Am
F
Am
F
Am
F
Am
F
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
Here comes the story of the Hurricane,
G
C
F
The man the authorities came to blame
Dm
C
For something that he never done
Dm
C
Em
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
I saw them leavin’,” he says, and he stops
G
C
F
“O ne of us had better call up the cops”
Dm
C
And so Patty calls the cops
Dm
C
Em
And they arrive on the scene with their red lights flashin’
Am
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
When a cop pulled him over to the side of the road
G
C
F
Ju st like the time before and the time before that
Dm
C
In Paterson that’s just the way things go
Dm
C
Em
If you’re black you might as well not show up on the street
Am
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
They jumped into a white car with out-of-state plates”
C
F
And Miss Patty Valentine just nodded her head
G
C
F
Co p said, “Wait a minute, boys, this one’s not dead”
Dm
C
So they took him to the infirmary
Dm
C
Em
And though this man could hardly see
Am
F
C
G
They told him that he could identify the guilty men
Am
F
Am
F
Am
F
Four in the mornin’ and they haul Rubin in
Am
F
Take him to the hospital and they bring him upstairs
Am
F
The wounded man looks up through his one dyin’ eye
Am
F
Says, “Wha’d you bring him in here for? He ain’t the guy!”
C
F
Yes, here’s the story of the Hurricane
G
C
F
Th e man the authorities came to blame
Dm
C
For somethin’ that he never done
Dm
C
Em
Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been
Am
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
“Remember that murder that happened in a bar?”
G
C
F
“R emember you said you saw the getaway car?”
Dm
C
“You think you’d like to play ball with the law?”
Dm
C
Em
“Think it might-a been that fighter that you saw runnin’ that night?”
Am
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
Cops 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
Now you don’t wanta have to go back to jail, be a nice fellow
C
F
You’ll be doin’ society a favor
G
C
F
Th at sonofabitch is brave and gettin’ braver
Dm
C
We want to put his ass in stir
Dm
C
Em
We want to pin this triple murder on him
Am
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, and 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
G
C
F
Wh ere 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
And to the black folks he was just a crazy nigger
G
C
F
No one doubted that he pulled the trigger
Dm
C
And though they could not produce the gun
Dm
C
Em
The D.A. said he was the one who did the deed
Am
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 newspapers, they all went along for the ride
C
F
How can the life of such a man
G
C
F
Be in the palm of some fool’s hand?
Dm
C
To see him obviously framed
Dm
C
Em
Couldn’t help but make me feel ashamed to live in a land
Am
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
That’s the story of the Hurricane
G
C
F
Bu t it won’t be over till they clear his name
Dm
C
And give him back the time he’s done
Dm
C
Em
Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been
Am
F
C
G
The champion of the world
Am
F
G
C
Em
Dm
