November 7, 2024 - Good Morning! It’s Thursday, November 7.
I love movies. I love music. So it’s not much of a stretch to surmise that I love movie music. And the soundtracks from films are a big factor in their success. Can you imagine Casablanca without As Time Goes By, or The Wizard of Oz without Somewhere Over the Rainbow? Would Star Wars have been nearly as popular without John William’s famous score? Williams wrote a piece for another movie using only two notes (E-F-E-F-E-F-E-F). He arranged it for 6 double basses, 8 cellos, 4 trombones, and a tuba. Once everyone heard it, they never wanted to go back into the water again - Jaws!
Here’s a story behind a song, about the song behind a movie. In 2007, a film called Amazing Grace came out - maybe you saw it. The contemporary Christian singer, Chris Tomlin, was approached by the producers about writing a theme. He was very excited, at first. And then he realized that they wanted him to write a new ending to the classic hymn that most people consider the greatest song of testimony and praise ever written. Imagine that! It would be like asking an artist to paint a hat on the Mona Lisa, or like instructing an architect to add a two-car garage to the Taj Mahal.
Tomlin, not surprisingly, turned them down. But Hollywood producers aren’t accustomed to hearing the word no, and so they came back again. This time he said yes. But before he began to write, he began to read. He read everything he could get his hands on about John Newton, the composer of Amazing Grace. He learned that, as a young man, Newton had been the captain of a ship, a slave ship, and then, after a miraculous spiritual experience, spent the rest of his long life preaching the gospel.
Tomlin imagined Newton standing on the deck of that ship, standing over a hold filled with human cargo. He imagined those men, women, and children, chained to the walls of that ship, chained to each other. And he imagined the struggle that John Newton went through as he carried that legacy through his life - chained to a memory, chained to regret. And so Tomlin was able to write a new ending to an old song.
My chains are gone, I’ve been set free
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood, His mercy rains
Unending love, Amazing Grace
Meet you back here tomorrow,
David
cindertex50@yahoo.com
