William "Singing Billy" Walker

[@p.w.7493]

How can one claim he put a tune to this beautiful hymn when it was already made famous by Newton and Cowper in Scotland? In any event, his 'tune' to Amazing Grace deserves credit.💕💯

[@roncraw]

A well done homage to Walker, but it would have been good to mention would have been his service as a Confederate Army nurse.

[@nanasmith62004]

Thanks for this great story!

[@bryantchristenson5359]

Actually, the tune origin is not known for sure. It was never associated with any tune for many years and was sung with different tunes having the same meter. It first appeared in written form WITH the Walker tune in the 1800s although no tune origin was given. Lucius Chapin ( a singing instructor)is often associated with the tune because it appeared in a letter he wrote even though he may have heard it on his travels and simply written it down.

[@Flipdrivel]

"Creator of Music Shape Notes" is nonsense. Shaped notes were "created" some 35 years before Walker's first publication, a clear decade before he was even born. Seriously, you are insulting the memory of a great man with this ridiculous claim, one that he would never have made for himself. And it's shameful that not once do you credit the authorship of those "familiar words" to John Newton of England.