‘Amazing Race’ a new take on an old hymn

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Tuesday, November 29. 2011

‘Amazing Race’ a new take on an old hymn

Danny Bloom is an American expatriate enjoying his cyberholic life in Taiwan. He writes:

CHIAYI CITY, Taiwan –As many readers know, the old song called “Amazing Grace” was a religious hymn written by the English clergyman John Newton and first published in 1779. While the song has a soulful, dreamy melody that has touched millions with its words and plaintive notes, the time has come for a 2011 rewrite.

Why tamper with something as beautiful as “Amazing Grace” since it is one of the most recognizable songs in the English-speaking world, and people know the melody in Asia and Africa as well? The original is a good song, a perfect song, with inspiring words, yet here I go with my updated revision. Instead of “amazing grace,” I want to talk about our amazing human race. So my title is “Amazing Race.”

Being myself a lover of Amazing Grace, I was skeptical.........until I listened to this. Wonderful. The lyrics are at the above link.

Posted by Bruce Kesler at 13:12 | Comments (17) | Trackbacks (0)

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Well that was different. Worth a listen more than once.

Nice find.

#1 Tom Francis on 2011-11-29 13:50 (Reply)

Thanks everyone! I am Danny the bloke who wrote Amazing Race, not to replace Am Grace, but merely to update the words for a more all-encompassing world. The original of course by Mr Sinner Newton is a Christian poem to promote the gospels of a church that does not grant grace or salvation to non-Christians, and that is a no no in my book. I am not a sinner, I embrace all religions, I embrace
all races and people, we are one race on Earth, planet Earth, the human race, and Amazing Race is a New Age plea for community! Glad you liked it.

#1.1 Danny Bloom (Link) on 2011-11-29 19:32 (Reply)

You seem to have deep roots in western Christian culture. With dedication and work you should be able the remedy that.

#1.1.1 chuck on 2011-11-29 21:20 (Reply)

I think it is too late.

#1.1.1.1 XRay on 2011-11-29 22:18 (Reply)

The composer/author of "Amazing Grace" was originally a slave trader who saw the Light.

Little wonder the reference to "wretch like me." It is one of the most heart-felt pieces out there, like he wrote it for himself.

#2 Whitehall on 2011-11-29 14:06 (Reply)

Whitehall, i heard but cannot confirm yet that Newton continued working in the slave trade for some time after he wrote this poem, and did not immediately stop doing that kind of unGodly work. Only later did he quit. So was he really a saint or did he remain a damned sinner? GOOGLE it. I believe we have only Judy Collins to blame for this dreck! SMILE.....says aging hippie danny bloom (1949-2032). Kidding.

#3 Danny Bloom (Link) on 2011-11-29 20:44 (Reply)

BRUCE, in order to help this amateur songwriter who wrote the lyrics on the back of a napkin in my cave in taiwan and then shipped the words over to a retired doctor in Texas who recorded it for me, just for US$20, his home studio hobby.......tell me what you liked about the new version, the words, and why? I hope to see the video go viral, not for me or fame or money, i don't care one wit about any of that, but to teach the world to sing a new song about love and peace and harmony and that we are ALL ONE RACE, and enough of this sectarian differences and judging. We are one, and no one religion has a monoply on truth. We need to affirm that. For all the world. SOON.

#4 Danny Bloom (Link) on 2011-11-29 20:47 (Reply)

You said it: "to teach the world to sing a new song about love and peace and harmony and that we are ALL ONE RACE, and enough of this sectarian differences and judging." Plus, I've long been a big fan of the many different artists' renditions of Amazing Grace. Wonderful music. One of my fondest memories is a barefoot cruise where every night a two-hour tape was played of various artists singing the song while I stared into the velvet sky dotted with the millions of diamond stars.
While replying, I don't care who wrote the original or why. The lasting purpose was accomplished. Further, as a Jew, I dislike any Christian bashing. It's ignorant and disrespectful, in whatever direction aimed.

#4.1 Bruce Kesler on 2011-11-29 22:08 (Reply)

Danny, your ignorance of Christianity, Newton, and the Gospel is showing. If people like your song, just accept it with a simple thank you. When you decry sectarianism and judging, then tell Christians they are wrong, judgmental and sectarian, you make yourself look silly. You're starting to sound like one of those OWS blokes. Quit while you are ahead.

#5 Barry Sober on 2011-11-30 08:25 (Reply)

Barry, points well said and points well taken. But sheesh Barry, I am all for sects and cults as long as they do not preach that only THEIR way is the way to HEAVEN. Under the circumstances, Christianity is an immoral and perverted religion, and I am not afraid to tell the truth. The gospels of the fake new testament are pure propaganda. Come on, Barry, if it walks like a duck and it talks like a duck, it's a duck. Christianity has no place in this world. It's a sick perverted religion and I think you know it. If not, then you have a lot of homework to do. But again, my song is not meant to replace Am GRACE. Am Grace is a lovely song for those who love it. i hate the song. SIGH. and i hate all false propaganda and false messiahs and false religions. Tall order, I know, but that is what life has taught me. If you beg to differ, that's fine, I am open to anything you want to teach me. I am all ears. Christians ARE judgemental and exclusivistic and triumphalistic and Jesus was NEVER like that. the church perverted Jesus into the Christ. Sad story of human ingorance and superstition. And I speak the truth, Barry. Of course, anyone can disagree with me. I have no axe to grind or agenda, other than to tell the trth.

