Hurricane

And so Patty calls the cops

An innocent man in a living hell
The champion of the world

Just like the time before and the time before that

Rubin could take a man out with just one punch
Rubin's in South America, fightin' for his name
The D.A. said he was the one who did the deed
No one doubted that he pulled the trigger
Rubin Carter and a couple of friends are drivin' around
And Miss Patty Valentine just nodded her head
Number one contender for the middle-weight crown
Up to some paradise
And to the Black folks he was just a crazy nigger

And the newspapers, they all went along for the ride

How can the life of such a man
Him and Arthur Dexter Bradley were just out prowlin' around
Bello and Bradley and they both baldly lied

Here's the story of the Hurricane
Couldn't help but make me feel ashamed
You don't wanta have to go back to jail, be a nice fellow"

Jumped into a white car without of state plates"
'Less you wanna draw the heat
And the cops are puttin' the screws to him
While Rubin sits like Buddha in a ten foot cell
The champion of the world
Here comes the story of the Hurricane
You think you'd like to play ball with the law
The judge made Rubin's witnesses drunkards from the slums
When a cop pulled him over to the side of the road
Put in a prison cell, but one time he could've been
Lookin' for somebody to blame
Where the trout streams flow and the air is nice
Now, all the criminals in their coats and their ties
Are free to drink Martinis and watch the sun rise
The man the authorities came to blame
Yes, that's the story of the Hurricane
Cries out, "My God, they killed them all"
Put in a prison cell, but one time he could've been

The crime was murder "One" guess who testified?
He said, "I saw two men runnin' out, they looked like middle-weights
That son of a bitch is brave and gettin' braver
We want to put his ass in stir

All of Rubin's cards were marked in advance
But he never did like to talk about it all that much
We want to pin this triple murder on him
Says, "Why'd you bring him in here for he ain't the guy"
And another man named Bello movin' around mysteriously
Had no idea what kinda shit was about to go down

To see him obviously framed
In the hot New Jersey night
One of us said, "Better call up the cops"

Cop said, "Wait a minute, boys, this one's not dead"
And though they could not produce the gun
Where they try to turn a man into a mouse
They told him, he could identify the guilty men
Remember that murder that happened in a bar
The man the authorities came to blame
Don't forget that you are White
Three bodies lyin' there, does Patty see
Meanwhile, far away in another part of town
But it won't be over till they clear his name
The wounded man looks up through his one dyin' eye

He ain't no Gentleman Jim
Put in a prison cell, but one time he could've been
Four in the mornin', and they haul Rubin in
Four months later, the ghettos are in flame
And the all White jury agreed
While Arthur Dexter Bradley's still in the robbery game

If you're Black you might as well not show up on the street
To live in a land where justice is a game
In Paterson that's just the way things go
They took him to the hospital and they brought him upstairs
And they arrive on the scene with their red lights flashin'
Remembered you said you saw the get away car
Rubin Carter was falsely tried
For somethin' that he never done
Alfred Bello had a partner and he had a rap for the cops
"I saw them leavin'", he says and he stops

Arthur Dexter Bradley said, "I'm really not sure"
And ride a horse along the trail

"I didn't do it," he says and he throws up his hands
And give him back the time he's done
Think it might've been that fighter that you saw runnin' that night
You'll be doin' society a favor
She sees a bartender in a pool of blood
The cops said, "A poor boy like you could use a break
The trial was a pig-circus, he never had a chance
Be in the palm of some fool's hand?
So they took him to the infirmary and though this man could hardly see

To the White folks who watched, he was a revolutionary bum

"I was only robbin' the register, I hope you understand"

But then they took him to the jail house

We've got you for the motel job and we're talkin' to your friend Bello
For somethin' that he never done

And when it's over just as soon go on my way"
"It's my work", he'd say "And I do it for a pay