[00:00.18]Pistol shots ring out in the barroom night
[00:06.65]Enter Patty Valentine from the upper hall
[00:12.24]She sees the bartender in a pool of blood
[00:15.68]Cries out My God they killed them all
[00:19.19]Here comes the story of the Hurricane
[00:25.69]The man the authorities came to blame
[00:30.10]For somethin' that he never done
[00:32.79]Put in a prison cell but one time he could-a been
[00:41.00]The champion of the world
[00:43.18]Three bodies lyin' there does Patty see
[00:51.65]And another man named Bello movin' around mysteriously
[00:59.42]I didn't do it he says and he throws up his hands
[01:08.37]I was only robbin' the register I hope you understand
[01:13.59]I saw them leavin' he says and he stops
[01:22.04]One of us had better call up the cops
[01:30.59]And so Patty calls the cops
[01:33.75]And they arrive on the scene with their red lights flashin'
[01:38.70]In the hot New Jersey night
[01:40.40]Meanwhile far away in another part of town
[01:43.84]Rubin Carter and a couple of friends are drivin' around
[01:50.27]Number one contender for the middleweight crown
[01:55.67]Had no idea what kinda ****was about to go down
[02:53.50]When a cop pulled him over to the side of the road
[03:02.83]Just like the time before and the time before that
[03:08.68]In Paterson that's just the way things go
[03:13.31]If you're black you might as well not show up on the street
[03:38.99]'Less you wanna draw the heat
[03:43.75]Alfred Bello had a partner and he had a rap for the cops
[03:51.93]Him and Arthur Dexter Bradley were just out prowlin' around
[03:58.11]He said I saw two men runnin' out they looked like
[04:03.90]Middleweights
[04:03.99]They jumped into a white car with out-of-state plates
[04:06.06]And Miss Patty Valentine just nodded her head
[04:24.99]Cop said Wait a minute boys this one's not dead
[04:31.68]So they took him to the infirmary
[04:35.38]And though this man could hardly see
[04:38.98]They told him that he could identify the guilty men
[04:41.58]Fourn the mornin' and they haul Rubin in
[04:42.87]Take him to the hospital and they bring him upstairs
[04:57.25]The wounded man looks up through his one dyin' eye
[05:07.56]Says Wha'd you bring him in here for He ain't the guy
[05:15.62]Yes here's the story of the Hurricane
[05:19.10]The man the authorities came to blame
[05:23.74]For somethin' that he never done
[05:25.66]Put in a prison cell but one time he could-a been
[05:50.56]The champion of the world
[05:53.23]Four months later the ghettos are in flame
[06:05.74]Rubin's in South America fightin' for his name
[06:11.25]While Arthur Dexter Bradley's still in the robbery game
[06:26.17]And the cops are puttin' the screws to him lookin' for somebody
[06:31.06]To blame
[06:32.68]Remember that murder that happened in a bar
[06:37.01]Remember you said you saw the getaway car
[06:43.76]You think you'd like to play ball with the law
[06:49.94]Think it might-a been that fighter that you saw runnin' that
[06:53.83]Night
[06:54.41]Don't forget that you are white
[07:00.72]Arthur Dexter Bradley said I'm really not sure
[07:07.17]Cops said A poor boy like you could use a break
[07:11.56]We got you for the motel job and we're talkin' to your friend
[07:15.94]Bello
[07:16.50]Now you don't wanta have to go back to jail be a nice fellow
[07:20.56]You'll be doin' society a favor
[07:24.75]That sonofa*****is brave and gettin' braver
[07:27.56]We want to put his a*s in stir
[07:30.99]We want to pin this triple murder on him
[07:34.81]He ain't no Gentleman Jim
[07:44.36]Rubin could take a man out with just one punch
[07:49.64]But he never did like to talk about it all that much
[07:53.11]It's my work he'd say and I do it for pay
[07:57.26]And when it's over I'd just as soon go on my way
[08:00.82]Up to some paradise
[08:03.99]Where the trout streams flow and the air is nice
[08:07.72]And ride a horse along a trail
[08:11.43]But then they took him to the jailhouse
[08:13.01]Where they try to turn a man into a mouse
[08:26.88]All of Rubin's cards were marked in advance
[08:29.67]The trial was a pig-circus he never had a chance
[08:34.87]The judge made Rubin's witnesses drunkards from the slums
[08:36.98]To the white folks who watched he was a revolutionary bum
[08:39.02]And to the black folks he was just a crazy nigger
[08:43.26]No one doubted that he pulled the trigger
[08:47.67]And though they could not produce the gun
[08:49.23]The D A said he was the one who did the deed
[08:56.50]And the all-white jury agreed
[09:15.90]Rubin Carter was falsely tried
[09:17.38]The crime was murder one guess who testified
[09:19.97]Bello and Bradley and they both baldly lied
[09:24.29]And the newspapers they all went along for the ride
[09:28.22]How can the life of such a man
[09:31.75]Be in the palm of some fool's hand
[09:33.85]To see him obviously framed
[09:36.11]Couldn't help but make me feel ashamed to live in a land
[09:42.35]Where justice is a game
[10:00.91]Now all the criminals in their coats and their ties
[10:04.39]Are free to drink martinis and watch the sun rise
[10:07.75]While Rubin sits like Buddha in a ten-foot cell
[10:11.33]An innocent man in a living hell
[10:15.32]Yes that's the story of the Hurricane
[10:17.36]But it won't be over till they clear his name
[10:22.37]And give him back the time he's done
[10:24.16]Put in a prison cell but one time he could-a been
[10:28.74]The champion of the world