| <Longest Johns> page <Smoke & Oakum> album page |
The Mary Ellen CarterOh she went down last October in a pouring, driving rainThe Skipper, he'd been drinking and the Mate, he felt no pain How close to Three Mile Rock and she was dealt a mortal blow Then the Mary Ellen Carter settled low There were just us four aboard her when she finally was awash We worked like hell to save her, all heedless of the cost! But the groan she made as she went down it caused us to proclaim That the Mary Ellen Carter'd rise again! Rise again, rise again! May her name not be lost to the knowledge of men All those who loved her best and who were with her 'til the end Will make the Mary Ellen Carter rise again! Well the company 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, said let her rest below Then they laughed at us, and said we had to go But we talked of her all winter, sometimes 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 remain And make the Mary Ellen Carter rise again! Rise again, rise again! May her name not be lost to the knowledge of men All those who loved her best and who were with her 'til the end Will make the Mary Ellen Carter rise again! All spring now we've been with her on a barge lent by a friend Three dives a day in a hard hat 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 So we've patched her rents, stopped her vents, dogged hatch and porthole down Put cables to her fore and aft and girded her around Tomorrow new, we'll hit the air and then take up the strain And make the Mary Ellen Carter rise again! Rise again, rise again! May her name not be lost to the knowledge of men All those who loved her best and who were with her 'til the end Will make the Mary Ellen Carter rise again! Well we couldn't leave her there, you see, to crumble into scale She'd saved our lives so many times, fighting through the gale! And the laughing drunken rats who led her to a sorry grave Well they won't be laughing in another day And to you for whom adversity has dealt it's mortal 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! Rise again, rise again! Though your heart it be broken, your 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! Rise again, rise again! Though your heart it be broken, your 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! |