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    Pistols shots ring out in the bar room night
    Enter Patty Valentine from the upper hall
    She sees the bartender in a pool of blood
    Cries out, "My God, they killed them all!"

    Here comes the story of the Hurricane
    The man the authorities came to blame
    For something that he never done
    Put him in a prison cell but one time he could-a been
    The champion of the world

    Three bodies lying there does Patty see
    And another man named Bello moving around mysteriously
    "I didn't do it", he says and he throws up his hands
    "I was only robbing the register. I hope you understand

    "I saw them leaving," he says and he stops
    "One of us had better call up the cops."
    And so Patty calls the cops
    And they arrive on the scene
    With their red lights flashing
    In the hot New Jersey night

    Meanwhile far away in another part of town
    Rubin Carter and a couple of friends are driving around
    Number one contender for the middleweight crown
    Had no idea what kinda shit was about to go down

    When a cop pulled him over to the side of the road
    Just like the time before and the time before that
    In Paterson that's just the way things go
    If you're black you might as well not show up on the street
    'Less you wanna draw the heat

    Alfred Bello had a partner and he had a rap for the cops
    Him and Arthur Dexter Bradley were just out prowling around
    He said, "I saw two men running out. They looked like middleweights
    They jumped into a white car with out-of-state plates."

    And Miss Patty Valentine just nodded her head
    Cop said, "Wait a minute, boys, this one's not dead."
    So they took him to the infirmary
    And though this man could hardly see
    They told him he could identify the guilty men

    Four in the morning and they haul Rubin in
    They took him to the hospital and they brought him upstairs
    The wounded man looks up through his one dying eye
    Says, "Why'd you bring him in here for? He ain't the guy!"

    Here's the story of the Hurricane
    The man the authorities came to blame
    For something that he never done
    Put in a prison cell but one time he could-a been the champion of the world

    Four months later the ghettos are in flame
    Rubin's in South America fighting for his name
    While Arthur Dexter Bradley's still in the robbery game
    And the cops are putting the screws to him looking for somebody to blame

    "Remember that murder that you happened in a bar?
    Remember you said you saw the getaway car?
    You think you'd like to play ball with the law?
    Think it might-a been that fighter that you saw running that night?
    Don't forget that you are white"

    Arthur Dexter Bradley said, "I'm really not sure."
    The cop said, "A boy like you could use a break
    We got you for the motel job and we're talking to your friend Bello
    Now you don't wanna have to go back to jail, be a nice fellow

    You'll be doing society a favor
    That son of a bitch is brave and getting braver
    We want to put his ass in stir
    We want to pin this triple murder on him
    He ain't no Gentleman Jim."

    Rubin could take a man out with just one punch
    But he never did like to talk about it all that much
    "It's my work," he'd say, "and I do it for pay
    And when it's over I'd just as soon go on my way

    Up to some paradise
    Where the trout streams flow and the air is nice
    And ride a horse along a trail."
    But then they took him to the jailhouse
    Where they try to turn a man into a mouse

    All of Rubin's cards were marked in advance
    The trial was a pig-circus. He never had a chance
    The judge made Rubin's witnesses drunkards from the slums
    To the white folks who watched he was a revolutionary bum

    And to the black folks he was just a crazy nigger
    No one doubted that he pulled the trigger
    And though they could not produce the gun
    The DA said he was the one who did the deed
    And the all-white jury agreed

    Rubin Carter was falsely tried
    The crime was murder 'one'. Guess who testified?
    Bello and Bradley and they both baldly lied
    And the newspapers—they all went along for the ride

    How can the life of such a man
    Be in the palm of some fool's hand?
    To see him obviously framed
    Couldn't help but make me feel ashamed
    To live in a land
    Where justice is a game

    Now all the criminals in their coats and their ties
    Are free to drink martinis and watch the sun rise
    While Rubin sits like Buddha in a ten-foot cell
    An innocent man in a living hell

    Yes, that's the story of the Hurricane
    But it won't be over 'til they clear his name
    And give him back the time he's done
    Put in a prison cell but one time he could-a been
    The champion of the world

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