Marvelous (I Stand Amazed) Hymns Reborn
by Don Chapman
Recently I was researching hymn writer Charles Gabriel for one of my biography articles. His hymn “My Savior’s Love” stood out to me. So I sat at my piano, hymnal open, and wrote a new melody in five minutes!
After that initial spurt of creativity, I let the song sit for a day or two, then came back to it and refined it here and there.
Gabriel had a lot to say about songwriting back in the day (around 1915!) He believed the melody should color and support the lyrics as much as possible, and so do I.
With “Marvelous (I Stand Amazed)” I hope I would have made Charles Gabriel proud! The verse starts low, reverently pondering the sacrifice of Jesus. The melody begins moving in steady, declarative quarter notes, like you’re stating a truth.
The chorus then leaps a 6th, and a diminished chord adds a heart-tugging vibe to “how wonderful.”
The pinnacle of the song is the bridge. Gabriel said the chorus should be the “crowning glory” of a song, and that’s true, but I don’t think the bridge had been invented yet in his time! What makes this bridge special is that it centers on the very lyric that was the seed for the entire song:
He had no tears for His own griefs,
But sweat drops of blood for mine.
Here’s the backstory: publisher Elijah P. Brown had mailed those two lines to Gabriel, suggesting they might be the idea for a song. Gabriel turned that fragment into the full “My Savior’s Love.”
Added Bonus: An Electric Guitar Solo!
I have a friend who plays guitar at a megachurch, and he’s always lamenting that there are no longer any guitar solos in modern worship. I arranged this one specifically for him 😂
I hope “Marvelous (I Stand Amazed)” is a blessing to your church and helps bring those classic lyrics forward to a new generation!
Bottom Line: Charles Gabriel wrote the words 121 years ago, and I just gave them a new melody your congregation can sing this Sunday.
Hymns Reborn is a series of new melodies composed for classic hymn lyrics. These timeless words carry incredible depth, but sometimes the original tunes feel unfamiliar to today’s worshipers. Hymns Reborn gives those lyrics a fresh, contemporary sound. Not to replace the originals, but to offer worship leaders another way to bring these truths to life.
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Download FREE lead / piano sheet music, chord chart, MP3 demo and lyrics text file. Permission granted to make as many copies as you need for your worship team.