Pistol 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
For somethin'
that he never done
Put in a prison cell
but one time he could-a been
The champion of the world
Three bodies lyin' there
does Patty see
And another man named Bello
movin' around mysteriously
I didn't do it he says
and he throws up his hands
I was only robbin' the register
I hope you understand.
I saw them leavin'
he says and he stops
One of us had
better call up the cops.
And so Patty calls the cops
And they arrive on the scene
with their red lights flashin'
In the hot New Jersey night...
Meanwhile far away
in another part oftown
Rubin Carter and a couple
of friends are drivin' around.
Number one contender
for the middleweight crown
Had no idea what kinda ****
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 just
the way things go.
lf you'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 cops.
Him and Arthur Dexter Bradley
were just out prowlin' around
He said I saw
two men runnin' out
they looked like
middleweights
Theyjumped
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
And though this man
could hardly see
They told him
that he could identify
the guilty men...
Four in the mornin'
and they haul Rubin in
Take him to the hospital
and they bring him upstairs.
The wounded man looks up
through his one dyin' eye
Says wha'd you bring him
in here for
He ain't the guy
Here's the story
of the Hurricane
The man the authorities
came to blame
For somethin'
that he never done.
Put in a prison cell
but one time he could-a been
The champion of the world
Four months later
the ghettos are in flame
Rubin's in South America
fightin' for his name
While Arthur Dexter Bradley's
still in the
robbery game
And the cops are puttin'
the screws to him
lookin' for somebody to blame.
Remember that murder
that happened in a bar
Remember you said
you saw the getaway car
You think you'd like
to play ball with the law
Think it might-a been
that fighter that you saw
runnin' that night
Don't forget that
you are white
Arthur Dexter Bradley said
I'm really not sure
Cops said a poor boy like you
could use a break
We got you for the motel job
and we're talkin'
to your friend Bello
Now you don't wanta have
to go back to jail
be a nice fellow.
You'll be doin'
society a favor.
That sonofa***** is brave
and gettin' braver.
We want to put
his *** in stir
We want to pin
this triple murder on him
He ain't no Gentleman Jim...
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
and 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
a trail.
But then they took
him to the jailhouse
Where they try to turn
a man into a mouse.
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 nigger.
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.
Rubin Carter
was falsely tried.
The crime was murder one
guess who testified
Bello and Bradley
and they both boldly 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
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 ****.
That's the story
of the Hurricane
But it won't be over
till they clear his name
And give him back
the time he's done.
Put in a prison cell
but one time he could-a been
The champion of the world.