The Mary Ellen Carter

The Mary Ellen Carter - Words & Music by Stan Rogers (1979)
E|---------------------| 

DADGAD Tuning, Capo 5th Fret (see notes below)

Instead of putting the major 7 in the bass on the G/F#, I just play it up
top. I often get lazy, and just play xx0002 there.
-jon


[Verse 1]
    G                G/F#         C      D      G
She went down last October in a pouring driving rain
    Am                                  C               D
The skipper he'd been drinking, and the mate he felt no pain
    G                   G/F#             C                G
Too close to Three Mile Rock and she was dealt her mortal blow
        Am                        D
And the Mary Ellen Carter settled low

          G                 G/F#              C      D    G
There was just us five aboard   her when she finally was awash
   Am                                C               D
We worked like hell to save her, all heedless of the cost
        G                 G/F#             C               G
And the groan she gave as she went down it caused us to proclaim
         Am         D                 G
That the Mary Ellen Carter would rise again

[Break]
G/F# / C / D / G / G/F# / C / D

[Verse 2]
         G                G/F#       C      D          G
Well the owners wrote her off, not a nickel would they spend
          Am                                  C             D
"She gave twenty years of service, boys, then met her sorry end.
      G                        G/F#   C              G
But insurance paid the loss to us, so let her rest below."
          Am                               D
Then they laughed at us and said we had to go.

       G                 G/F#         C     D         G
But we talked of her all winter, some days around the clock
      Am                       C                D
She's worth a quarter million afloat and at the dock
         G              G/F#           C                G
And with every jar that hit the bar we swore we would remain
             Am         D           G
And make the Mary Ellen Carter rise again.

[Chorus 1]
     Am   D      G     G/F# (C)
Rise again, rise again
(D)      C                       G            D
That her name not be lost to the knowledge of men
    G                   G/F#          C        D        G
All those who loved her best and were with her 'til the end
               Am        D           G
Will make the Mary Ellen Carter rise again

[Break]
G/F# / C / D / G / G/F# / C / D

[Verse 3]
    G                          G/F#     C          D    G
All spring now we've been with her on a barge lent by a friend
      Am                                C                  D
Three dives a day in a hardhat suit and twice I've had the bends
      G             G/F#               C                 G
Thank God it's only sixty feet and the currents here are slow
       Am                              D
Or I'd never have the strength to go below

          G                  G/F#                      C         D        G
But we've patched her rents, stopped her vents, dogged hatch and porthole down
    Am                               C           D
Put cables to her, fore and aft, and girded her around
  G               G/F#            C                G
Tomorrow noon, we hit the air and then take up the strain
             Am         D           G
And make the Mary Ellen Carter rise again.

[Chorus 1]
     Am   D      G     G/F# (C)
Rise again, rise again
(D)      C                       G            D
That her name not be lost to the knowledge of men
    G                   G/F#          C        D        G
All those who loved her best and were with her 'til the end
               Am        D           G      G/F#
Will make the Mary Ellen Carter rise again

[Verse 4]
       G                  G/F#               C       D    G
For we couldn't leave her there, you see, to crumble into scale
      Am                             C                  D
She'd saved our lives so many times, living through the gale
        G                 G/F#              C          G
And the laughing, drunken rats who left her to a sorry grave
     Am                           D
They won't be laughing in another day...

    G              G/F#        C         D     G
And you, to whom adversity has dealt its final blow
     Am                            C              D
With smiling bastards lying to you everywhere you go
     G               G/F#                 C                 G
Turn to, and put out all your strength of arm and heart and brain
             Am         D           G
And like the Mary Ellen Carter rise again!

[Chorus 2]
     Am   D      G     G/F# (C)
Rise again, rise again
(D)         C                      G             D
Though your heart it be broken and life about to end
   G                  G/F#          C       D       G
No matter what you've lost, be it a home, a love, a friend
         Am         D           G
Like the Mary Ellen Carter rise again!