#5.1 danny bloom (Link) on 2011-11-30 09:28 (Reply)

Danny, I don't know you, and now don't want to know you. I'll leave your comment up so that others can reply if they wish to, but I will delete any more if they exhibit similar anti-Christian attitudes. I think Gone With The Wind says it well, your comment is intolerant. At best. Further, it devalues your song and its value. Indeed, it saddens me tremendously that I feel I've been had.

#5.1.1 Bruce Kesler on 2011-11-30 10:22 (Reply)

"I am all for sects and cults as long as they do not preach that only THEIR way is the way to HEAVEN. Under the circumstances, Christianity is an immoral and perverted religion, and I am not afraid to tell the truth."

And yet you truely believe you are right and everyone else is wrong. Hmmmmm!

#6 GoneWithTheWind on 2011-11-30 10:16 (Reply)

Bruce and GonewithWind, first let me apologize. I was just being devils advocatey. Sorry, and I do apologize. Sometimes the only way to get people to TALK and COMMENt and CHAT on comment boards is by being DevilsADvocatey, but it's wrong here, and I apologize. I am not anti-Christian. I am anti-Antisemitism. That is where I am coming from. I haved lived in Asia for 20 years and never heard an antisemitic comment from anyone here, and THAT says something, no? Where does antisemitism come from? It didn't start with the Nazis. I am neither right nor wrong, I am just asking questions. Like i said, i have no agenda or cause, other than speaking the truth to power. I am the most tolerant person in the world. That is why I wrote that song. If, on the other hand, i was being too intolerant above comments and too judgemental, and I was, I do apologize. The nice thing about the internet is that there is always time to apologize for one's mistakes, and as a member of OUR AMAZING RACE, the human race, I hereby do apologize. Sincerely. I am just a gadfly, an eccentric. Pay me no mind. But I "do" apologize, Bruce, and while you are not glad you met me here, I am glad I met you. Friends?

#7 Danny Bloom on 2011-11-30 22:28 (Reply)

Accepted.........under the condition nothing remotely like that ever happen again. I have no tolerance for wiseacre, devil-advocacy, or any other expression of bigotry.

#7.1 Bruce Kesler on 2011-11-30 22:43 (Reply)

Thanks, Bruce, for a second chance and your understanding and good advice. I got a bit carried away, I admit it, and I was wrong, and I went about it the wrong way. So I promise, no more of that. Thanks for accepting my apology. And i really do apologize to you and everyone here. It's YOUR site, and i should have been more mindful and respectful of that. I took your advice into consideration and took all the comments off my YouTube link to the song, in fact, i just stopped all comments together, since I was the only person posting comments there, and some of them were way off base, now that i have learned my lesson. so the song can speak for itself, which is the advice someone gave me up above. I agree. Sorry for the stupid stuff earlier. Won't happen again. and Bruce, in even better news, i think you will like this, a friend of mine in Sweden who used to play Dylan songs in the subway of Rome Italy with me in 1971, well, he sang, i passed the hat, haha.....summer of 1971, we are still friends, he in Sweden me in Taiwan, and I asked him a few weeks ago to record his own cover version of my new lyrics, and i just heard it today, and wow, it's put my first Texas demo from my Ytube channel in another zone, because Staffan really nailed it here. if you have time, listen and tell me if HIS version works even better? I feel he really did justice to the new lyrics in a way that my demo didn't.........here it is and would love to get your feedback on it. And again, i promise, no more jerkness from me. I learned my lesson and i thank you for it. I am not so old that I cannot learn from mistakes. Todah Rabah!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150402316399615&set=vb.736144614&type=2&theater

#7.1.1 Danny Bloom (Link) on 2011-12-01 07:39 (Reply)

Here is Staffan Fenander's bluesy guitar version with his soulful vocals here on his YT channel:

http://youtu.be/KpC2kf8dpvM

#8 Danny Bloom (Link) on 2011-12-01 08:01 (Reply)

DB: your uninformed and strawman concept of Christian theology notwithstanding [1.1], I'm still not sure if this is or isn't a parody of Amazing Grace. As a parody, its banal and insipid. As liturgical music, any further comment would be a waste of electrons.

Snopes, http://www.snopes.com/religion/amazing.asp strips Newton's bio of its sugar coat.

#9 wirraway on 2011-12-01 17:01 (Reply)

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Tuesday, November 29. 2011

‘Amazing Race’ a new take on an old hymn