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 (bmccombs@acs.ucalgary.ca)
