Amazing Grace - Kilted

[Skweres]

looks great, cant wait to see it

[elitekiltedcommando]

I must see that... While kilted of course. And yeah, when I eventually die, Iwouldn't mind it playing at my funeral either.

[David Dalglish]

My mother died a year ago yesterday, Amazing Grace was one of the tunes we played at her funeral. I think of her every time it is played, The film looks good, but don't know if I could watch it yet

[elitekiltedcommando]

Im sorry to hear that. Always hurts to lose a loved one.

[wesd]

GOOD DAY, I saw the film today, and I have a new name to add to my list of heros. This mans work made the world a little better place and the movie did a fine job of telling this story. Oh no chills in the end but I did get a little lump in my throat when the band played at the end!

THANKS Wes

[Doomsday]

I went to see "Amazing Grace" and I must say that is is a great movie. It follows William Wilberforce as he led the British Parliament to abolish the slave trade and then slavery itself. The movie is titled such because John Newton, a former slave ship captain and the author of Amazing Grace, played a major part in encouraging William in his pursuit. The movie is accurate, well played and well directed. I wholeheartedly recommend it.

[Chaplain Harris]

As a man of the cloth (so to speak), I can't wait to see it.

[morrison]

I know I'm gonna blubber and tear up at the tender moments. I always do. My friend always has to change her blouse after every tear-jerker we watch.

[An t-Ileach]

Amazing Grace on the pipes was first played at the amalgamation of the Royal Scots Greys and the 3rd Carabiniers (as the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards) in 1971.

However, I've often wondered whether John Newton had the pipes in mind when he composed it in 1779 - the melody, with its implied grace notes, seems to ask to played on the bagpipes. Perhaps he'd met some of the highlanders whose music, according to Professor Willie Ruff, led to Gospel Singing - and certainly many highlanders and their families were sold into slavery in north America after the '45?

My womenfolk insisted I accompany them to see the film last night. There were a couple of solecisms (like calling Charles James Fox "Lord Charles Fox" - he was never a peer of the realm), but they didn't really spoil my enjoyment of the film.

I'd have liked to hear an acknowledgement of the Earl of Mansfield CJ's 1772 ruling at the Court of the King's Bench in "Somersett's Case", and that many of the people in the parliamentary agitation for Abolition were Tories (which was part of Wilberforce's problem - there was an oblique and apparently irrelevant reference to "Jacobites" - as the Tories were still tainted with Jacobitism after 1745) even though Pitt the Younger was Prime Minister.

The pipe band at the end of the film was interesting: who were they supposed to be? The foot drill was authentic. They couldn't have been a Foot Guards Regiment though because none of the Irish, Scots, or Welsh Guards existed in 1807. The Red and White hackles in the black ostrich feather headdresses would indicate 92nd Highlanders (Gordons), but they were wearing Government Sett tartan. And shouldn't there have been only two drones on the pipes?

Anyway, as a gesture to the version played on the pipes, and Prof Willie Ruff, here's the first two verses of John Newton's hymn in Gaelic (I don't know who translated it) and English:

Miorbhail Gràis
O Miorbhail gràis! nach breagh' an ceòl;
'S e lorg mi 's mi air chall,
Air seachdran dorch', gun neart, gun treòir,
'S a dh'fhosgail sùilean dall.

'S e gràs thug eòlas dhomh air m'fheum;
'S e gràs thug saors' is sìth;
'S cha cheannaicheadh òr a' chruinne-chè
Chiad là bha fios nam chrìdh'.

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!

[oregonscot]

Tears. Every time. Amazing Grace is like Taps for me, I cannot hear it without tears starting to spring up. (Taps is to Americans what Last Post is to the British, I believe.) Played on the pipes, Amazing Grace renders me almost paralyzed with love and piety.

I must totally agree with you Kid. Nothing breaks the tear dam like those two songs. Looking forward to seeing this one.