Hurricane

Intro : Pistol shots ring out in the barroom 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 in a prison cell but one time he could have been the champion of the world                      Three bodied lying there does Patty see and another man named Bello moving mysteriously "I didn't do it" he says, and he throws up his hands "I was only robbin the register, I hope you understand I saw them leavin," he says and he stops One of us had better call the cops so Patty calls the cops and they arrive on the scene with their red lights flashin in the hot New Jersey night Meanwhile somewhere 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 kind of shit was about to go down when a cop pulled him over on the side of the road just like the time before and the time before that in Paterson that just the ways things go If you black you might as well not show up on the streets 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 prowlin around He said "I saw two men runnin 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 although this man could hardly see they told him that he could identify the guilty men Four in the morning and they haul Rubin in Take him to the hospital and bring him upstairs the wounded man looks up though his one dying eye says "why'd you bring him here for ? he ain't the guy !" Yes, here 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've been the champion of the world Four months later the ghetto's in flame Rubin's in South America fightin for his name while Arthur Dexter Bradley's still in the robbery game and the cops are puttin the screw to him looking for somebody to blame "Remember that murder that 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 have 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" Cops said "A poor boy like you could really use a break We got you for the motel job and were talking to your friend Bello Now you don't want to ave to go back to jail, be a nice fellow You'll be doin'society a favor That son of a bitch is brave and getting braver We want to put his ass in the stir We want to pin this trip murder on him He ain't ne Gentleman Jim" Rubin could take a man out with just one punch he never did like to talk about it all that much It's my work he'd say, 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 jail house where they try to make a man into a mouse All of Rubin's card 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 but to the black folks he was a crazy nigger no one doubted that he pulled the trigger and though they could not produce the gun the D.A. 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 the both badly lied and the newspapers 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 be ashamed to live in a land where justice is a game Now all the criminal 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 and innocent man in a living hell that's the story of the Hurricane but it won't be over till they clear him name and give him back the time he's done put in a prison cell but one time he could've been the champion of the world