Hurricane

And the newspapers, they all went along for the ride
That son of a bitch is brave and gettin' braver
And the cops are puttin' the screws to him
We want to pin this triple murder on him
'Less you wanna draw the heat
Rubin Carter was falsely tried

"It's my work", he'd say "And I do it for a pay
They told him, he could identify the guilty men

How can the life of such a man
Arthur Dexter Bradley said, "I'm really not sure"
You'll be doin' society a favor
Jumped into a white car without of state plates"
And though they could not produce the gun

Now, all the criminals in their coats and their ties
In the hot New Jersey night
And so Patty calls the cops
Alfred Bello had a partner and he had a rap for the cops
The man the authorities came to blame
Remember that murder that happened in a bar

Meanwhile, far away in another part of town
He ain't no Gentleman Jim
Put in a prison cell, but one time he could've been
To live in a land where justice is a game
"I was only robbin' the register, I hope you understand"
And Miss Patty Valentine just nodded her head
We've got you for the motel job and we're talkin' to your friend Bello
To see him obviously framed
Lookin' for somebody to blame
The cops said, "A poor boy like you could use a break
And ride a horse along the trail
If you're Black you might as well not show up on the street
The trial was a pig-circus, he never had a chance
Four months later, the ghettos are in flame
Says, "Why'd you bring him in here for he ain't the guy"
You don't wanta have to go back to jail, be a nice fellow"

But he never did like to talk about it all that much

Don't forget that you are White
And another man named Bello movin' around mysteriously
To the White folks who watched, he was a revolutionary bum
And they arrive on the scene with their red lights flashin'
Put in a prison cell, but one time he could've been
And to the Black folks he was just a crazy nigger
While Arthur Dexter Bradley's still in the robbery game
Remembered you said you saw the get away car
When a cop pulled him over to the side of the road
The man the authorities came to blame
You think you'd like to play ball with the law
Had no idea what kinda shit was about to go down
In Paterson that's just the way things go

Just like the time before and the time before that
Cries out, "My God, they killed them all"
She sees a bartender in a pool of blood
Where they try to turn a man into a mouse
Up to some paradise
The crime was murder "One" guess who testified?
The champion of the world
"I didn't do it," he says and he throws up his hands

Where the trout streams flow and the air is nice
Him and Arthur Dexter Bradley were just out prowlin' around

No one doubted that he pulled the trigger
Rubin could take a man out with just one punch

Put in a prison cell, but one time he could've been
For somethin' that he never done
While Rubin sits like Buddha in a ten foot cell
"I saw them leavin'", he says and he stops
One of us said, "Better call up the cops"
Number one contender for the middle-weight crown
So they took him to the infirmary and though this man could hardly see

Rubin Carter and a couple of friends are drivin' around
Here's the story of the Hurricane

Four in the mornin', and they haul Rubin in
For somethin' that he never done
Yes, that's the story of the Hurricane
Think it might've been that fighter that you saw runnin' that night
Cop said, "Wait a minute, boys, this one's not dead"
Rubin's in South America, fightin' for his name

The champion of the world
And when it's over just as soon go on my way"
The judge made Rubin's witnesses drunkards from the slums
An innocent man in a living hell
Couldn't help but make me feel ashamed

Bello and Bradley and they both baldly lied
Here comes the story of the Hurricane
Are free to drink Martinis and watch the sun rise
Three bodies lyin' there, does Patty see

Be in the palm of some fool's hand?
We want to put his ass in stir
But it won't be over till they clear his name
And the all White jury agreed
But then they took him to the jail house

He said, "I saw two men runnin' out, they looked like middle-weights
All of Rubin's cards were marked in advance

The D.A. said he was the one who did the deed

And give him back the time he's done
The wounded man looks up through his one dyin' eye
They took him to the hospital and they brought him upstairs