Johnny Cash The Masterpiece Lyrics

The Masterpiece Lyrics

There was an old stone cutter

Who lived in a cabin on the mountain side

And the old stone cutter

Knew it won't be long before he died



And all around his cabin

Were statues the man had made

Statues that the buyers said

Were all of a mediocre grade



With his calloused hands he lit a lamp

And laid down his head on his handmade table

And he softly whispered Lord I'm old and shaky

And I'm hardly able



But give me strength and wisdom

And give me a week at least

And I'll climb up to the top of this mountain

And chisel out a masterpiece



The very next morning he felt new strength

And he took his brand new hammer and the sharpest chisel

He began to climb the mountain his old feet

Slipping in the freezing drizzle



When he finally reached the top

He shouted to a world that didn't hear

I'll carve my masterpiece

Out of this marble boulder here



So the hammer beat the chisel

And he hammered till an image grew

Then he stopped to look it over

To appraise his work when he was through



It was a boy carrying a crippled boy

And the old man said it isn't my masterpiece

I'll call it charity

And then a masterpiece of mine will be



So the hammer beat the chisel

Till another image in a marble grew

Then the wind began to blowing

And he sat and rested when he was through



It was the image of a mother holding her child

He said this is love as the world would know

But it isn't my masterpiece

And he began again as it began to snow



The hammer beat the chisel as the snow fell harder

And the wind grew and grew

He fell to his knees holding a stone

And he threw down his hammer and his chisel too



He lay frozen face down in the snow

But one hand was held for the world to see

Cut in the marble was his masterpiece

Three neatly carved letters G O D