Thoughts on the hymn - Amazing Grace

[mandyky]

About 15 years ago I saw a PBS documentary on this hymn. A little about the history of the writer and the irony that it became a slave song, and about 20 or more variations of it being sung. That was when I really fell in love with the range of Aaron Neville's voice.

I cried during a lot of this show, a very cleansing experience.

Do you like this hymn?
Do you attend a church that sings it regularly?

What are other non-denominational hymns you like?

[wildflower]

1. It is a moving song. I also like the song...

that goes, "I'm going to lay down my sword and shield / Down by the riverside..."

which I heard sung beautifully on the Laura Flanders show a couple of weeks ago when she was in Washington D.C.

I also love peace-oriented holiday songs. "Let there be peace on earth / And let it begin with me..." And there are some others that I can't think of at the moment.

Music is so powerful; it can make people feel things - and feel bound together - in a way nothing else can. I wish that peace music were as pervasive nowadays as it was 30 years ago.

wildflower

[mandyky]

2. Yes, Evelyn Harris did it at the rally

Made me weep and I had goosebumps for about 1/2. She did it accapella too, I want to hear more of this artist becuz of that day, for sure!

[neweurope]

7. Evely Harris did it wonderful - I, tzoo, was crying andf had goose

bumps. I must have played that video 30 times over. Saved the link for the longest time, too. But when I wanted to listen to it again the other day the link didn't work anymore. I'm stupid for not having saved the video :cry:


-----------------

Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

[kwassa]

3. The irony is that it was written by a former slaveship captain

John Newton, who later repented for his sins, so to speak, and became an abolitionist.

He preached Christianity to the slaves on his ship, though, and then put them back down in the hold. He considered himself a Christian when he was a slaver.

[greyl]

4. I don't think it's ironic but,

otherwise I agree with you.

Snopes has an interesting article, and they supply an interesting phrase: "growing into one's conversion"

Snopes

[greyl]

5. The lost stanza

for your consideration:
www.worship.com/articlesbooks/amazing%20grace%20lost%20stanza.htm

edit:

"You may be surprised to find the last verse unfamiliar. Most modern day hymnals close with the verse that begins with "when we've been there ten thousand years". Remarkably, this stanza was not authored by Newton but was inserted into the hymn in the 1900's, at which time the sixth verse Newton authored was dropped.

[intheflow]

6. Great hymn! Did you know it could also be sung to the tune of

Gilligan's Island? :silly:

Another song it can be sung to is the Eagles' "Peaceful Easy Feeling." Start with the verse and it leads right into the refrain! i.e., substitute

"Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound/that saved a retch like me"

for

"I like the way your sparkling earrings lay/against your skin so brown"

Then at the end of the Amazing Grace verse, you can keep going by singing "I've got a peaceful, easy feeling/And I know it won't let me down/'Cause I'm already standing on the ground."

I like to think of it as a Methodist summer camp version of sampling. :)