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Introducing the members:
1) I'm pretty much it. I'm acoustic,but back up with digital, and then crunch the hell out of it
Song Info
Genre
Charts
#17,708 today
Peak #90
#1,632 in subgenre
Peak #13
Author
Daniel Giles arrangement/vocals
Rights
intellectual, 2004
Uploaded
October 24, 2004
Track Files
MP3
MP3 3.6 MB • 128 kbps • 0:00
Story behind the song
I shall always continue to be amazed...I've been graced by a wonderous life, and now a wonderous eternity.
Peace, my friends.
I love you all.
Daniel
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As you may know, he spent Chistmas in jail, traumatized. But at Christmas, something came over even the hardest of the rogues...perhaps nostalgia for gentler times. The holiday had no outward appearance of being any but another bleak day. No recognition or special treatment other than a meal of meat (turkey), canned corn, some watery mashed potatoes with cold gravy, and a dab of cranberry sauce. No visitors of course (afterall, why treat arrestees and detainees any different from the wicked convicted?...everyone was equally dehumanized)...and few decorations (just how fancy could they be using toilet paper maiche' and soured empty milk cartons?)
Not even a lousy candy cane
But, though they were allowed nothing, they still owned their voices. Dan started humming Christmas carols, alone, freezing cold, from his top bunk. Quietly. To himself. He was the 'new guy' and was petrified to irritate his cellmates.
Softly a voice joined in, then another 2, 3, and more...this strange menagerie of orange-suited strangers - different backgrounds, extremely diverse cultures, contrasting temperments and demeanor - merged into a family. No matter what they had done - or hadn't done - "outside", they became brothers that night. The bare concrete halls echoed with their spirit, their memories of Christmases past, before life went wrong.
Even the normally souless guards must have been affected, because for once, no one was silenced.
Then during a pause, Dan started singing "Amazing Grace" solo (a capella, of course...no guitars allowed like in Jailhouse Rock). From what he described, it brought tears to his eyes relating it, the entire cellblock hushed as he sang his heart out...alone.
As he came to the end, he looked around his flourescent lit cell and every one of those 15 men were brought to tears...and yes, there were a few who had been agressive and cruel--before. The entire cellblock, around 200 men, wiped their eyes he later heard...then, unprecidented, there was a round of applause: murderers, drug dealers, robbers, violent assaulters, general ne'er-do-wells...and innocent, frustrated, railroaded men....applauded.
That was too much for the "badges": lights and heat off, everyone forced to huddle and shivver under their thin blanket to deal with thier own dreams...and nightmares, not even a pillow to muffle their sobs.
It was a night to remeber, for sure.
Christmas, 2003. In America.
"Coddled"? I think not. I know not.
..and try as hard as "The System" could to destroy their spirit, those "brothers" he shared air with tried to carry the feeling on...for a whole week and part of the next: Dan and 3 others casually formed their own personal vocal quartet.
One of the songs they insisted they perform was "Amazing Grace". Dan worked up the arrangement...he said they were GOOD. He even managed to muster up some pleasure for a moment or two now and then. He was haunted by the account he'd heard of the musicians in the Nazi death camps. He learned, first hand, what drove them day to day, til they were kicked in the face...or taken away.
The group fell apart, as was inevitable, through atrition. The initial momentum ebbed away, while G~'s soul was being eroded by the intimidation game the legal system was playing.
But it was important to him, when he was finally released after 6 horrendous weeks, that he record this song, this hymn...it held so many deep meanings from within. It represented a universal comraderie, love, hope, a reflection of sorrow and despair--most of all comfort and peace. Peace. Where he is now.
...a long tale. And a farewell.
But a glimpse of more: his "beyond".
That's why it was so hard to seek out this recording from where he had it buried within his computer files.
That's why I c
Lyrics
Words: John Newton, Olney Hymns (London: W. Oliver, 1779). Exception: the last stanza is by an unknown author; it appeared as early as 1829 in the Baptist Songster, by R. Winchell (Wethersfield, Connecticut), as the last stanza of the song “Jerusalem My Happy Home.”
Vocals: Daniel Giles
This is probably the most popular hymn in the English language—a television documentary was even made about it. Perhaps it is because its words so well describe the author: John Newton was a slave trader before coming to Christ. It was sung at the funeral of American president Ronald Reagan
AMAZING GRACE
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.
’Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,
And grace my fears relieved;
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed.
Through many dangers, toils and snares,
I have already come;
’Tis grace hath brought me safe thus far,
And grace will lead me home.
The Lord has promised good to me,
His Word my hope secures;
He will my Shield and Portion be,
As long as life endures.
Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess, within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.
The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,
The sun forbear to shine;
But God, Who called me here below,
Shall be forever mine.
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’d first begun.
And in Cherokee
OOH NAY THLA NAH, HEE OO WAY GEE.’
E GAH GWOO YAH HAY EE.
NAW GWOO JOE SAH, WE YOU LOW SAY,
E GAH GWOO YAH HO NAH.
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