The Other National Anthem (PDQ)

In a way, Amazing Grace, a hymn written by an oft' conflicted English sailor-turned-preacher, has become the "other" national anthem for a country whose history has been marked by triumph through strife.

"Amazing 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."

For a hymn that is a standard in American churches, it is remarkably vague when referencing a specific Deity, but amazingly specific when speaking to the journey through pain and suffering to freedom. John Newton, author of the hymn text, converted to Christianity while working on the slave ship Greyhound. Later, upon finally being made pastor of a Buckinghamshire church after repeatedly being refused ordination as a minister, he set these words to paper.

"Thro’ many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
’Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home."

The words were set to numerous tunes (a number of which we'll sing in our next concert), but it was in "Singin' Billy" Walker's Southern Harmony hymnal, published in the US in 1835, that the words were officially set to the iconic "NEW BRITTAIN" hymn tune.

"The Lord has promis’d good to me,
His word my hope secures;
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures."

The hymn became not only a religious touchstone, but also a rallying cry for numerous peoples who were oppressed. Aboloitionist sung the hymn to protest slavery; Native Americans on the Trail of Tears, not given sufficient time to burry their dead, sang the hymn as a replacement for funeral proceedings; Civil Rights leaders sang the hymn for inspiration when fighting segregation in the middle of the 20th century.

"When we’ve been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We've no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we’ve first begun."

The final verse, found in almost every contemporary hymnal, was not written by Newman: instead, it was penned by Harriet Beecher Stowe in her novel "Uncle Tom's Cabin."

Since Stowe's addition, the hymn has come to represent the non-bellicose side of the American dream. In 1971, with the Vietnam war in the background, Judy Collins released her recording of the hymn, which went on to climb the pop charts in both the United States and the Brittain. Collins claimed that the tune had the "power to transform."

"Amazing Grace" has, for two centuries, given hope to Davids facing Goliaths--a fitting anthem for a nation built on the notion that liberty is for all.