Songs For My Own Enjoyment: Mary Ellen Carter, The

G G G G 

       G                        

.. She went down last October,  

     C       D       G      

In a pouring driving rain,  

    Am                              

The skipper he'd been drinking and  

    C               D      

The mate he felt no pain,  

    G                             

Too close to Three Mile Rock and  

        C                G         

She was dealt her mortal blow and  

    Am                        D    D 

The Mary Ellen Carter settled low.   

          G                         

There was just us five aboard her,  

         C             G      

When she finally was a-wash,  

   Am                             

We worked like hell to save her,  

    C               D          

All heedless of the cost, and  

    G                                 

The groan she gave as she went down,  

   C                G       

It caused us to pro-claim,  

         Am         D                   G      

That the Mary Ellen Carter would rise a-gain.  

G G G G 

            G                      

.. Well the owners wrote her off,  

      C      D          G       

Not a nickel would they spend,  

          Am                              

"She gave twenty years of service, boys,  

     C             D     

Then met her sorry end.  

       G                             

But in-surance paid the loss to us,  

   C               G       

So let her rest be-low.",  

          Am                               D   D 

Then they laughed at us and said we had to go.   

       G                          

But we talked of her all winter,  

     C               G       

Some days around the clock.  

          Am                        

For she's worth a quarter million,  

  C               D         

A-floating at the dock and  

     G                            

With every jar that hit the bar,  

   C                 G         

We swore we would re-main and  

         Am         D             G      

Make the Mary Ellen Carter rise a-gain!  

G         Am    D      G     G 

.. Rise a-gain, rise a-gain,   

         C                  

That her name not be lost,  

       G            D     

To the knowledge of men,  

    G                             

All those who loved her best and  

     C        D        G     

Were with her 'til the end,  

              Am         D              G     G 

Will make the Mary Ellen Carter, rise a-gain.   

    G                                

All spring now we've been with her,  

     C          D    G        

On a barge lent by a friend.  

      Am                                  

Three dives a day in a hardhat suit, and  

C                  D       

Twice I've had the bends.  

      G                              

Thank God it's only sixty feet, and  

    C                 G         

The currents here are slow, or  

    Am                               D   D 

I'd never have the strength to go be-low   

          G                                     

But we've patched her rents stopped her vents,  

       C                     G      

Dogged hatch, and portholes  down,  

    Am                               

Put cables to her, fore and aft and  

C              D       

Girded her a - round,  

   G                                

To-morrow noon, we hit the air and  

C                G            

Then take up the strain, and  

         Am         D             G      

Make the Mary Ellen Carter rise a-gain!  

G         Am    D      G     G 

.. Rise a-gain, rise a-gain,   

         C                  

That her name not be lost,  

       G            D     

To the knowledge of men,  

    G                             

All those who loved her best and  

     C        D        G     

Were with her 'til the end,  

              Am         D              G     G 

Will make the Mary Ellen Carter, rise a-gain.   

       G                          

For we couldn't leave her there,  

            C       D    G       

You see, to crumble into scale.  

      Am                               

She'd saved our lives, so many times,  

C                  D          

Living through the gale, and  

    G                        

The laughing, drunken rats,  

             C          G       

Who left her to a sorry grave,  

           Am                           D    D 

Well, they won't be laughing in another day,   

       G                           C               G      

.. And You, to whom adversity, has dealt the final blow,  

     Am                              

With smiling bastards lying to you,  

C              D    

Everywhere you go,  

     G                                   

Turn to, and put out all your strength,  

   C                  G           

Of arm, and heart and brain, and  

         Am         D             G      

Like the Mary Ellen Carter rise a-gain!  

G      Am    D      G      

Rise a-gain, rise a-gain,  

G           C            C           

Though your heart, it be broken, or  

G             D     

Life about to end,  

   G                         

No matter what you've lost,  

        C       D       G        

Be it a home, a love, a friend,  

         Am         D             G     

Like the Mary Ellen Carter rise a-gain  

Repeat above chorus and end with line below

         Am         D             G    G  

Like the Mary Ellen Carter rise a-gain !