Amazing Grace: Fear No Evil Edition

I’ve always been fascinated by music. I’ve been a fan since I can remember. Many of my earliest memories can sometimes be a blur, save the memory of a compelling song I remember hearing for the first time. Amidst the blur of my hectic early life, bouncing from city to city, country to country, I don’t remember why I was in a motel with my parents, but I do remember seeing the video for “Sweet Dreams” by the Eurythmics for the first time. I even tend to remember movies better if there’s a soundtrack that digs into my ear.

Unfortunately, I’ve never been talented with any instrument of any kind. I started writing songs when I was in high school. Of course, they were all terrible, but it was a good avenue for learning to express myself a little better. I never shared them with anyone, and in time I leaned in to other forms of art that I was more naturally inclined to.

Recently, I stumbled across Suno, a new AI tool designed to help people create their own music. I didn’t expect much, because despite my willing reliance on other AI platforms, I thought my lack of instrumental knowledge would keep me from being able to do anything of any value on the platform, but I was pleasantly surprised to find the platform to be incredibly intuitive.

After penning a few tracks of my own, I decided to see how the platform would do with arranging a classic in the public domain, and I started with “Amazing Grace”, which I personally c0nsider to be the greatest song ever written. Spoiler alert: I consider the result a smashing success. I don’t expect everyone to agree, but I’m happy to have done it, nonetheless. The fun thing about “Amazing Grace”, and many other archaic hymns is that there is no “original” recording of the song. The earlist recording we have of “Amazing Grace” comes around 150 years after it was written. So in short, every recording you hear of the snog is basically a cover. So my meek effort joins quite a lengthy pantheon of over 6,000 published releases of the song. Of course, this one isn’t formally published. It’s just posted here for fun and maybe for a little encouragement to anyone who needs it.

We can take songs like this for granted, I think. After I finished this arrangement of the song, I played it for a member of my staff at my store, a young man I often share music with as a way of counselling. I played the song expecting him to have heard literally thousands of other versions, but after hearing it, he told me that he had never heard the song before. Now of course I can’t imagine that to be true. At some point, in some way, everyone has heard this song, but none of them had captured his attention. When he told me that he had never heard the song before, it occured to me, and I laughed. I realized, my weird AI composed version of “Amazing Grace” was now his “Amazing Grace”. I have to admit I was kind of proud, more so since he actually enjoyed it.

Don’t get caught up in the hype about AI. It doesn’t matter if AI is a gift from God or a tool of the devil. God can use anything he wants for His glory, regardless of anyone’s worst intentions. I choose to use AI to share the Gospel, so in my hands, it’s for the Lord. Don’t lose your perspective. Your God is good. Trust Him and share the Gospel.