This has been introduced as “a Canadian folk song about trying to do the impossible”. but to me (dspeyer) the theme that most resonates is “No matter what you’ve lost, … like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again!” Both themes are present, and subjective experience is subjective.
Many versions of this song are on youtube. My personal favorite is the one from Longest Johns
# Intro
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# Verse
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 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.
# Break
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 be- low.",
Then they laughed at us, and,
Said we had to go.
# Verse
But we talked of her all winter,
Some days around the clock.
She's worth a quarter million,
Afloating 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 again, rise again,
That her name not be lost,
To the knowledge of men,
All those who loved her best and
Were with her 'til the end,
Will make the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again.
# Break
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 patched her rents, stopped her vents,
Dogged hatch, and Portholes 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!
# Chorus
Rise again, rise again,
That her name not be lost,
To the knowledge of men,
All those who loved her best and
Were with her 'til the end,
Will make the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again.
# Break
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,
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!
# 2nd Chorus
Rise again, rise again,
Though your heart, it be broken, or
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, or
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!
# Outro
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