“Pretty Amazing Grace”
It seems that whenever I highlight a musical piece here, the particular musician in question is not one I particularly care for (example: Billy Joel). While Avril Lavigne will always naturally be an exception to this rule, Neil Diamond is not. However…from his latest album Home Before Dark (2008), I would like to highlight "Pretty Amazing Grace." Working an eight hour shift, I hear it at least twice a day, and I find the language rather moving especially when it is not interrupted by announcements highlighting cleaning requests for customers who have broken jars of pickles. Without the interruptions, here are the lyrics (you can listen to it here).
Pretty amazing grace is what you showed me
Pretty amazing grace is who 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 heat of war
Showed with amazing grace
What love was for.
You forgave my insensitivity
And my attempt to then 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
Beauty and love surround me
Freed me from what I feared
Asked for amazing grace
And you appeared.
You overcame my loss of hope and faith
Gave me a truth I could believe in
You led me to a higher place
Showed your amazing grace
When grace was what I needed.
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 that 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
Pretty amazing
Pretty amazing
Pretty amazing
Pretty amazing
Pretty amazing
Pretty amazing
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, and truth, and hope, and grace
Were all I needed
It has been suggested that perhaps it’s a love song, and there is a personification of Grace that could lead to this interpretation (Diamond doesn’t necessarily dash this reading when he states ambiguously that the song is about the "perfection of love"), but a great deal of attention given to the song online has it’s wonderers inquiring as to whether Neil Diamond feels transformed by the love of Jesus.
Thoughts?
K.
Haven’t heard the music, but love the words! Absolutely love the words! I would say it is about a relationship with Jesus Christ, what else could it be? A love interest (woman) cannot save, cannot fill with beauty and awe, cannot free from fears or give peace or heal or forgive or give calm and peace and grace to our lives…… it can do some of those things some of the time, but not all of those things all of the time. That is reserved for Jesus Christ, who is our Lord and Saviour and our God…… that is my thought, for what it is worth….. Kate
Comment by Kate — June 16, 2008 @ 9:46 am