Hurricane (Live at Memorial Auditorium, Worcester, MA - November 1975)

Lyrics

[Intro] This song is called "Hurricane" If you got any political pull at all, maybe you can help us get this man out of jail and back onto the streets [Verse 1] Pistol shots ring out on a barroom night Enter Patty Valentine from the outer hall She sees a bartender in a pool of blood Cries out, "My God, they've killed 'em all" Here comes the story of the Hurricane The man the authorities came to blame For something that he never done Put in a prison cell, but one time, he could've been The champion of the world [Verse 2] Three bodiеs lying there does Patty see And anothеr man named Bello moving mysteriously "I didn't do it," he says, and he throws up his hands "I was only robbing the register, I I hope you understand" "I saw them leaving," he says, and he stops "One of us had better call on the cops" And so Patty calls the cops And they arrive on the scene with their red lights flashing In the hot New Jersey night [Verse 3] Meanwhile, far away, in another part of town Rubin Carter and a couple of friends are driving 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 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 [Verse 4] Alfred Bello had this rap on the cops He and Arthur Dexter Bradley were in here prowling around He saw two men running out of here, they looked like middleweights 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" They took him to the infirmary And though this man could hardly see They told him he could identify the guilty men [Verse 5] Four in the morning and they haul Rubin in Took him to the hospital and they brought him upstairs The wounded man looks up through his one dyin' eye Says, "Why'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 something that he never done Put in a prison cell, but one time he could've been The champion of the world [Verse 6] Four months later, the ghettos are in flame Rubin's in South America fighting for his name While Arthur Dexter Bradley's still in the robbery game And the cops are putting the screws to him, looking for someone to blame "Remember that murder that happened in a bar?" "Remember you said you saw the getaway car?" "Think you'd like to play ball with the law?" "Think it might've been that fighter that you saw running that night?" "Don't forget now, you're white" [Verse 7] Arthur Dexter Bradley said, "I'm really not sure" The cops said, "A poor boy like you could use a break We got you for the motel job, we're talking to your friend Bello You don't want to have to go back to jail, be a nice fellow You'll be doing society a favor That son of a bitch is brave and getting braver We want to put his ass in stir We want to pin this triple murder on him He ain't no Gentleman Jim" [Verse 8] 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, "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 the trail But then they took him to the jailhouse Where they try to turn a man into a mouse [Verse 9] 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 nigga 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 [Verse 10] Rubin Carter was a-falsely tried The crime was murder one, guess who testified? Arthur Dexter Bradley and Bello, and they both 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 [Verse 11] 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 That's the story of the Hurricane But it won't be over 'til they clear his name And give him back the time he's done Put in a prison cell, but one time He could've been the champion of the world