Stan Rogers - The mary ellen carter
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From: jkiparsk@reed.edu (Tourniquet)
This was posted a month or so ago, it sounds right to me, except that
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
The Mary Ellen Carter - Words & Music by Stan Rogers (1979)
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DADGAD Tuning, Capo 5th Fret (see notes below)
She Gwent down last OcG/F#tober in a poCuring dDriving Grain
The Amskipper he'd been drinking, and the Cmate he felt no Dpain
Too Gclose to Three Mile G/F#Rock and she was Cdealt her mortal Gblow
And the AmMary Ellen Carter settled Dlow
There was Gjust us five aboarG/F#d her when she fCinally Dwas awash
We Amworked like hell to save her, all Cheedless of the Dcost
And the Ggroan she gave as G/F#she went down it Ccaused us to proGclaim
That the AmMary Ellen DCarter would rise Gagain
Break: G/F# / C / D / G / G/F# / C / D
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 insurance paid the loss to us, so let her rest below."
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 floating at the dock
And with every jar that hit the bar we swore we would remain
And make the Mary Ellen Carter rise again.
Chorus:
Rise AmagainD, rise Gagain G/F# C
DThat her Cname not be lost to the Gknowledge of Dmen
All Gthose who loved her G/F#best and were Cwith her D'til the Gend
Will make the MAmary Ellen DCarter rise Gagain G/F#
Break: C / D / G / G/F# / C / D
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 below
But we've pathed her rents, stopped her vents, dogged hatch and porthole down
Put cables to her, fore and aft, and girded her around
Tomorrow noon, we hit the air and then take up the strain
And make the Mary Ellen Carter rise again
(Repeat Chorus)
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
The won't be laughing in another day...
And you, to whom adversity has dealt its 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 again!
2nd Chorus:
Rise again, rise again
Though your heart it be broken and life about to end
No matter what you've lost, be it a home, a love, a friend
Like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again
(Repeat 2nd Chorus, with feeling on second 'rise again')
Notes: While this sounds OK in standard tuning, it's even better
in DADGAD tuning. This requires lowering the 6th string by a full
tone, the 2nd string by a full tone, and the first by a full tone.
In DADGAD tuning, use the following chords:
G: x50200 (These stretches are easier with the capo)
G/F#: x40200
C: x20000 or 520000
D: x02002
Am: 222xxx