Hurricane Lyrics by Bob Dylan

0:16Pistol shots ring out in the barroom night

0:19Enter Patty Valentine from the upper hall

0:23She sees the bartender in a pool of blood

0:27Cries out, "My God, they've killed them all!"

0:31Here comes the story of the Hurricane

0:35The man the authorities came to blame

0:38For somethin' that he never done

0:42Put in a prison cell, but one time he coulda been

0:46The champion of the world

0:49♪

0:58Three bodies lyin' there does Patty see

1:01And another man named Bello, movin' around mysteriously

1:05"I didn't do it," he says, and he throws up his hands

1:09"I was only robbin' the register, I hope you understand"

1:13"I saw them leavin'," he says, and he stops

1:16"One of us had better call up the cops"

1:20And so Patty calls the cops

1:24And they arrive on the scene

1:26With their red lights flashin' in the hot New Jersey night

1:32♪

1:40Meanwhile, far away in another part of town

1:43Rubin Carter and a couple of friends are drivin' around

1:47Number one contender for the middleweight crown

1:50Had no idea what kinda shit was about to go down

1:54When a cop pulled him over to the side of the road

1:58Just like the time before and the time before that

2:01In Paterson that's just the way things go

2:05If you're black, you might as well not show up on the street

2:09'Less you wanna draw the heat

2:13♪

2:21Alfred Bello had a partner, and he had a rap for the cops

2:24Him and Arthur Dexter Bradley were just out prowlin' around

2:28He said, "I saw two men runnin' out, they looked like middleweights

2:32Jumped into a white car with out-of-state plates"

2:35And Miss Patty Valentine just nodded her head

2:39Cop said, "Wait a minute, boys, this one's not dead"

2:42So they took him to the infirmary

2:46And though this man could hardly see

2:48They told him he could identify the guilty men

2:54♪

3:02Four in the mornin' and they haul Rubin in

3:05They took him to the hospital and they brought him upstairs

3:09The wounded man looks up through his one dyin' eye

3:12Say, "Why'd you bring him in here for? He ain't the guy"

3:16Here's the story of the Hurricane

3:20The man the authorities came to blame

3:24For somethin' that he never done

3:27Put in a prison cell, but one time he coulda been

3:31A champion of the world

3:35♪

3:43Four months later, the ghettos are in flame

3:46Rubin's in South America fightin' for his name

3:50While Arthur Dexter Bradley's still in the robbery game

3:53And the cops are puttin' the screws to him, lookin' for somebody to blame

3:57"Remember that murder that happened in a bar?

4:01Remember you said you saw the getaway car?

4:04You think you'd like to play ball with the law?

4:08Think it might've been that fighter that you saw runnin' that night?

4:12Don't forget that you are white"

4:16♪

4:24Arthur Dexter Bradley said, "I'm really not sure"

4:27The cops said, "A poor boy like you could use a break

4:31We got you for the motel job, and we're talkin' to your friend Bello

4:34You don't wanna have to go back to jail, be a nice fellow

4:38You'll be doin' society a favor

4:42That son of a bitch is brave and gettin' braver

4:45We wanna put his ass in stir

4:49We wanna pin this triple murder on him

4:53He ain't no Gentleman Jim"

4:56♪

5:05Rubin could take a man out with just one punch

5:08But he never did like to talk about it all that much

5:11"It's my work," he'd say, "I do it for pay

5:15And when it's over I'd just as soon go on my way"

5:19Up to some paradise

5:22Where the trout streams flow and the air is nice

5:26And ride a horse along the trail

5:30But then they took him to the jailhouse

5:32Where they try to turn a man into a mouse

5:37♪

5:45All of Rubin's cards were marked in advance

5:49The trial was a pig-circus, he never had a chance

5:52The judge made Rubin's witnesses drunkards from the slums

5:56To the white folks who watched, he was a revolutionary bum

6:00And to the black folks he was just a crazy nigger

6:03No one doubted that he pulled the trigger

6:07And though they could not produce the gun

6:10The DA said he was the one who did the deed

6:14And the all-white jury agreed

6:18♪

6:26Rubin Carter was falsely tried

6:30The crime was murder "one", guess who testified?

6:33Bello and Bradley, and they both baldly lied

6:37The newspapers, they all went along for the ride

6:40How can the life of such a man

6:44Be in the palm of some fool's hand?

6:47To see him obviously framed

6:51Couldn't help but make me feel ashamed to live in a land

6:55Where justice is a game

6:59♪

7:07Now all the criminals in their coats and their ties

7:10Are free to drink martinis and watch the sun rise

7:14While Rubin sits like Buddha in a ten-foot cell

7:17An innocent man in a living hell

7:21Yes, that's the story of the Hurricane

7:25But it won't be over 'til they clear his name

7:28And give him back the time he's done

7:31Put in a prison cell, but one time he coulda been

7:36The champion of the world

7:40♪