BOB DYLAN - Hurricane lyrics

rate me

Pistol shots ring out in the barroom night<br>Enter patty valentine from the upper hall.<br>She sees the bartender in a pool of blood,<br>Cries out, my god, they killed them all!<br>Here comes the story of the hurricane,<br>The man the authorities came to blame<br>For somethin' that he never done.<br>Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been<br>The champion of the world.<br><br>Three bodies lyin' there does patty see<br>And another man named bello, movin' around mysteriously.<br>I didn't do it, he says, and he throws up his hands<br>I was only robbin' the register, I hope you understand.<br>I saw them leavin', he says, and he stops<br>One of us had better call up the cops.<br>And so patty calls the cops<br>And they arrive on the scene with their red lights flashin'<br>In the hot new jersey night.<br><br>Meanwhile, far away in another part of town<br>Rubin carter and a couple of friends are drivin' around.<br>Number one contender for the middleweight crown<br>Had no idea what kinda shit was about to go down<br>When a cop pulled him over to the side of the road<br>Just like the time before and the time before that.<br>In paterson that's just the way things go.<br>If you're black you might as well not show up on the street<br>'less you wanna draw the heat.<br><br>Alfred bello had a partner and he had a rap for the cops.<br>Him and arthur dexter bradley were just out prowlin' around<br>He said, I saw two men runnin' out, they looked like middleweights<br>They jumped into a white car with out-of-state plates.<br>And miss patty valentine just nodded her head.<br>Cop said, wait a minute, boys, this one's not dead<br>So they took him to the infirmary<br>And though this man could hardly see<br>They told him that he could identify the guilty men.<br><br>Four in the mornin' and they haul rubin in,<br>Take him to the hospital and they bring him upstairs.<br>The wounded man looks up through his one dyin' eye<br>Says, wha'd you bring him in here for? he ain't the guy!<br>Yes, here's the story of the hurricane,<br>The man the authorities came to blame<br>For somethin' that he never done.<br>Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been<br>The champion of the world.<br><br>Four months later, the ghettos are in flame,<br>Rubin's in south america, fightin' for his name<br>While arthur dexter bradley's still in the robbery game<br>And the cops are puttin' the screws to him, lookin' for somebody to blame.<br>Remember that murder that happened in a bar? <br>Remember you said you saw the getaway car? <br>You think you'd like to play ball with the law? <br>Think it might-a been that fighter that you saw runnin' that night? <br>Don't forget that you are white.<br><br>Arthur dexter bradley said, I'm really not sure.<br>Cops said, a poor boy like you could use a break<br>We got you for the motel job and we're talkin' to your friend bello<br>Now you don't wanta have to go back to jail, be a nice fellow.<br>You'll be doin' society a favor.<br>That sonofabitch is brave and gettin' braver.<br>We want to put his ass in stir<br>We want to pin this triple murder on him<br>He ain't no gentleman jim.<br><br>Rubin could take a man out with just one punch<br>But he never did like to talk about it all that much.<br>It's my work, he'd say, and I do it for pay<br>And when it's over I'd just as soon go on my way<br>Up to some paradise<br>Where the trout streams flow and the air is nice<br>And ride a horse along a trail.<br>But then they took him to the jailhouse<br>Where they try to turn a man into a mouse.<br><br>All of rubin's cards were marked in advance<br>The trial was a pig-circus, he never had a chance.<br>The judge made rubin's witnesses drunkards from the slums<br>To the white folks who watched he was a revolutionary bum<br>And to the black folks he was just a crazy nigger.<br>No one doubted that he pulled the trigger.<br>And though they could not produce the gun,<br>The d.a. said he was the one who did the deed<br>And the all-white jury agreed.<br><br>Rubin carter was falsely tried.<br>The crime was murder one, guess who testified? <br>Bello and bradley and they both baldly lied<br>And the newspapers, they all went along for the ride.<br>How can the life of such a man<br>Be in the palm of some fool's hand? <br>To see him obviously framed<br>Couldn't help but make me feel ashamed to live in a land<br>Where justice is a game.<br><br>Now all the criminals in their coats and their ties<br>Are free to drink martinis and watch the sun rise<br>While rubin sits like buddha in a ten-foot cell<br>An innocent man in a living hell.<br>That's the story of the hurricane,<br>But it won't be over till they clear his name<br>And give him back the time he's done.<br>Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been<br>The champion of the world.