The Stone Cutter – Song Description
“What is built upon good foundations will outlive the hands that hold.” On the surface, this is a fairly plain parable about masonry — a hasty, careless builder set against a slower, more deliberate stonecutter, with the obvious moral sitting right there for anyone to pick up. Underneath that, though, I think it’s really about songwriting, and honestly about most things in life that are worth doing properly rather than quickly. The stonecutter isn’t slower because he lacks the ability to work faster. He’s careful because he already understands, from experience, exactly what fast, showy work costs later, once the weather gets to it and the cracks that were always going to appear finally do. I wrote this one thinking as much about the songs in this collection that I rushed and regretted as the ones I took the necessary time over, and I think you can usually tell the difference between the two kinds, both in songwriting and in almost anything else built to actually hold weight rather than merely look finished on the day it’s completed.
Verse 1
Two men stood beside a river
Where the water hurried by
One said, “Build it now, don’t linger”
One looked slowly at the sky
One could see tomorrow’s glory
One could hear the future call
One was dreaming of the tower
One was studying the wall
Chorus
Some men race the rising daylight
Chasing everything they see
Some men walk a little slower
Asking what a thing might be
For a house is more than timber
And a road is more than stone
What is built upon good foundations
Often stands when we are gone
Verse 2
One man measured every angle
Every beam and every line
One man laughed and called him cautious
Said he wasted precious time
Yet the seasons kept on turning
Rain and wind came sweeping through
And the things that had been hurried
Needed building back anew
Chorus
Some men race the rising daylight
Chasing everything they see
Some men walk a little slower
Asking what a thing might be
For a house is more than timber
And a road is more than stone
What is built upon good foundations
Often stands when we are gone
Verse 3
There are seeds beneath the surface
No one sees them while they grow
Roots are working in the darkness
Long before the green will show
And the world applauds the blossom
When it finally arrives
But forgets the silent labour
Hidden deep beneath our lives
Bridge
Slow is smooth and smooth is fast
Though it sounds the other way
Rushing often costs tomorrow
For the sake of saving today
And the strongest things around us
Rarely happen all at once
They are built by patient hands
One careful step beyond the next
Final Chorus
Some men race the rising daylight
Some men chase the setting sun
But the things that truly matter
Are not measured when they’re done
For a life is more than moments
And a dream is more than gold
What is built upon good foundations
Will outlive the hands that hold
Lyrics Michael Forty
Voice Michael Forty