| [00:20.50] |
Pistol shots ring out in the barroom night |
| [00:21.48] |
Enter Patty Valentine from the upper hall |
| [00:24.70] |
She sees the bartender in a pool of blood |
| [00:28.05] |
Cries out, “My God, they killed them all!” |
| [00:31.71] |
Here comes the story of the Hurricane |
| [00:35.05] |
The man the authorities came to blame |
| [00:38.77] |
For somethin’ that he never done |
| [00:42.44] |
Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been |
| [00:47.45] |
The champion of the world |
| [00:49.62] |
|
| [01:00.64] |
Three bodies lyin’ there does Patty see |
| [01:02.87] |
And another man named Bello, movin’ around mysteriously |
| [01:06.62] |
“I didn’t do it,” he says, and he throws up his hands |
| [01:09.57] |
“I was only robbin’ the register, I hope you understand |
| [01:14.63] |
I saw them leavin’,” he says, and he stops |
| [01:17.30] |
“One of us had better call up the cops” |
| [01:20.56] |
And so Patty calls the cops |
| [01:24.89] |
And they arrive on the scene with their red lights flashin’ |
| [01:29.48] |
In the hot New Jersey night |
| [01:31.97] |
|
| [01:43.84] |
Meanwhile, far away in another part of town |
| [01:47.13] |
Rubin Carter and a couple of friends are drivin’ around |
| [01:50.99] |
Number one contender for the middleweight crown |
| [01:51.93] |
Had no idea what kinda shit was about to go down |
| [01:55.35] |
When a cop pulled him over to the side of the road |
| [01:58.32] |
Just like the time before and the time before that |
| [02:02.36] |
In Paterson that’s just the way things go |
| [02:05.49] |
If you’re black you might as well not show up on the street |
| [02:10.62] |
’Less you wanna draw the heat |
| [02:13.18] |
|
| [02:22.89] |
Alfred Bello had a partner and he had a rap for the cops |
| [02:25.53] |
Him and Arthur Dexter Bradley were just out prowlin’ around |
| [02:28.73] |
He said, “I saw two men runnin’ out, they looked like middleweights |
| [02:32.43] |
They jumped into a white car with out-of-state plates” |
| [02:36.29] |
And Miss Patty Valentine just nodded her head |
| [02:39.79] |
Cop said, “Wait a minute, boys, this one’s not dead” |
| [02:43.03] |
So they took him to the infirmary |
| [02:50.12] |
And though this man could hardly see |
| [02:51.81] |
They told him that he could identify the guilty men |
| [02:54.15] |
|
| [03:03.78] |
Four in the mornin’ and they haul Rubin in |
| [03:06.57] |
Take him to the hospital and they bring him upstairs |
| [03:10.00] |
The wounded man looks up through his one dyin’ eye |
| [03:13.23] |
Says, “Wha’d you bring him in here for? He ain’t the guy!” |
| [03:17.24] |
Yes, here’s the story of the Hurricane |
| [03:20.36] |
The man the authorities came to blame |
| [03:24.01] |
For somethin’ that he never done |
| [03:27.93] |
Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been |
| [03:32.65] |
The champion of the world |
| [03:35.15] |
|
| [03:44.67] |
Four months later, the ghettos are in flame |
| [03:48.05] |
Rubin’s in South America, fightin’ for his name |
| [03:52.71] |
While Arthur Dexter Bradley’s still in the robbery game |
| [03:54.44] |
And the cops are puttin’ the screws to him, lookin’ for somebody to blame |
| [03:58.34] |
“Remember that murder that happened in a bar?” |
| [04:01.76] |
“Remember you said you saw the getaway car?” |
| [04:05.57] |
“You think you’d like to play ball with the law?” |
| [04:09.16] |
“Think it might-a been that fighter that you saw runnin’ that night?” |
| [04:11.84] |
“Don’t forget that you are white” |
| [04:15.63] |
|
| [04:27.27] |
Arthur Dexter Bradley said, “I’m really not sure” |
| [04:28.69] |
Cops said, “A poor boy like you could use a break |
| [04:31.74] |
We got you for the motel job and we’re talkin’ to your friend Bello |
| [04:35.50] |
Now you don’t wanta have to go back to jail, be a nice fellow |
| [04:40.24] |
You’ll be doin’ society a favor |
| [04:42.56] |
That sonofabitch is brave and gettin’ braver |
| [04:46.28] |
We want to put his ass in stir |
| [04:49.24] |
We want to pin this triple murder on him |
| [04:54.07] |
He ain’t no Gentleman Jim” |
| [04:55.45] |
|
| [05:05.85] |
Rubin could take a man out with just one punch |
| [05:09.03] |
But he never did like to talk about it all that much |
| [05:12.10] |
It’s my work, he’d say, and I do it for pay |
| [05:15.68] |
And when it’s over I’d just as soon go on my way |
| [05:19.71] |
Up to some paradise |
| [05:22.86] |
Where the trout streams flow and the air is nice |
| [05:26.35] |
And ride a horse along a trail |
| [05:30.41] |
But then they took him to the jailhouse |
| [05:34.40] |
Where they try to turn a man into a mouse |
| [05:39.66] |
|
| [05:46.52] |
All of Rubin’s cards were marked in advance |
| [05:48.96] |
The trial was a pig-circus, he never had a chance |
| [05:51.56] |
The judge made Rubin’s witnesses drunkards from the slums |
| [05:55.22] |
To the white folks who watched he was a revolutionary bum |
| [05:58.79] |
And to the black folks he was just a crazy nigger |
| [06:02.78] |
No one doubted that he pulled the trigger |
| [06:09.77] |
And though they could not produce the gun |
| [06:13.84] |
The D.A. said he was the one who did the deed |
| [06:17.91] |
And the all-white jury agreed |
| [06:21.25] |
|
| [06:29.87] |
Rubin Carter was falsely tried |
| [06:32.66] |
The crime was murder “one,” guess who testified? |
| [06:37.59] |
Bello and Bradley and they both baldly lied |
| [06:39.78] |
And the newspapers, they all went along for the ride |
| [06:43.80] |
How can the life of such a man |
| [06:46.67] |
Be in the palm of some fool’s hand? |
| [06:52.97] |
To see him obviously framed |
| [06:54.01] |
Couldn’t help but make me feel ashamed to live in a land |
| [06:57.35] |
Where justice is a game |
| [07:02.36] |
|
| [07:10.39] |
Now all the criminals in their coats and their ties |
| [07:13.38] |
Are free to drink martinis and watch the sun rise |
| [07:16.38] |
While Rubin sits like Buddha in a ten-foot cell |
| [07:20.59] |
An innocent man in a living hell |
| [07:24.30] |
That’s the story of the Hurricane |
| [07:27.50] |
But it won’t be over till they clear his name |
| [07:30.97] |
And give him back the time he’s done |
| [07:36.27] |
Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been |
| [07:38.07] |
The champion of the world |
