A much-repeated story holds that Toplady wrote the hymn while sheltering from a thunderstorm in the cleft of a great rock; the tale, however, surfaced only long after his death, and most hymn scholars regard it as legend. The hymn’s true power lies in its imagery — Christ as the “Rock of Ages,” a cleft rock in which the believer finds shelter and salvation.

The hymn became a fixture of worship across the Christian world and passed naturally into country and bluegrass gospel singing.