Lyrics to
Master’s Hand

This version of Master’S Hand was released by Dolly Parton in 1971.

Our Dolly Parton Songs profile has Master’S Hand lyrics from 1971 and most if not all of the lyrics by Dolly Parton that we have here at Decade Lyrics.

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“Twas battered and scared, and the auctioneer
Thought it scarcely worth his while
To waste much time on the old violin,
But he held it up with a smile.
“What am I bidden, good folks,” he cried,
“Who’ll start bidding for me?
A dollar, a dollar – now who”ll make it two
Two dollars, and who”ll make it three?
“Three dollars once, three dollars twice,
Going for three”. . . but no!
From the room far back a gray-haired man
Came forward and picked up the bow;
Then wiping the dust from the old violin,
And tightening up the strings,
He played a melody,pure and sweet,
As sweet as an angel sings.
The music ceased and the auctioneer
With a voice that was quiet and low,
Said: “What am I bidden for the old violin?”
And he held it up with the bow;
“A thousand dollars – and who’ll make it two?
Two thousand – and who’ll make it three?
Three thousand once, three thousand twice
And going – and gone,” said he.
The people cheered, but some of them cried,
“We do not quite understand –
What changed its worth?” The man replied:
“The touch of the masters hand.”
And many a man with life out of tune,
And battered and torn with sin,
Is auctioned cheap to a thoughtless crowd.
Much like the old violin.
A “mess of pottage,” a glass of wine,
A game and he travels on,
He’s going once, and going twice –
He’s going – and almost gone!
But the MASTER comes, and the foolish crowd,
Never can quite understand,
The worth of a soul, and the change that’s wrought
By the touch of the MASTER’S hand.

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Dolly Parton has released many songs over the years besides Master’S Hand. Dolly Parton released songs from 1967 to 2005 spanning across albums like Hello, I'm Dolly, Just Because I'm A Woman, My Blue Ridge Mountain Boy, In The Good Old Days, As Long As I Love, The Fairest Of Them All, A Real Live Dolly, Coat Of Many Colors, The Golden Streets Of Glory, Joshua, Touch Your Woman, My Favorite Songwriter: Porter Wagoner, Bubbling Over, My Tennessee Mountain Home, Love Is Like A Butterfly, Jolene, Dolly: The Seeker / We Used To, The Bargain Store, All I Can Do, New Harvest... First Gathering, Here You Come Again, Heartbreaker, Great Balls Of Fire, 9 To 5 And Odd Jobs, Dolly, Dolly, Dolly, Heartbreak Express, The Best Little Whorehouse In Texas, Burlap & Satin, Rhinestone, The Great Pretender, Real Love, Rainbow, White Limozeen, Home For Christmas, Eagle When She Flies, Straight Talk, Slow Dancing With The Moon, Heartsongs: Live From Home, Something Special, Treasures, Hungry Again, The Grass Is Blue, Precious Memories, Little Sparrow, Halos & Horns, For God And Country, and Those Were The Days. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by Dolly Parton.

If you're a fan of the music of the 1970s looking for more songs from 1971 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Master’S Hand by Dolly Parton

The lyrics for Master’S Hand are made up of the words, verses and background chorus for the popular 1971 song by Dolly Parton. Like a lot of songs, the lyrics to Master’S Hand have both direct meanings and metaphorical context hidden within the song's words. All of the meanings are only truly known by the creators of the lyrics for Master’S Hand - Dolly Parton and any of the writers who worked with them on the song.

If you have an interest in the structure of words and phrases, you can dissect the lyrics to Master’S Hand by Dolly Parton in multiple ways. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to Master’S Hand" means the words set to the music of Master’S Hand, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by Dolly Parton. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to Master’S Hand and the lyrics to Master’S Hand are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of Dolly Parton who came here looking just for the lyrics to Master’S Hand, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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