If you need a lift, this might help

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stillwaters
Posts: 60
Joined: Mon Sep 10, 2012 1:26 pm

If you need a lift, this might help

Postby stillwaters » Thu Oct 11, 2012 9:19 am

Stan Rogers was a great Canadian Folk singer who you would think was raised in a fishing family on the east coast rather than Scarborough, one of the larger suburbs of Toronto. Anyway this song seems to have a somewhat uplifting quality for me and I hope it works for you. I have attached the lyrics. Give it a try. Sure cant hurt.

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 were 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, they 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 till 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 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
porthole 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.

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.

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.

TackingIntoTheWind
Posts: 1060
Joined: Sat Nov 21, 2009 11:35 am
Location: South Wales

Postby TackingIntoTheWind » Thu Oct 11, 2012 1:26 pm

Thanks very much indeed for posting this (((( stillwaters ))))! :D
As someone who's been making rather " heavy weather " of things recently, it's certainly helped me to read this. And, I've also just watched it performed with great gusto on YouTube.
( YouTube Liam Clancy - Mary Ellen Carter. )

stillwaters
Posts: 60
Joined: Mon Sep 10, 2012 1:26 pm

Postby stillwaters » Thu Oct 11, 2012 3:34 pm

Hey TackingIntoTheWind, I am glad you enjoyed this song. I thought I had posted the link for the video for Stan Rogers but note I did not so here it is
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fT-aEcPg ... re=related

I listened to the Liam Clancy version you had and it was good. I also like the quote he gave at the beginning, "with a mans dieing breath, he should be prepared to make fresh start". I must say I find something very comforting about Stans voice. Please check him out. Based upon your nickname I think you might relate to any number of his songs. Make & Break Harbour, Free in the Harbour, Northwest Passage and so on.

I am not sure how or why our navigation got so off course as to lead us where we find ourselves now. However as the nurse reminded me this morning, the past is the past and we go ahead from right now. I think this is the spirit of Mary Ellen Carter and even though things seem dismal and a lost hope at times we have to remind ourselves constantly that we can rise again.

TackingIntoTheWind, I wish you fair breezes and smooth sailing.

TackingIntoTheWind
Posts: 1060
Joined: Sat Nov 21, 2009 11:35 am
Location: South Wales

Postby TackingIntoTheWind » Sat Oct 13, 2012 9:09 am

Thanks for the link, (((( stillwaters )))).
While I couldn't get the link to work on this PC, I was able to access Stan Rogers singing this song on YouTube, ( Stan Rogers - Mary Ellen Carter. ).
I don't know if it's the same version that the link would have accessed, but Stan Rogers sang it very well, as you said. And, before Stan Rogers singing the song itself, there was a wonderful story from a Chief Mate on a ship, who found comfort from the song, while in a very much life-threatening situation himself.
I'm certainly going to check out those other songs that you mentioned. One of the most difficult things for me sometimes, when my depression is bad, is to remember and really feel that I can actually rise again. So, anything that, like this song and your posting of the lyrics, that boosts my confidence that I can rise again is very helpful! :D
Like you: " I am not sure how or why our navigation got so off course as to lead us where we find ourselves now. " But, I think that the nurse who said that we go ahead from right now is definitely correct. As you say this is the spirit of Mary Ellen Carter.
I've had experiences, particularly with my own depression, that have been unpleasant, frightening and exhausting. Experiences that I can't say that I would I chosen to have had. But, I also find myself wondering, if I hadn't had those experiences, would I be the person I am now? Probably not? Perhaps, as a wise friend of mine once said to me: " Inside every negative there is a positive ". Perhaps, everything does happen for a reason? Perhaps there are times, however painful and unpleasant they may genuinely be, when rather than being blown off course, we're actually being blown on course, even if it doesn't seem like it?
I don't believe in fate, destiny, or anything like that. But, I find it a comforting thought that perhaps we can perform such " alchemy " in our lives, turning negative experiences into positive outcomes. And, like the Mary Ellen Carter rise again... :D


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