<P> Moyers interviewed Collins, Cash, opera singer Jessye Norman, Appalachian folk musician Jean Ritchie and her family, white Sacred Harp singers in Georgia, black Sacred Harp singers in Alabama, and a prison choir at the Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville . Collins, Cash, and Norman were unable to discern if the power of the song came from the music or the lyrics . Norman, who once notably sang it at the end of a large outdoor rock concert for Nelson Mandela's 70th birthday, stated, "I don't know whether it's the text--I don't know whether we're talking about the lyrics when we say that it touches so many people--or whether it's that tune that everybody knows ." A prisoner interviewed by Moyers explained his literal interpretation of the second verse: "' Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved" by saying that the fear became immediately real to him when he realized he may never get his life in order, compounded by the loneliness and restriction in prison . Gospel singer Marion Williams summed up its effect: "That's a song that gets to everybody". </P> <P> The Dictionary of American Hymnology claims it is included in more than a thousand published hymnals, and recommends its use for "occasions of worship when we need to confess with joy that we are saved by God's grace alone; as a hymn of response to forgiveness of sin or as an assurance of pardon; as a confession of faith or after the sermon". </P>

Who composed amazing grace how sweet the sound