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Featuring Bill Moyers as host, this PBS program examines the popularity and influence of the enduring English Christian hymn "Amazing Grace." Written by former slave trader-turned-minister John Newton and first published in 1779, the hymn has been popular across generations and has been adapted to many types of music, from country & western to gospel to bag pipes. Newton set his words to music, which this program speculates may have originated from a song he heard African slaves singing. The program includes singers Judy Collins, Jessye Norman, Johnny Cash, Jean Ritchie, and the Boys Choir of Harlem singing various renditions and discussing the helpful impact of the hymn in the lives of many people, including alcoholics and convicts.