Hurricane is a song by Bob Dylan and Jacques Levy and is a protest song about the imprisonment of Rubin Hurricane Carter, a boxer wrongfully convicted of murder in 1966. The song criticizes the racism and failures of the American justice system. Dylan was inspired to write the song after reading Carters autobiography, The Sixteenth Round, and meeting with him in prison before composing Hurricane. The song played a role in bringing public awarenes ... See more [+] s to Carters case, leading to his eventual release in 1985 after two overturned convictions.
Key: Am
Introduction:
Am
F
x4
Am
F
Pistol shots ring out in the barroom night
Am
F
Enter Patty Valentine from the upper hall
Am
F
She sees the bartender in a pool of blood
Am
F
Cries out "My God they killed them all!"
C
F
G
Here comes the story of the Hurricane
C
F
The man the authorities came to blame
Dm
C
For something that he never done
Dm
C
Put in a prison cell but one time
Am
F
C
G
He could have been the champion of the world
Am
F
Am
F
Am
F
Three bodies lyin’ there does Patty see
Am
F
And another man named Bello, movin’ around mysteriously
Am
F
“I didn’t do it,” he says, and he throws up his hands
Am
F
“I was only robbin’ the register, I hope you understand
C
F
G
I saw them leavin’,” he says, and he stops
C
F
“One of us had better call up the cops”
Dm
C
And so Patty calls the cops
Dm
C
Em
Am
And they arrive on the scene with their red lights flashin’
F
C
G
In the hot New Jersey night
Am
F
Am
F
Am
F
Meanwhile, far away in another part of town
Am
F
Rubin Carter and a couple of friends are drivin’ around
Am
F
Number one contender for the middleweight crown
Am
F
Had no idea what kinda shit was about to go down
C
F
G
When a cop pulled him over to the side of the road
C
F
Just like the time before and the time before that
Dm
C
In Paterson that’s just the way things go
Dm
C
Em
Am
If you’re black you might as well not show up on the street
F
C
G
’Less you wanna draw the heat
Am
F
Am
F
Am
F
Alfred Bello had a partner and he had a rap for the cops
Am
F
Him and Arthur Dexter Bradley were just out prowlin’ around
Am
F
He said, “I saw two men runnin’ out, they looked like middleweights
Am
F
Jumped into a white car with out-of-state plates”
C
F
G
And Miss Patty Valentine just nodded her head
C
F
Cop said, “Wait a minute, boys, this one’s not dead”
Dm
C
So they took him to the infirmary
Dm
C
And though this man could hardly see
Em
Am
F
C
G
They told him he could identify the guilty men
Am
F
Am
F
Am
F
Four in the mornin’ and they haul Rubin in
Am
F
They took him to the hospital and they brought him upstairs
Am
F
The wounded man looks up through his one dyin’ eye
Am
F
"Say, why’d you bring him in here for? He ain’t the guy!”
C
F
G
Yes, here’s the story of the Hurricane
C
F
The man the authorities came to blame
Dm
C
For somethin’ that he never done
Dm
C
Em
Am
Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been
F
C
G
The champion of the world
Am
F
Am
F
Am
F
Four months later, the ghettos are in flame
Am
F
Rubin’s in South America fightin’ for his name
Am
F
While Arthur Dexter Bradley’s still in the robbery game
Am
F
And the cops are puttin’ the screws to him lookin’ for somebody to blame
C
F
G
“Remember that murder that happened in a bar?
C
F
Remember you said you saw the getaway car?
Dm
C
You think you’d like to play ball with the law?
Dm
C
Em
Am
Think it might-a been that fighter that you saw runnin’ that night?
F
C
G
Don’t forget that you are white.”
Am
F
Am
F
Am
F
Arthur Dexter Bradley said, “I’m really not sure”
Am
F
The cop said, “A poor boy like you could use a break
Am
F
We got you for the motel job and we’re talkin’ to your friend Bello
Am
F
You don’t wanta have to go back to jail, be a nice fellow
C
F
G
You’ll be doin’ society a favor
C
F
That sonofabitch is brave and gettin’ braver
Dm
C
We want to put his ass in stir
Dm
C
Em
Am
We want to pin this triple murder on him
F
C
G
He ain’t no Gentleman Jim”
Am
F
Am
F
Am
F
Rubin could take a man out with just one punch
Am
F
But he never did like to talk about it all that much
Am
F
It’s my work, he’d say, I do it for pay
Am
F
And when it’s over I’d just as soon go on my way
C
F
G
Up to some paradise
C
F
Where the trout streams flow and the air is nice
Dm
C
And ride a horse along a trail
Dm
C
Em
But then they took him to the jailhouse
Am
F
C
G
Where they try to turn a man into a mouse
Am
F
Am
F
Am
F
All of Rubin’s cards were marked in advance
Am
F
The trial was a pig-circus, he never had a chance
Am
F
The judge made Rubin’s witnesses drunkards from the slums
Am
F
To the white folks who watched he was a revolutionary bum
C
F
G
And to the black folks he was just a crazy nigger
C
F
No one doubted that he pulled the trigger
Dm
C
And though they could not produce the gun
Dm
C
Em
Am
The D.A. said he was the one who did the deed
F
C
G
And the all-white jury agreed
Am
F
Am
F
Am
F
Rubin Carter was falsely tried
Am
F
The crime was murder “one.” Guess who testified?
Am
F
Bello and Bradley and they both baldly lied
Am
F
And the papers, they all went along for the ride
C
F
G
How can the life of such a man
C
F
Be in the palm of some fool’s hand?
Dm
C
To see him obviously framed
Dm
C
Em
Am
Couldn’t help but make me feel ashamed to live in a land
F
C
G
Where justice is a game
Am
F
Am
F
Am
F
Now all the criminals in their coats and their ties
Am
F
Are free to drink martinis and watch the sun rise
Am
F
While Rubin sits like Buddha in a ten-foot cell
Am
F
An innocent man in a living hell
C
F
G
Yes, that’s the story of the Hurricane
C
F
But it won’t be over till they clear his name
Dm
C
And give him back the time he’s done
Dm
C
Em
Am
Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been