Am - F - Am - F (2x)
Am F
1. 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,
C F
the man the authorities came
to blame
Dm C
for
something that he never done,
Dm C Em
Am
put in a prison cell, but one
time he could have been
F C
- G
the
champion of the world. + Am - F - Am - F
Am F
2.
Three bodies 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 up the cops.”
Dm C
And
so Patty calls the cops,
Dm C Em
Am
and they arrive on
the scene with their red lights flashin
F C - G
in
the hot New Jersey night. + Am - F - Am - F
Am F
3. Meanwhile far away in another part of town
Am F
Rubin Carter and a couple of friends are driving around.
Am F
The
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 time before that,
Dm C
in
Paterson that’s just the ways things go,
Dm
C Em Am
if you’re black you might
as well not show up on the streets,
F C
- G
‘less you wanna draw in the heat. + Am - F - Am - F
Am F
4. 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 running 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.
C F
Cop
said, "Wait a minute boys, this one's not dead."
Dm C
So
they took him to the infirmary,
Dm C Em Am
and although this man
could hardly see, they told him that he could i-
F
C - G
dentify the guilty men.
+ Am - F - Am - F
Am
F
5.
Four in the morning and they haul Rubin in,
Am F
they
took him to the hospital and they brought him upstairs.
Am F
The
wounded man looks up though his one dying eye,
Am F
says, "Why'd you bring him in here
for? He ain't that guy!"
C F
Here
is the story of the Hurricane,
C F
the man the authorities came
to blame
Dm C
for
something that he never done,
Dm C Em
Am
put in a prison cell, but one
time he could have been
F C
- G
the
champion of the world. + Am - F - Am - F
Am F
6.
Four months later the ghettos are in flame,
Am F
Rubin's in South America fighting for his name,
Am F
while Arthur Dexter Bradley's still in the robbery game,
Am
and
the cops are putting the screws to him
F
that
there was 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 Em Am
"Think it might
have been that fighter that you saw running that night?"
F C
- G
"Don't forget that you are white !" + Am - F - Am - F
Am F
7. Arthur Dexter Bradley said, "I'm really
not sure."
Am F
The
cops said, "A poor boy like you could use this break.
Am F
We
got you for the motel job and were talking to your friend Bello,
Am F
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 Em Am
we want to pin this
triple murder on him,
F C
- G
he
ain't no Gentleman Jim."
+ Am - F - Am - F
Am
F
8. 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, “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 Em Am
But then they took
him to the jail house, where they try
F C - G
to
turn a man into a mouse. + Am - F - Am - F
Am F
9. 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 met 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,
C F
no
one doubted that he pulled the trigger.
Dm C
And
though they could not produce the gun,
Dm C Em Am
the D.A. said he was
the one who did the deed,
F C - G
and
the all-white jury agreed. + Am - F - Am - F
Am F
10.
Rubin Carter was falsely tried,
Am F
the
crime was murder "one", guess who testified?
Am F
Bello and Bradley and they both boldly lied,
Am F
and
the newspapers they 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 hand?
Dm C
To
see him obviously framed
Dm C
Em Am
couldn't help but
make them feel ashamed to live in a land
F
C - G
where justice is a game.
+ Am - F - Am - F
Am
F
11. 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
Yes,
that's the story of the Hurricane
C
F
but
it won't be over till they clear him name,
Dm C
and
give him back the time he's done,
Dm C Em
Am
put in a prison cell,
but one time he could've been
F C
- G
the
champion of the world.
+
instrumental = verse 11 + Am - F - Am - F (2x) …
(Bob Dylan)