ious way of living to help himself and others. The hymn was finally produced for one of his weekly prayer meetings around 1780. He had set up these weekly prayer meetings at The Parish of Olney in England where he worked and produced many other hymns as well. That one single prayer meeting marks the starting point of a time-line filled with additions and alterations for the hymn "Amazing Grace."
             So why has this hymn been taken into so many forms of music? In the 1960's the song had really started to break out of its common form found in most churches. Now instead of a simple arrangement of notes, the song began to take on more moving notes (Moyer). In the 1970's disc jockeys were requested to play the song, its popularity was growing all over. There are many reasons for this phenomenon. One such reason lies in human beings and our attachment to fond memories. For some inexplicable reason this hymn is known to most everyone in North America. When hearing the hymn, people seem to feel like a very fond and warm memory is refreshed and this soothes the mind and soul, creating this universal closeness to the hymn (Moyer). The effect of the hymn is like "roots reaching so far down (Moyer)." There is a feeling that we all can share. Jean Ritchie says, "It heals" when asked about the common feeling this hymn provokes. Dewie Williams, says, "It just do something for me" when he either listens to or sings the hymn.
             The source of the melody for this song is the only unknown fact. Some believe that is was an early American folk tune. Someone just came across the hymn one day and started singing "Amazing Grace" and noticed how nice it fit. Another idea to the origin of the melody may be from a ballad (Moyer). Another interesting idea as to the origin of the hymn may be directly or closely related to the hymn's author. It is possible to believe that the hym...