Skip to main content

Pretty Unamazing Grace


Counters
I am being driven slowly insane by the current “hit” by Neil Diamond, entitled “Pretty Amazing Grace.” The poppy melody allied with lyrics that are trite, pseudo-spiritual, second-rate, second-hand poetry (the sort that I write but generally don’t get the opportunity to fob off on the paying public) is forcing me to change channel every time it comes on. Is it about a woman (called Grace)? Is it about an encounter with God (in Jesus)? Don’t know… And his website or sleevenotes don’t make it any clearer.
Neil Diamond has a history of using Biblical language in secular pop songs… And despite being Jewish, he doesn’t restrict his vocabulary to the Hebrew Scriptures… Among his more famous oeuvres are “I am, I said,” “Brother Love's Travelling Salvation Show” or “Holly Holy”, “I'm a Believer” “Lady Magdelene,” but his less well known songs include titles like “Save Me,” “Walk on Water,” “The Way” and are littered with allusions to John the Baptist and Christ... But this latest offering has prompted a rash of “Is Neil Diamond a Christian?” bloggery… I’m not going to make a judgement on that (less I exhibit some of the “pretty amazing gracelessness” evident in some of my brothers’ and sisters’ comments on various sites), but I will say that if this is an expression of faith of some kind, then it is, sadly all too reminiscent of the individualistic, privatised, “Jesus is my heavenly boyfriend” religion, that is evident in far too many modern praise songs… It is all “me” and “I”. There is no “us” or “we”. Yet I am with Jim Wallis in his assertion that while faith must be personal, it is never private. And I am not referring here to Neil Diamond’s reluctance to speak about his faith (or lack of it)… That’s just having enough sense not to alienate any of your market! Keep them guessing.
No, the question is, whether the experience expressed in Diamond’s “Pretty amazing grace” or Newton’s “Amazing Grace”, is then reflected by grace and forgiveness in our relationships with others?
But anyway, here are the lyrics for anyone interested…

Pretty amazing grace is what you showed me
Pretty amazing grace is what you are
I was an empty vessel
You filled me up inside
And with amazing grace
Restored my pride

Pretty amazing grace is how you saved me
And with amazing grace, reclaimed my heart
Love in the midst of chaos
Calm in the heart of war
Showed with amazing grace
What love is for

You forgave my insensitivity
And my attempt to let it mislead you
You stood beside a wretch like me
And pretty amazing grace was all I needed.

Stumbled inside the doorway of your chapel
Humbled and awed by everything I found
Duty and love surround me
Freed me from what I fear
Ask for amazing grace
And you a appear

You overcame my loss of hope and faith
Gave me a truth I could believe in
You led me to a higher place
Showed me amazing grace
When grace was what I need

Look in a mirror I see your refection
Open a book you live on every page
I fall and you’re there to lift me
You share every road I climb
And with amazing grace
You ease my mind

I came to you with empty pockets first
When I returned I was a rich man
Didn’t believe love could quench my thirst
But with amazing grace, you showed me it can

In your amazing grace I had a vision
From that amazing place, I came to be
Into the night I wandered, wandering aimlessly
Found your amazing grace to comfort me

Pretty amazing…

You overcame my loss of hope and faith
Gave me a truth I could believe in
You led me to that higher place
Showed me that love, truth, hope, grace
Were all I needed.

- Neil Diamond 2008





Labels:

Comments

Anonymous said…
I found your blog via doing a search for this song. I first heard it last night playing on the "on hold music" of my cell phone provider. I think it is a beautiful song! However I do agree with you about how the praise songs are starting to e like.
Wednesday, July 09, 2008 5:48:00 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Woman of no Distinction

Don't often post other people's stuff here... But I found this so powerful that I thought I should. It's a performance poem based on John 4: 4-30, and I have attached the original YouTube video below. A word for women, and men, everywhere... "to be known is to be loved, and to be loved is to be known." I am a woman of no distinction of little importance. I am a women of no reputation save that which is bad. You whisper as I pass by and cast judgmental glances, Though you don’t really take the time to look at me, Or even get to know me. For to be known is to be loved, And to be loved is to be known. Otherwise what’s the point in doing either one of them in the first place? I WANT TO BE KNOWN. I want someone to look at my face And not just see two eyes, a nose, a mouth and two ears; But to see all that I am, and could be all my hopes, loves and fears. But that’s too much to hope for, to wish for, or pray for So I don’t, not anymore. Now I keep to myself And by that ...
2 comments
Read more

Psalm for Harvest Sunday

A short responsive psalm for us as a call to worship on Harvest Thanksgiving Sunday, and given that it was pouring with rain as I headed into church this morning the first line is an important remembrance that the rain we moan about is an important component of the fruitfulness of the land we live in: You tend the land and water it And the earth produces its abundance. You crown each year with your bounty, and our storehouses overflow with your goodness. The mountain meadows are covered with flocks and the valleys are filled with corn; Your people celebrate your boundless grace They shout for joy and sing. from Psalm 65
3 comments
Read more

Living under the Empire... (2) Where is Babylon?

We were driving back from school last week, talking about books that we had been reading and my younger son, Ciaran, asked me "Where is Babylon?" I have to confess that my history is better than my geography, and I said that it no longer exists as an inhabited city, but its ruins were to the north west of the current capital of Iraq, Baghdad. When I checked however, I discovered that it is actually about 50 miles south of Baghdad and the modern town is the administrative centre of the province of Babil... But just as the modern city is but a shadow of the historic capital of 2 ancient empires, first under Hammurabi in the 18th century BCE and then the "Neo-Babylonian" empire (under Nebuchadnezzar etc) in the 6th century BCE, so the earthly Babylonian empire/s was/were fleeting in comparison to the enduring metaphorical idea of Babylon. The original Empire under Hammurabi was probably the ultimate origin of some of the early Biblical stories, including the ...
1 comment
Read more