Intro: Am F Am F
Am F
Pistol shots ring out in the bar room 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
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
Em Am F C G Am F Am F
He could have been the champion of the world
Am F
Three bodied lying there does Patty see
Am F
And another man named Bello moving 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
I saw them leavin'," he says and he stops
C F
One of us had better call the cops
Dm C
And so Patty calls the cops
Dm C
And they arrive on the scene
Em Am
with their red lights flashin'
F C G Am F Am F
In the hot New Jersey night
Am F
Meanwhile somewhere in another part of town
Am F
Rubin Carter and a couple of friends are driving around
Am F
Number one contender for the middleweight crown
Am F
Had no idea what kind of shit was about to go down
C F
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 Patterson that just the ways things go
Dm C
If you black you might as well not show up on the streets
Em Am F C G Am F Am F
Less you wanna draw the heat
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 middle-weights
Am F
They jumped into a white car with out of state plates"
C F
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 although this man could hardly see
Em Am F C G Am F Am F
They told him that he could identify the guilty men
Am F
Four in the morning and they haul Rubin in
Am F
Take him to the hospital and bring him upstairs
Am F
The wounded man looks up though his one dying eye
Am F
Says "why'd you bring him here for? He ain't the guy!"
C F
Yes, here 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 he could've been
Em Am F C G Am F Am F
The champion of the world
Am F
Four months later the ghetto's on 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 screw to him looking for somebody to blame
C F
"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
"Think it might have been that fighter that you saw running that night"
Em Am F C G Am F Am F
"Don't forget that you are white"
Am F
Arthur Dexter Bradley said "I'm really not sure"
Am F
Cops said "A poor boy like you could really use a break
Am F
We got you for the motel job and were talking to your friend Bello
Am F
Now you don't want to have to go back to jail, be a nice fellow
C F
You'll be doin' society a favor
C F
That son of a bitch is brave and getting braver
Dm C
We want to put his ass in the stir
Dm C
We want to pin this trip murder on him
Em Am F C G Am F Am F
He ain't no Gentleman Jim"
Am F
Rubin could take a man out with just one punch
Am F
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
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
But then they took him to the jail house
Em Am F C G Am F Am F
Where they try to make a man into a mouse
Am F
All of Rubin's card 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
but to the black folks he was 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
The D.A. said he was the one who did the deed
Em Am F C G Am F Am F
And the all-white jury agreed
Am F
Rubin Carter was falsely tried
Am F
The crime was murder "one", guess who testifie?
Am F
Bello and Bradley and the both badly lied
Am F
And the newspapers all went along for the ride
C F
How can the life of such a man
C F
Be in the palm of some fool's han?
Dm C
To see him obviously framed
Dm C
Couldn't help make him feel ashamed to live in a land
Em Am F C G Am F Am F
Where justice is a game
Am F
Now all the criminal 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
And innocent man in a living hell
C F
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
Put in a prison cell but one time he could've been
Em Am F C G Am F Am F
The champion of the world