--- title: How President Obama Decided to Sing "Amazing Grace" description: "I knew I was going to sing. I was just trying to figure out which key to sing it." canonical: https://time.com/3947754/obama-amazing-grace/ author: Tanya Basu article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-07T14:19:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T09:00:57.330Z article:section: Politics og:title: President Obama Knew He Was Going to Sing "Amazing Grace" og:description: "I was just trying to figure out which key to sing it." og:url: https://time.com/3947754/obama-amazing-grace/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt24bacf4bd646d2d4/698859cc3c16391865458b5b/obama-pinckney-funeral.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: President Obama Funeral Clementa Pinckney og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: President Obama Knew He Was Going to Sing "Amazing Grace" twitter:description: "I was just trying to figure out which key to sing it." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt24bacf4bd646d2d4/698859cc3c16391865458b5b/obama-pinckney-funeral.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How President Obama Decided to Sing 'Amazing Grace'  by [Tanya Basu](https://time.com/author/tanya-basu/)  ## Tanya Basu Jul 7, 2015 2:19 PM UTC  President Barack Obama delivers the eulogy for South Carolina state senator, Rev. Clementa Pinckney during Pinckney's funeral service on June 26, 2015 in Charleston, S.C. President Barack Obama delivers the eulogy for South Carolina state senator, Rev. Clementa Pinckney during Pinckney's funeral service on June 26, 2015 in Charleston, S.C.Joe Raedle—Getty Images  by [Tanya Basu](https://time.com/author/tanya-basu/)  ## Tanya Basu Jul 7, 2015 2:19 PM UTC When President Obama first broached the topic of singing “Amazing Grace” as the finale to his eulogy for the Rev. Clementa Pinckney he’d already had his mind pretty much made up: He was going to do it. “When I get to the second part of referring to ‘Amazing Grace,’ I think I might sing,” he told his wife, First Lady Michelle Obama, adviser Valerie Jarrett, and two others before the funeral for the South Carolina state senator and pastor murdered along with eight others at a Charleston church last month. Their responses were not encouraging. Jarrett’s answer was a non-committal “Hmm,” while Mrs. Obama was straightforward: “Why on earth would that fit in?” Jarrett, recalling the moment at the Aspen Ideas Festival last week, said she and the First Lady ultimately “encouraged him to do whatever the spirit moved him to do.” [Read the entire story at the New York _Times_](http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/07/06/obamabaker/?%5Fr=0) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3947754/obama-amazing-grace/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3947754/obama-amazing-grace/"},"headline":"How President Obama Decided to Sing 'Amazing Grace'","datePublished":"2015-07-07T14:19:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T09:00:57.330Z","description":"\"I knew I was going to sing. 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