From: Barrie McCombs 

THE MARY ELLEN CARTER,  Time 2/2   Tenor: C   Bass: C
- Stan Rogers, 1979, on: Between The Breaks

    1                  *         4       5       1
She went down last Oct-ober in a pouring driving rain
    2m                *                 4               5
The skipper he'd been drinking, and the mate he felt no pain
    1                   *                4                1
Too close to Three Mile Rock and she was dealt her mortal blow
        2m         *              5       *
And the Mary Ellen Carter settled low
          1              *                  4       5     1
There was just us five a-board her when she finally was a-wash
   2m                  *             4               5
We worked like hell to save her, all heedless of the cost
        1                 *                4                1
And the groan she gave as she went down it caused us to pro-claim
         2m         5                   1     (1, 4, 5, 1, 1, 4, 5)
That the Mary Ellen Carter would rise a-gain

         1                *          4      5          1
Well the owners wrote her off, not a nickel would they spend
         2m              *                   4             5
She gave twenty years of service, boys, then met her sorry end
    1                  *              4               1
But insurance paid the loss to us, so let her rest be-low
          2m                *              5      *
Then they laughed at us and said we had to go
       1                 *            4      5         1
But we talked of her all winter, some days a-round the clock
      2m              *       4               5
She's worth a quarter million floating at the dock
         1              *               4                 1
And with every jar that hit the bar, we swore we would re-main
             2m         5             1      *
And make the Mary Ellen Carter rise a-gain

 
CHORUS:
2m          5          1     4
Rise again____, rise a-gain____
5        4           *           1            5
That her name not be lost to the knowledge of men
    1                   *             4         5       1
All those who loved her best and were with her 'til the end
              2m         5             1     *  (4, 5, 1, 1, 4, 5)
Will make the Mary Ellen Carter rise a-gain____

 
CONTINUED ON PAGE TWO
 
NOTES:
- Alternate: play (1, 1/7) for any (1  *) pattern
- Recorded version has more syncopated timing
- Rogers: DADGAD tuning play G, capo 5th Fret = C

THE MARY ELLEN CARTER     PAGE TWO
 

    1                      *              4          5    1
All spring now, we've been with her, on a barge lent by a friend
      2m               *                 4                  5
Three dives a day in a hardhat suit, and twice I've had the bends
      1              *                  4                 1
Thank God, it's only sixty feet and the currents here are slow
       2m             *                 5       *
Or I'd never have the strength to go be-low
          1                  *                         4         5        1
But we've patched her rents, stopped her vents, dogged hatch and porthole down
    2m              *                 4            5
Put cables to her, 'fore and aft, and girded her a-round
   1               *               4                1
To-morrow noon, we hit the air and then take up the strain
             2m         5             1     (1, 4, 5, 1, 1, 4, 5)
And make the Mary Ellen Carter rise a-gain

 
       1                  *                  4       5    1
For we couldn't leave her there, you see, to crumble into scale
      2m                 *           4                  5
She'd saved our lives so many times, living through the gale
        1                 *                 4          1
And the laughing, drunken rats who left her to a sorry grave
     2m                *          5       *
They won't be laughing in another day
    1               *           4         5     1
And you, to whom ad-versity has dealt the final blow
     2m               *            4              5
With smiling bastards lying to you everywhere you go
     1               *                    4                 1
Turn to, and put out all your strength of arm and heart and brain
             2m         5              1     (1, 4, 5, 1, 1, 4, 5)
And like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise a-gain

 
FINAL CHORUS:

2m          5           1     4
Rise again_____, rise a-gain____
5           4           *          1             5
Though your heart it be broken and life about to end
   1                  *             4       5       1
No matter what you've lost, be it a home, a love, a friend
         2m         5              1      *
Like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise a-gain

 
ENDING: REPEAT FINAL CHORUS

SYMBOLS:
- Asterisk (*) =  new measure, play same chord
- Period (.)   =  1/8 note rest at start of a measure
- Underline(_) =  sustain note into next measure

CHORDS (Number System):
- Example:     1    2    3    4    5    6    7
- Key of C:    C    D    E    F    G    A    B
- Detailed description: /pub/guitar/other_stuff/numbering_system.txt

- Submitted by:  Barrie McCombs ([email protected])