"Amazing Grace," also in Cherokee
"Amazing Grace" has become one of the most beloved hymns of all time. It was written by John Newton, who had lived a life of debauchery and slave master on a slave ship. In 1748, nearly dying in a storm at sea, he had a religious epiphany and repented it all. Becoming an ardent evangelical preacher and abolitionist, he teamed up with poet William Cowper to write Olney Hymns (1779) from which "Amazing Grace" comes (#41). It had many verses, but four are usually printed, beginning with the most famous: "Amazing grace! How sweet the sound! That saved a wretch like me! I once was lost, but now am found; Was blind but now I see." One can see the personal confession in this verse, but it speaks to many singers and when, in America, it was coupled with this haunting 19th camp-meeting melody, has become incredibly popular in the United States. The United Methodist Church hymnal of 1989 added 5 indigenous translations of the first verse; you will hear it here in Cherokee, from Hymn Camp 2026.
Source: Robert J. Morgan, Then Sings My Soul (W Publishing, 2011).
Score: Hymn #55 from Songs of Praise (Springfield, MO: Gospel Publishing, 1935)
Choir: Community Choristers, Hymn Camp, June 2026.
Piano: Lisa Ginn
Recorded at Central United Methodist Church, Ron Itnyre, recording engineer
This page has paths:
- Part 6: Patriotic Songs Alisa Clapp-Itnyre
- Part 7: Early 20th-Century Hymns Alisa Clapp-Itnyre