AMAZING GRACE

Created on 13/11/2004
Latest update on 20/10/2023

Artist: Sacred Harp Choir
Author: trad./John Newton
Label: Brunswick
Year: 1922

As New Britain; Amazing grace were the first words, written by John Newton, once a slave trader but he changed his mind completely. He became pastor in Olney (UK) and published these lyrics as part of The Olney Hymns (1779). First linked with its familiar melody (New Britain) in 1835, published by William Walker in the famous Southern Harmony And Musical Companion hymn book (1835). Four years earlier that same New Britain tune was published in shape-note book The Virginian Harmony entitled Harmony Grove (with different words). The first time Amazing Grace was published as coupled with the New Britain tune was in 1900 in hymnal Make His Praise Glorious by Edwin Othello Excell, who added an extra stanza (When we've been there ten thousand years...) lifted from Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852).

Covers:

1926:

Wisdom Sisters [the first as Amazing Grace, for Columbia]

1926:

Rev. H.R. Tomlin [idem]

1926:

Rev. J.M. Gates [for Victor, Paramount and Black Patti]

1928:

Dye's Sacred Harp Singers

1938:

Rev. J.C. Burnett

1939:

Jesse Allison [with Vera Hall and Dock Reed; John A. Lomax recording]

1940:

Blind Willie McTell [recorded by John A. Lomax]

1940:

Lead Belly [for the Library of Congress]

1942:

Sacred Heart Singing Society

1946:

Dixie Hummingbirds

1947:

Mahalia Jackson

1950s:

Five Blind Boys Of Alabama [in 2001 to the melody of The House Of The Rising Sun]

1951:

Sister Rosetta Tharpe

1952:

Harmonizing Four

1953:

Blackwood Brothers

1955:

Jesse Fuller [instrumental blues version]

1959:

Howard Adams & The Congregation of the Thornton Old Regular Baptist Church [as if nothing changed since the founding fathers]

1960:

Weavers

1962:

Doc Watson

1963:

Soul Stirrers [lead vocal: Jimmie Outler]

1963:

Fannie Lou Hamer

1966:

Big Brother & The Holding Company [in medley with Hi Heel Sneakers; vocal: Janis Joplin]

1966:

Mississippi Fred McDowell

1967:

Blind Willie McTell

1970:

Johnny Cash [in film I Walk The Line with Gregory Peck and in '74 on lp Sings Precious Memories]

1970:

Judy Collins [spending over a year in the UK charts]

1970:

Byrds [outtake Untitled lp]

1970:

Jerry Lee Lewis

1971:

Elvis Presley

1971:

Mieke Telkamp [with Hi Five as Waarheen, Waarvoor, inspired by the Judy Collins arrangement; lyrics: Karel Hille]

1971:

Rod Stewart [in medley with That's All Right]

1972:

Pipes And Drums And Military Band Of The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards [n°1 UK for 5 weeks, top 20 US; formed in 1678, they are even older than this hymn]

1972:

Aretha Franklin [title track lp]

1972:

Groundhogs

1973:

Apollo 100

1973:

Vicky Leandros [as Auf wiederseh'n, ihr Freunde mein]

1973:

Glen Campbell

1974:

Cliff Richard

1975:

Van Dyke Parks [outtake from his lp Clang Of The Yankee Reaper]

1975:

Nana Mouskouri

1975:

Amazing Rhythm Aces [in Amazing Grace Used To Be Her Favorite Song; top 10 C&W]

1976:

Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers

1976:

Joan Baez

1976:

Willie Nelson

1976:

Lena Valaitis [as Ein Schöner Tag]

1977:

Yes [Chris Squire solo]

1977:

Yvette Horner [as Au revoir]

1988:

Ladysmith Black Mambazo [with Paul Simon]

1989:

Daniel Lanois [on Acadie; vocal: Aaron Neville]

1989:

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

1992:

Holmes Brothers

1993:

Annie de Rooy [alias Paul De Leeuw as Waarheen, Waarvoor]

1993:

Fats Domino

1993:

Bryan Ferry

1994:

Allen Ginsberg [as New Stanzas For Amazing Grace; written for Ed Sanders]

1995:

Cissy Houston

1996:

José Carreras & Placido Domingo

1997:

LeAnn Rimes

1997:

Ani DiFranco

1997:

Helmut Lotti

1997:

Dana Winner [as Waarheen Waarvoor]

1997:

Jeff Beck

1998:

All Saints [elements in Never Ever]

1999:

Destiny's Child

2000:

Cassandra Wilson

2002:

Tramaine Hawkins

2002:

Spiritualized

2002:

Steve Vai

2002:

Sufjan Stevens

2003:

Willy Sommers, Lisa del Bo & Luc Steeno [as Vier Woorden]

2004:

Rory Block

2004:

Dirty Dozen Brass Band

2005:

Campbell Brothers

2006:

Demolition Doll Rods

2008:

Il Divo

2009:

Cat Power

2009:

Susan Boyle

2011:

Stef Ekkel [als Waarheen Waarvoor]

2014:

Gerard Joling & Gordon [as Waarheen, Waarvoor]

2014:

Paul Simon [as New Stanzas For Amazing Grace, on tribute The Life And Times Of Allen Ginsberg]

2021:

Rhiannon Giddens & Francesco Turrisi

2021:

Jennifer Hudson

Preachers used simple hymns to get their message across on illiterate congregations. Singing helps to memorize content, especially when it's been pounded in, line by line, over and over again, and that's what it's all about with shape-note hymns.

Contact


If you noticed blunt omissions, mis-interpretations or even out-and-out errors,
please let me know:

Arnold Rypens
Rozenlaan 65
B-2840 Reet (Rumst)

info@originals.be

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