Make a Joyful Grammatical Noise

Is anyone else bothered by the last line of Amazing Grace, "We've no less days to sing God's praise/than when we first begun"? It should be either "than when we first began," or "than when we had first begun," which sounds silly. Are we a bunch of musical lemmings, automatically singing bad grammar just because the song's been hymnalized and is therefore considered holy writ?

Posted on September 23, 2007 10:28 PM|

Comments

It doesn't bother me at all. Are we missing the point of the song and the origin of it as well? Written between the years of 1725 and 1807, and considering that the slaves used it heavily as a plantation song, I don't think they were up to speed with 21st century English. I think it's neat that the lyrics of the song are still alive and well today.

Posted by: Anonymous | September 24, 2007 12:03 AM

Great point! I think that we sing it so much and that song is so ingrained in our culture that we fail to notice the grammatical error.

This is just like tradition. Tradition is great, but only the right traditions. Do we ever stop and think if our traditions are wrong, especially when it comes to worship and scripture.

Posted by: Adam Will | September 24, 2007 09:13 AM

Sometimes, tongue-in-cheekiness doesn't come through as genuine seriousness. Though I'm a writer who, at one point, read every single entry in Webster's Dictionary of Usage and Style, I'm far from a brow-beaten grammar legalist.

Posted by: Steve Dennie | September 24, 2007 09:52 AM

I am breaking a rule I have about never commenting on a post about grammar but wouldn't "we'd" work in your second suggestion?

Posted by: Tom | September 24, 2007 11:15 AM

Indeed, "than when we'd first begun" would work dandy. Shall I notify John Newton?

Posted by: steve Dennie | September 24, 2007 11:18 AM

I always justified it by the fact that it rhymed so nicely like the other verses; me/see, relieved/believed and sun/begun.

Posted by: Victoria | September 24, 2007 09:04 PM

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