps he thought no one would not...
Hearing a piper play “Amazing Grace” on solemn state occasions or at funerals might make you think this must be a time-honored tradition. But it was only in 1972 that the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards recorded the song on bagpipes and made this popular. Their version of “Amazing Grace” charted on the Billboard Top 40 for eight weeks.
The first title was “Faith’s Review and Expectation,” since it was written for New Year’s Day as an exercise in looking back (review) and looking forward (expectation). The hymn looks back in faith at the many dangers, toils, and snares through which God’s grace has sustained us. It also looks forward with confidence, knowing God’s grace will be th...
The tune to which the song is now universally sung is a shape-note tune called “New Britain” from the American South, first published in 1829. However, when the words were originally published 250 years ago, there were separate tune books and you could mix and match any tune that fit a “common meter” hymn like “Amazing Grace.” Some of the early tun...
When John Newton wrote “Amazing Grace” for a service on New Year’s Day 1773, it was to accompany a sermon on 1 Chronicles 17:16–17. It was published six years later under this same Scripture reference as a heading. In this passage, King David responds in amazement to the prophet Nathan’s announcement of God’s promise to maintain David’s line and hi...
When John Newton wrote the hymn, it was part of his regular practice of self-examination—he paused at key moments to consider his sins and God’s mercies in the past, to make his confession and receive forgiveness in the present, and to dedicate himself to God’s will for the future. He wrote in his diary on the first of January 1773, “I am now in th...
- Bruce Hindmarsh
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Mar 7, 2019 · The gospel hymn “Amazing Grace” might be one of the best-known songs in its genre. Despite its hopeful lyrics, the song was written by a former slave trader. John Newton was a slave ship captain who became a clergyman and abolitionist later in life. He found religion after a number of near-death experiences, including the […]
Jan 25, 2024 · Amazing Grace might be the ultimate song of redemption, steeped in two centuries of black history, but its writer had also been a slave ship captain. There is no shortage of versions of Amazing Grace.
Dec 24, 2023 · BALABAN: For a song with a 250-year history, the beauty of "Amazing Grace" is its ability to shapeshift. It's a religious text or not. It's a hymn or a gospel song or a folk song. It spurs ...
Apr 21, 2017 · “Author Harriet Beecher Stowe was the daughter and sister of revival preachers, and she may have heard 'Amazing Grace' sung this way at a revival meeting,” he says. “Some think her novel may have played a role in shaping how we sing ‘Amazing Grace’ today.” In the 20th century, the song became a staple for gospel and folk artists.
