[ti:hurricane]
[ar:Bob Dylan]
[al:Desire]
[00:01.83]Pistol shots ring out in the barroom night
[00:20.20]Enter patty valentine from the upper hall.
[00:23.84]She sees the bartender in a pool of blood,
[00:27.85]Cries out, "my god, they killed them all!"
[00:31.50]Here comes the story of the hurricane,
[00:35.01]The man the authorities came to blame
[00:38.48]For somethin' that he never done.
[00:42.47]Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been
[00:46.11]The champion of the world.
[00:52.43]
[00:59.10]Three bodies lyin' there does patty see
[01:02.41]And another man named bello, movin' around mysteriously.
[01:05.93]"i didn't do it," he says, and he throws up his hands
[01:09.81]"i was only robbin' the register, i hope you understand.
[01:11.34]I saw them leavin'," he says, and he stops
[01:15.67]"one of us had better call up the cops."
[01:17.19]And so patty calls the cops
[01:24.48]And they arrive on the scene with their red lights flashin'
[01:27.88]In the hot new jersey night.
[01:32.56]
[01:40.84]Meanwhile, far away in another part of town
[01:44.17]Rubin carter and a couple of friends are drivin' around.
[01:47.64]Number one contender for the middleweight crown
[01:51.03]Had no idea what kinda shit was about to go down
[01:55.04]When a cop pulled him over to the side of the road
[01:58.58]Just like the time before and the time before that.
[02:02.27]In paterson that's just the way things go.
[02:05.24]If you're black you might as well not show up on the street
[02:10.10]'less you wanna draw the heat.
[02:12.85]
[02:21.69]Alfred bello had a partner and he had a rap for the cops.
[02:24.83]Him and arthur dexter bradley were just out prowlin' around
[02:28.53]He said, "i saw two men runnin' out, they looked like middleweights
[02:32.28]They jumped into a white car with out-of-state plates."
[02:36.25]And miss patty valentine just nodded her head.
[02:39.97]Cop said, "wait a minute, boys, this one's not dead"
[02:42.70]So they took him to the infirmary
[02:46.37]And though this man could hardly see
[02:49.22]They told him that he could identify the guilty men.
[03:03.02]Four in the mornin' and they haul rubin in,
[03:06.13]Take him to the hospital and they bring him upstairs.
[03:09.40]The wounded man looks up through his one dyin' eye
[03:10.66]
[03:13.11]Says, "wha'd you bring him in here for? he ain't the guy!"
[03:17.06]Yes, here's the story of the hurricane,
[03:20.66]The man the authorities came to blame
[03:24.49]For somethin' that he never done.
[03:28.05]Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been
[03:32.03]The champion of the world.
[03:33.46]
[03:44.17]Four months later, the ghettos are in flame,
[03:47.40]Rubin's in south america, fightin' for his name
[03:50.80]While arthur dexter bradley's still in the robbery game
[03:54.31]And the cops are puttin' the screws to him, lookin' for somebody to blame.
[03:58.04]"remember that murder that happened in a bar?"
[04:01.29]"remember you said you saw the getaway car?"
[04:05.25]"you think you'd like to play ball with the law?"
[04:09.42]"think it might-a been that fighter that you saw runnin' that night?"
[04:13.12]"don't forget that you are white."
[04:14.44]
[04:25.24]Arthur dexter bradley said, "i'm really not sure."
[04:30.66]Cops said, "a poor boy like you could use a break
[04:31.25]We got you for the motel job and we're talkin' to your friend bello
[04:35.60]Now you don't wanta have to go back to jail, be a nice fellow.
[04:39.94]You'll be doin' society a favor.
[04:42.18]That sonofabitch is brave and gettin' braver.
[04:45.56]We want to put his ass in stir
[04:47.93]We want to pin this triple murder on him
[04:51.04]He ain't no gentleman jim."
[04:57.66]
[05:06.05]Rubin could take a man out with just one punch
[05:08.97]But he never did like to talk about it all that much.
[05:12.25]It's my work, he'd say, and i do it for pay
[05:15.29]And when it's over i'd just as soon go on my way
[05:19.30]Up to some paradise
[05:23.08]Where the trout streams flow and the air is nice
[05:26.80]And ride a horse along a trail.
[05:30.44]But then they took him to the jailhouse
[05:32.84]Where they try to turn a man into a mouse.
[05:46.15]All of rubin's cards were marked in advance
[05:49.40]
[05:49.49]The trial was a pig-circus, he never had a chance.
[05:49.91]
[05:53.50]The judge made rubin's witnesses drunkards from the slums
[05:56.55]To the white folks who watched he was a revolutionary bum
[06:00.38]And to the black folks he was just a crazy nigger.
[06:03.46]No one doubted that he pulled the trigger.
[06:09.87]And though they could not produce the gun,
[06:11.56]The d.a. said he was the one who did the deed
[06:15.28]And the all-white jury agreed.
[06:17.36]
[06:27.46]Rubin carter was falsely tried.
[06:30.68]The crime was murder "one," guess who testified?
[06:34.02]Bello and bradley and they both baldly lied
[06:37.51]And the newspapers, they all went along for the ride.
[06:41.17]How can the life of such a man
[06:44.78]Be in the palm of some fool's hand?
[06:48.28]To see him obviously framed
[06:52.18]Couldn't help but make me feel ashamed to live in a land
[06:56.26]Where justice is a game.
[06:58.74]
[07:08.14]Now all the criminals in their coats and their ties
[07:11.14]Are free to drink martinis and watch the sun rise
[07:14.91]While rubin sits like buddha in a ten-foot cell
[07:18.05]An innocent man in a living hell.
[07:21.60]That's the story of the hurricane,
[07:27.89]But it won't be over till they clear his name
[07:30.86]And give him back the time he's done.
[07:34.82]Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been
[07:37.58]The champion of the world.