The Mary Ellen Carter

She went down last October, in a pouring driving rain,

The skipper he'd been drinking and the mate he felt no pain,

Too close to Three Mile Rock and she was dealt her mortal blow and

The Mary Ellen Carter settled low.

There was just us five a- board her, when she finally was a- wash,

We worked like hell to save her, all heedless of the cost, and

The groan she gave as she went down, it caused us to pro - claim,

That the Mary Ellen Carter would rise a - gain. (Instrumental)

Well the owners wrote her off, not a nickel would they spend,

"She gave twenty years of service, boys, then met her sorry end.

But in - surance paid the loss to us, so let her rest be- low.",

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

But we talked of her all winter, some days around the clock.

She's worth a quarter million, a- floating at the dock and

With every jar that hit the bar, we swore we would re - main and

Make the Mary Ellen Carter rise a - gain!

 

First & Second Choruses:

Rise a - gain, rise a - gain. That her name not be lost,

Rise a - gain, rise a - gain, Though your heart, It be broken, or

 

To the knowledge of men, all those who loved her best and

Life about to end, No matter what you've lost,

Were with her 'til the end, will make the Mary Ellen Carter, rise a - gain.

Be it a home, a love, a friend, Like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise a - gain!

All spring now we've been with her, on a barge lent by a friend.

Three dives a day in a hardhat suit, and twice I've had the bends.

Thank God it's only sixty feet, and the currents here are slow, or

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

But we've patched her rents, stopped her vents,

Dogged hatch, and Portholes down, put cables to her, fore and aft and

Girded her a - round, to - morrow noon, we hit the air and

Then take up the strain, and make the Mary Ellen Carter rise a - gain!

(First Chorus & Instrumental)

For we couldn't leave her there, you see, to crumble into scale.

She'd saved our lives, so many times, living through the gale, and

The laughing, drunken rats, who left her to a sorry grave,

They won't be laughing in another day, and

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

With smiling bastards lying to you, everywhere you go,

Turn to, and put out all your strength, of arm, and heart and brain, and

Like the Mary Ellen Carter rise a - gain! (Second Chorus Twice)