Mary Ellen Carter

Well the / [G]owners wrote her / off,
Not a / [C]nickel [D]would they / [G]spend,
"She gave / [Am]twenty years of / service, boys,
Then / [C]met her sorry / [D]end.
But in - / [G]surance paid the / loss to us,
So / [C]let her rest be- / [G]low.",
Then they / [Am]laughed at us, and,
Said we had to / [D]go.

But we / [G]talked of her all / winter,
Some / [C]days around the / [G]clock.
She's / [Am]worth a quarter / million,
A -/ [C]floating at the / [D]dock and
With / [G]every jar that / hit the bar,
We / swore we would re - / [G]main and
Make the / [Am]Mary Ellen / [D]Carter rise a - / [G]gain!

Rise a - / [Am]gain, [D]rise a - / [G]gain,
That her / [D]name not be / [C]lost,
To the / [G]knowledge of / [D]men,
All / [G]those who loved her / best and
Were / [C]with her 'til the / [G]end,
Will make the / [Am]Mary Ellen / [D]Carter, rise a - / [G]gain.

All / [G]spring now we've been / with her,
On a / [C]barge lent [D]by a / [G]friend.
Three / [Am]dives a day in a / hardhat suit, and
[C]Twice I've had the / [D]bends.
Thank / [G]God it's only / sixty feet, and
The / [C]currents here are / [G]slow, or
I'd / [Am]never have the / strength,
To go be - / [D]low.
But we've / [G]patched her rents, / stopped her vents,
Dogged / [C]hatch, and Portholes  / [G]down,
Put / [Am]cables to her, / fore and aft and
[C]Girded her a - / [D]round,
To - / [G]morrow noon, we / hit the air and
[C]Then take up the / [G]strain, and
Make the / [Am]Mary Ellen / [D]Carter rise a - / [G]gain!

- Chorus:

For we / [G]couldn't  leave her / there,
You see to / [C]crumble [D]into / [G]scale.
She'd / [Am]saved our lives, so / many times,
[C]Living through the / [D]gale, and
The / [G]laughing, drunken / rats,
Who left her / [C]to a sorry / [G]grave,
They / [Am]won't be laughing / in another / [D]day, and
[G]You, to whom ad - / versity, has / [C]dealt the final / [G]blow,
With / [Am]smiling bastards / lying to you,
[C]Everywhere you / [D]go,
Turn / [G]to, and put out / all your strength,
Of / [C]arm, and heart and / [G]brain, and
Like the / [Am]Mary Ellen / [D]Carter rise a - / [G]gain!

2nd Chorus:

Rise a - / [Am]gain, / [D]rise a - / [G]gain,
Though your / [D]heart, it be / [C]broken, or
[G]Life about to / e[D]nd,
No / [G]matter what you've / lost,
Be it a / [C]home, a love, a / [G]friend,
Like the / [Am]Mary Ellen / [D]Carter rise a - / [G]gain!

Repeat 2nd Chorus, with feeling on second "Rise a - gain".