Amazing Grace is a Christian Hymn and one of the most popular spiritual songs worldwide. It was taken over and adapted by many choruses and bands and it was translated in many languages.
The lyrics of the song were written in 1772 by English poet John Newton and it was published for the first time as a poem in Olney Hymns, by J. Newton and William Cowper (1779). They talk about the author’s conversion to Christianity, after he was previously a slave trader and became a staunch activist against slavery.
Some theories say the tune is an adaptation after Loving Lambs, an old American folk song, while other claim that it is related to Scottish folk song Loch Lomond. However the song uses the tune of an old traditional song New Britain and it was first recorded as Amazing Grace in the 1847’s edition of William Walker’s tune book called “Southern Harmony, and Musical Companion”.
Amazing Grace Lyrics
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now I’m found
Was blind, but now I see
‘Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace that fear relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed.
Through many dangers, toils, and snares
I have already come
‘Tis grace has brought me safe thus far
And grace will lead me home.
How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
In a believer’s ear
It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds
And drives away his fear.
Must Jesus bear the cross alone
And all the world go free
No, there’s a cross for everyone
And there’s a cross for me.
When we’ve been here ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise
Than when we first begun.