Pistols 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'
Here comes the story of the Hurricane
The man the authorities came to blame
Fo r something that he never done
Pu t him in a prison cell but on e time he could-a been
The champion of the world.
Three bodies lying there does Patty see
And another man named Bello moving around mysteriously
'I didn't do it' he says and he throws up his hands
'I was only robbing the register I hope you understand
I saw them leaving' he says and he stops
'One of us had better 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 Jersey night.
Meanwhile far away in another part of town
Rubin Carter and a couple of friends are driving around
Nu mber 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 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 the 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'
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
An d though this man could hardly see
Th ey told him that he could identify the guilty men.
Fo ur in the morning and they 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 !'
Yes here comes the story of the Hurricane
The man the authorities came to blame
Fo r something that he never done
Pu t in a prison cell but one time he could-a been
The champion of the world.
Fo ur months later the ghettos are in flame
Ru bin's in South America fighting for his name
While Arthur Dexter Bradley's still in the robbery game
And the c ops are putting the screws to him looking for somebo dy to blame
'Remember that murder that happened in a bar ?'
'Remember you said you saw the getaway car?'
'Yo u think you'd like to play ball with the law ?'
'Th ink it might-a been that fighter you s aw 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
You'll be doing society a favor
That sonofabitch is brave and getting braver
We want to put his ass in stir
We want to pin this triple m urder on him
He ain't no Gentleman Jim'.
Ru bin could take a man out with just one punch
But he n ever did like to talk about 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 just as soon go on my way
Up to some paradise
Where 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 turn a man into a mouse.
Al l of Rubin's cards were marked in advance
The tr ial was a pig-circus he never had a chance
The ju dge made Rubin's witnesses drunkards from the slums
To the w hite folks who watched he was a revolution ary bum
And to the black folks he was just a crazy nigger
No one doubted that he pulled the trigger
An d though they could not produce the gun
The D A said he was the on e who did the deed
And the all-white jury agreed.
Ru bin Carter was 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
How 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 feel asha med 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
That'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.
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