Bob Dylan
Hurricane
Desire (1976)

Am  F  x 4  (3e: embarque)

Am                           F
Pistol shots ring out in the barroom night
Enter Patty Valentine from the upper hall
She sees the bartender in a pool of blood
Cries out "My God, they killed them all"

  C!                          F!        F GGGG(C)
  Here comes the story of the Hurricane
  The man the authorities came to blame
  Dm                          C
  For somethin' that he never done
  Dm                       C   Em              Am       F               C     C < G  G
  Put in a prison cell but one time he could-a been the champion of the world

Am  F  x 2  w/ violon

Three bodies lyin' there does Patty see
And another man named Bello, movin' around mysteriously
"I didn't do it" he says, and he throws up his hands
"I was only robbin' the register, I hope you understand

  I saw them leavin'" he says, and he stops
  "One of us had better call up the cops"
  And so Patty calls the cops
  And they arrive on the scene with their red lights flashin' in the hot New Jersey night

Am  F  x 2

Meanwhile far away in another part of town
Rubin Carter and a couple of friends are drivin' around
Number one contender for the middleweight crown
Had no idea what kinda shit was about to go down

  When a cop pulled him over to the side of the road
  Just like the time before and the time before that
  In Paterson that's just the way things go
  If you're black you might as well not show up on the street 'less you want to draw the heat

Am  F  x 2

Alfred Bello had a partner and he had a rap for the cops
Him and Arthur Dexter Bradley were just out prowlin' around
He said "I saw two men runnin' out, they looked like middleweights
They jumped into a white car with out-of-state plates"

  And Miss Patty Valentine just nodded her head
  Cop said "Wait a minute boys, this one's not dead"
  So they took him to the infirmary
  And though this man could hardly see they told him that he could identify the guilty men

Am  F  x 2

Four in the mornin' and they haul Rubin in
Take him to the hospital and they bring him upstairs
The wounded man looks up through his one dyin' eye
Says "Wha'd you bring him in here for? He ain't the guy"

  Yes here's the story of the Hurricane
  The man the authorities came to blame
  For somethin' that he never done
  Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been the champion of the world

Am  F  x 2

Four months later, the ghettos are in flame
Rubin's in South America, fightin' for his name
While Arthur Dexter Bradley's still in the robbery game
And the cops are puttin' the screws to him lookin' for somebody to blame

  "Remember that murder that happened in a bar?"
  "Remember you said you saw the getaway car?"
  "You think you'd like to play ball with the law?"
  "Think it might-a been that fighter that you saw runnin' that night? Don't forget that you are white"

Am  F  x 2

Arthur Dexter Bradley said "I'm really not sure"
Cops said "A poor boy like you could use a break
We got you for the motel job and we're talkin' to your friend Bello
Now you don't wanta have to go back to jail, be a nice fellow

  You'll be doin' society a favor
  That sonofabitch is brave and gettin' braver
  We want to put his ass in stir
  We want to pin this triple murder on him, he ain't no Gentleman Jim"

Am  F  x 2

Rubin could take a man out with just one punch
But he never did like to talk about it all that much
"It's my work" he'd say, "and I do it for pay
And when it's over I'd just as soon go on my way"

  Up to some paradise
  Where the trout streams flow and the air is nice
  And ride a horse along a trail
  But then they took him to the jailhouse where they try to turn a man into a mouse

Am  F  x 2

All of Rubin's cards were marked in advance
The trial was a pig-circus, he never had a chance
The judge made Rubin's witnesses drunkards from the slums
To the white folks who watched he was a revolutionary bum

  And to the black folks he was just a crazy nigger
  No one doubted that he pulled the trigger
  And though they could not produce the gun
  The D.A. said he was the one who did the deed and the all-white jury agreed

Am  F  x 2

Rubin Carter was falsely tried
The crime was murder "one" guess who testified?
Bello and Bradley and they both baldly lied
And the newspapers, they all went along for the ride

  How can the life of such a man
  Be in the palm of some fool's hand?
  To see him obviously framed
  Couldn't help but make me feel ashamed to live in a land where justice is a game

Am  F  x 2

Now all the criminals in their coats and their ties
Are free to drink martinis and watch the sun rise
While Rubin sits like Buddha in a ten-foot cell
An innocent man in a living hell

  Yes that's the story of the Hurricane
  But it won't be over till they clear his name
  And give him back the time he's done
  Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been the champion of the world

(  )  
        x 2  w/ harmonica, w/o !
  (  )  

(fade out)