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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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