Mary Ellen Carter

---

Stan Rogers, a Canadian Maritimes folksinger whose untimely death in 1983 cut short the career of a rising star, wrote this song which is, in my opinion, the ultimate tribute to triumph in the face of adversity...

Listen along (3 Mb MP3 file)

 

The Mary Ellen Carter

Rise again, rise again.
That her name not be lost to the knowledge of men.
Those who loved her best and were with her 'til the end
Will make the Mary Ellen Carter rise again.

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 aboard her when she finally was awash.
We'd worked like hell to save her, all heedless of the cost.
And the groan she gave as she went down it caused us to proclaim
That the Mary Ellen Carter would rise again.

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.
For she's worth a quarter million, afloat and 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.
That her name not be lost to the knowledge of men.
Those who loved her best and 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.

But we've patched her rents, stopped her vents, dogged hatch and portal down;
Put cables to her 'fore and aft and girded her around.
Tomorrow noon, we'll hit the air and then take up the strain
And make the Mary Ellen Carter rise again.

Rise again, rise again.
That her name not be lost to the knowledge of men.
Those who loved her best and were with her 'til the end
Will make the Mary Ellen Carter rise again.

 

For we couldn't leave her there, you see, to crumble into scale;
She'd saved our lives so many times, living through the gales,
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 again.

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!

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!

Words & Music copyright Stan Rogers

from the album, Home in Halifax; Fogarty's Cove Music, FCM 010D