Amazing Grace - Kilted

[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!

[Munro]

My husband and I recently watched the movie Amazing Grace which was absolutely wonderful. The Irish Guards Pipe Band and the Balmoral Pipes playing Amazing Grace at the end of the movie gave me chills and I've gone back and watched it over and over. Seeing it reminded me of the chills I got at the Edinburgh Tatoo last summer when we were in Scotland. I've looked at the soundtrack from the movie and didn't see this rendition of Amazing Grace. I've also Googled The Irish Guards Pipe Band as well as the Balmoral Pipes and haven't found it. I found X MARKSTHESCOT.com while looking for that wonderful arrangement of Amazing Grace, saw all the posts and joined. Does anyone know where I can get this wonderful arrangement of Amazing Grace? My husband's father's great, great grandfather came from the Scottish Highlands just north of Inverness. His mother's family came from the Isle of Mull. We had the great fortune of going to Scotland for a Clan Munro Gathering last summer and loved it! We had a wonderful piper for my mother-in-law's funeral last year.

[James MacMillan]

from Rainy Southern California

[Chrissss]

Way, way back when I was in the military and attending Royal Roads Military College we would parade on Remembrance Day.

At a certain point in the parade a lone piper would play Amazing Grace from one of the castle towers, and you could just hear it on the parade square about 1/4 mile away. It was an absolutely chilling experience that always made the hair on the back of my neck stand on end.

Chris...

[Makeitstop]

I just watched this a few days ago and thought it was pretty good. I was in the mood for something a bit more intense, dramatic and probably exaggerated. This felt far more real and focused on the men fighting the political battle, only hinting at the horrors of slavery. That approach works (particularly because it would be hard to sit through political battles if we had already seen the brutal horrors that were occurring at the time) and makes it far more approachable to the faint of heart, but the trade off is that it loses some of the power it could have had.

It could have been better in several ways, but not without making sacrifices. Instead it manages to be a good movie that knows it's limits and accepts them.

[McClef]

I just got this on DVD and thought it was a very good film and loved the kilted pipers right at the end.

I once lived in Hull for a year and visited the Wilberforce House museum several times.

[Jerry]

The movie was on Directv "Pay per View" earlier this month. I haven't look lately, but if it is still running I will have to order it. It always gives me chills, but the most chilling playing I've ever seen was the memorial service for Payne Stewart, when the song is heard being played on the pipes in the distance, and then he slowly emerges from thick fog, still playing.

[macwilkin]

The movie was on Directv "Pay per View" earlier this month. I haven't look lately, but if it is still running I will have to order it. It always gives me chills, but the most chilling playing I've ever seen was the memorial service for Payne Stewart, when the song is heard being played on the pipes in the distance, and then he slowly emerges from thick fog, still playing.

Funny, but I remember the piper at Payne Stewart's memorial service playing "Going Home" whilst walking through the fog...perhaps that was the recessional...

Payne Stewart was from Springfield. We honoured him in 2000 at our games.

T.