| [00:07.69] |
Pistol shots ring out in the barroom night |
| [00:18.70] |
Enter Patty Valentine from the upper hall. |
| [00:22.91] |
She sees the bartender in a pool of blood, |
| [00:26.95] |
Cries out, "My God, they killed them all!" |
| [00:30.55] |
Here comes the story of the Hurricane, |
| [00:34.36] |
The man the authorities came to blame |
| [00:37.92] |
For somethin' that he never done. |
| [00:41.67] |
Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been |
| [00:45.19] |
The champion of the world. |
| [00:49.53] |
|
| [00:50.62] |
Three bodies lyin' there does Patty see |
| [01:01.63] |
And another man named Bello, movin' around mysteriously. |
| [01:03.60] |
"I didn't do it," he says, and he throws up his hands |
| [01:08.88] |
"I was only robbin' the register, I hope you understand. |
| [01:11.28] |
I saw them leavin'," he says, and he stops |
| [01:15.80] |
"One of us had better call up the cops." |
| [01:18.85] |
And so Patty calls the cops |
| [01:21.75] |
And they arrive on the scene with their red lights flashin' |
| [01:27.64] |
In the hot New Jersey night. |
| [01:32.85] |
|
| [01:34.14] |
Meanwhile, far away in another part of town |
| [01:43.13] |
Rubin Carter and a couple of friends are drivin' around. |
| [01:46.81] |
Number one contender for the middleweight crown |
| [01:50.30] |
Had no idea what kinda shit was about to go down |
| [01:54.32] |
When a cop pulled him over to the side of the road |
| [01:58.29] |
Just like the time before and the time before that. |
| [02:01.13] |
In Paterson that's just the way things go. |
| [02:04.76] |
If you're black you might as well not show up on the street |
| [02:09.24] |
'Less you wanna draw the heat. |
| [02:18.05] |
Alfred Bello had a partner and he had a rap for the cops. |
| [02:24.38] |
Him and Arthur Dexter Bradley were just out prowlin' around |
| [02:28.05] |
He said, "I saw two men runnin' out, they looked like |
| [02:30.55] |
middleweights |
| [02:32.12] |
They jumped into a white car with out-of-state plates." |
| [02:35.53] |
And Miss Patty Valentine just nodded her head. |
| [02:38.41] |
Cop said, "Wait a minute, boys, this one's not dead" |
| [02:42.54] |
So they took him to the infirmary |
| [02:45.80] |
And though this man could hardly see |
| [02:49.45] |
They told him that he could identify the guilty men. |
| [03:01.86] |
Fourn the mornin' and they haul Rubin in, |
| [03:05.38] |
Take him to the hospital and they bring him upstairs. |
| [03:07.17] |
The wounded man looks up through his one dyin' eye |
| [03:12.44] |
Says, "Wha'd you bring him in here for? He ain't the guy!" |
| [03:16.56] |
Yes, here's the story of the Hurricane, |
| [03:19.86] |
The man the authorities came to blame |
| [03:23.51] |
For somethin' that he never done. |
| [03:27.40] |
Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been |
| [03:31.38] |
The champion of the world. |
| [03:43.30] |
Four months later, the ghettos are in flame, |
| [03:46.62] |
Rubin's in South America, fightin' for his name |
| [03:50.13] |
While Arthur Dexter Bradley's still in the robbery game |
| [03:53.54] |
And the cops are puttin' the screws to him, lookin' for somebody |
| [03:56.00] |
to blame. |
| [03:57.64] |
"Remember that murder that happened in a bar?" |
| [04:00.93] |
"Remember you said you saw the getaway car?" |
| [04:04.46] |
"You think you'd like to play ball with the law?" |
| [04:08.13] |
"Think it might-a been that fighter that you saw runnin' that |
| [04:09.93] |
night?" |
| [04:12.23] |
"Don't forget that you are white." |
| [04:18.56] |
Arthur Dexter Bradley said, "I'm really not sure." |
| [04:27.27] |
Cops said, " A poor boy like you could use a break |
| [04:29.75] |
We got you for the motel job and we're talkin' to your friend |
| [04:33.25] |
Bello |
| [04:34.58] |
Now you don't wanta have to go back to jail, be a nice fellow. |
| [04:38.80] |
You'll be doin' society a favor. |
| [04:41.98] |
That sonofabitch is brave and gettin' braver. |
| [04:45.50] |
We want to put his ass in stir |
| [04:47.02] |
We want to pin this triple murder on him |
| [04:53.32] |
He ain't no Gentleman Jim." |
| [04:59.05] |
Rubin could take a man out with just one punch |
| [05:08.00] |
But he never did like to talk about it all that much. |
| [05:11.11] |
It's my work, he'd say, and I do it for pay |
| [05:15.20] |
And when it's over I'd just as soon go on my way |
| [05:19.07] |
Up to some paradise |
| [05:22.20] |
Where the trout streams flow and the air is nice |
| [05:25.58] |
And ride a horse along a trail. |
| [05:28.87] |
|
| [05:29.53] |
But then they took him to the jailhouse |
| [05:32.93] |
Where they try to turn a man into a mouse. |
| [05:42.02] |
|
| [05:43.14] |
All of Rubin's cards were marked in advance |
| [05:48.73] |
The trial was a pig-circus, he never had a chance. |
| [05:52.17] |
The judge made Rubin's witnesses drunkards from the slums |
| [05:55.73] |
To the white folks who watched he was a revolutionary bum |
| [05:59.74] |
And to the black folks he was just a crazy nigger. |
| [06:02.93] |
No one doubted that he pulled the trigger. |
| [06:06.58] |
And though they could not produce the gun, |
| [06:10.38] |
The D.A. said he was the one who did the deed |
| [06:14.45] |
And the all-white jury agreed. |
| [06:26.09] |
Rubin Carter was falsely tried. |
| [06:29.78] |
The crime was murder "one," guess who testified? |
| [06:32.10] |
Bello and Bradley and they both baldly lied |
| [06:36.90] |
And the newspapers, they all went along for the ride. |
| [06:40.67] |
How can the life of such a man |
| [06:43.73] |
Be in the palm of some fool's hand? |
| [06:47.59] |
To see him obviously framed |
| [06:51.30] |
Couldn't help but make me feel ashamed to live in a land |
| [06:55.85] |
Where justice is a game. |
| [07:05.97] |
Now all the criminals in their coats and their ties |
| [07:10.19] |
Are free to drink martinis and watch the sun rise |
| [07:13.85] |
While Rubin sits like Buddha in a ten-foot cell |
| [07:17.39] |
An innocent man in a living hell. |
| [07:21.36] |
Yes, that's the story of the Hurricane, |
| [07:24.65] |
But it won't be over till they clear his name |
| [07:28.08] |
And give him back the time he's done. |
| [07:31.38] |
Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been |
| [07:35.98] |
The champion of the world. |
