The Mary Ellen Carter Stan Rogers
[Intro:]
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She / went down last Oc - / tober, In a / pouring driving / rain,
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The / skipper he'd been / drinking and The / mate he felt no / pain,
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Too / close to Three Mile / Rock and She was / dealt her mortal / blow and
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The / Mary Ellen Carter settled / low. There was / just us five a - / board her,
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When she / finally was a - / wash, We / worked like hell to / save her,
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All / heedless of the / cost, and The / groan she gave as / she went down,
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It / caused us to pro - / claim,
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That the / Mary Ellen / Carter would rise a - / gain.
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Well the / owners wrote her / off, Not a / nickel would they / spend,
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"She gave / twenty years of / service, boys, Then / met her sorry end.
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But in - / surance paid the / loss to us, So / let her rest be- / low.",
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Then they / laughed at us, and, Said we had to / go.
[Verse]
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But we / talked of her all / winter, Some / days around the / clock.
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She's / worth a quarter / million, A -/ floating at the / dock and
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With / every jar that / hit the bar, We / swore we would re - / main and
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Make the / Mary Ellen / Carter rise a - / gain!
[Chorus:]
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Rise a - / gain, rise a - / gain, That her / name not be / lost,
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To the / knowledge of / men, All / those who loved her / best and
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Were / with her 'til the / end,
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Will make the / Mary Ellen / Carter, rise a - / gain.
[Break:]
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All / spring now we've been / with her, On a / barge lent by a / friend.
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Three / dives a day in a / hardhat suit, and Twice I've had the / bends.
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Thank / God it's only / sixty feet, and The / currents here are / slow, or
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I'd / never have the / strength, To go be - / low. But we've / patched her rents, / stopped her vents,
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Dogged / hatch, and Portholes / down, Put / cables to her, / fore and aft and
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Girded her a - / round,
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To - / morrow noon, we / hit the air and To - / morrow noon, we / hit the air and
C / G
Then take up the / strain, and
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Make the / Mary Ellen / Carter rise a - / gain!
[Break: - Chorus:]
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For we / couldn't leave her / there, You see to / crumble into / scale.
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She'd / saved our lives, so / many times, Living through the / gale, and
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The / laughing, drunken / rats, Who left her / to a sorry / grave,
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They / won't be laughing / in another / day, and
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You, to whom ad - / versity, has / dealt the final / blow,
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With / smiling bastards / lying to you,
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Everywhere you / go,
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Turn / to, and put out / all your strength,
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Of / arm, and heart and / brain, and
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Like the / Mary Ellen / Carter rise a - / gain!
[2nd Chorus:]
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Rise a - / gain, / rise a - / gain, Though your / heart, it be / broken, or
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Life about to / end, No / matter what you've / lost,
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Be it a / home, a love, a / friend,
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Like the / Mary Ellen / Carter rise a - / gain!
Repeat 2nd Chorus, with feeling on second "Rise a - gain".
Outro: