B♭m F＃ B♭m F＃ B♭m F＃ B♭m F＃ B♭m
Pistols shots ring out i n the barroom night
Enter Patty Valentine from the upper hall
She sees the bartender in a pool of blood
Cries out 'My God the y killed them all'
He re comes the story of t he Hurricane
Th e man the authoritie s came to blame
Fo r something that he never done
Pu t him in a prison cel l but one time he could-a been
The c hampion of th e world.
Three bodies lying there does Patty see
And another man named Bello moving arou nd mysteriously
'I didn't do it' he says a nd he throws up his hands
'I was only robbing the regis ter I hope you understand
I saw them leaving' he s ays and he stops
'O ne of us had bette r call up the cops'
An d so Patty calls the cops
An d they arrive on the scene with their red lights flashing
In the hot New Jerse y night.
Meanwhile far away i n another part of town
Rubin Carter and a couple of fri ends are driving around
Nu mber one contender for the middleweight crown
Had no idea what kinda sh it was about to go down
Wh en a cop pulled him over to t he side of the road
Just like the time before and the time before that
In P atterson that's just the way things go
If y ou're black you might as well not SHOW up on the street
'Less you wanna draw th e heat.
Alfred Bello had a partner and he had a rap for the corps
Him and Arthur Dexter Bradley were just out prowling around
He sa id 'I saw two men running out they looked like middleweights
They jumped into a white car with out-of-state plates'
An d Miss Patty Valentine j ust nodded her head
Cop said 'Wait a minute bo ys this one's not dead'
So they took him to the infirmary
An d though this man could hardly see
They told him that he cou ld identify t he guilty men.
Fo ur in the morning and t hey haul Rubin in
Tak e him to the hospital and they bring him upstairs
Th e wounded man looks up through his one dying eye
Says 'W ha'd you bring him in here for ? He ain't the guy !'
Ye s here comes the story of the Hurricane
Th e man the authoriti es came to blame
Fo r something that he never done
Pu t in a prison cel l but one time he could-a been
The champion of th e world.
Fo ur months later t he ghettos are in flame
Ru bin's in South Americ a fighting for his name
While Arthur Dexter Bradley's still in the robbery game
And the c ops are putting the screws to him look ing for somebo dy to blame
'R emember that murder tha t happened in a bar ?'
'R emember you said you saw th e getaway car?'
'Yo u think you'd like to play ball with the law ?'
'Th ink it might-a been that fight er you saw running that night ?'
'Don't forget that you are white'.
Ar thur Dexter Bradley said 'I'm really not sure'
Cop s said 'A boy like you could use a break
We g ot you for the motel job and we're talking to your friend Bello
Now yo u don't wanta have to go back to jail be a nice fellow
Yo u'll be doing society a favor
That sonofabitch i s brave and getting braver
We want to put his ass in stir
We want to pin this t riple murder on him
He a in't no Gentlema n Jim'.
Ru bin could take a man out w ith just one punch
But he n ever did like to talk abo ut it all that much
It's my work he'd say and I do it for pay
And w hen it's over I'd ju st as soon go on my way
Up to some paradise
Wh ere the trout streams flow and the air is nice
An d ride a horse along a trail
Bu t then they took him to the jailhouse
Where they t ry to tur n a man i nto a mouse.
Al l of Rubin's cards w ere marked in advance
The tr ial was a pig-ci rcus he never had a chance
The ju dge made Rubin's witnes ses drunkards from the slums
To the w hite folks who watched he w as a revolution ary bum
And to the black folks he was j ust a crazy nigger
No one doubted that h e pulled the trigger
An d though they could not produce the gun
The D A said he was t he one who did the deed
And the all-white j ury agreed.
Ru bin Carter wa s falsely tried
The c rime was murder 'one' guess who testified
Be llo and Bradley and they both baldly lied
And the n ewspapers they all went along for the ride
Ho w can the life of such a man
Be in the palm of some fool's hand ?
To see him obviously framed
Co uldn't help but make me f eel ashamed to live in a land
Where justice is a game.
Now a ll the criminals in their coats and their ties
Are f ree to drink martinis and watch the sun rise
While R ubin sits like Buddha in a ten-foot cell
An in nocent man in a living he ll
Th at's the story of the Hurricane
But it won't be over till they clear his name
An d give him back the time he's done
Pu t him in a prison cell but one time he could-a been
The champion of the world.
B♭m F＃ B♭m F＃ B♭m F＃ B♭m F＃ C＃ F＃ C＃ F＃ E♭m C＃ E♭m C＃／F7 B♭m／F＃ C＃ G＃7
B♭m F＃ B♭m F＃ B♭m F＃ B♭m F＃ C＃ F＃・・・・
