Hurricane (Bob Dylan cover)
Ani DiFranco

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 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 kind of 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
Unless 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 that he could identify the guilty men

Four in the morning and they haul Rubin in
Take him to the hospital and they bring him upstairs
The wounded man looks up through his one dying eye
Says, What did you bring him in here for? He ain't the guy!

Yes, 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 have 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 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
Cops said, A poor 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 want to 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 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 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

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


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Lyrics by Ani DiFranco

  'Tis of Thee   1,000,000   2nd Intermission   32 Flavors   32 Flavors [Live][*]   4th of July   78% H20   78% H2O   A Spade   ¿Which Side Are You On?   ¿Which Side Are You On?   Adam and Eve   Aids   Ain't That The Way   Akimbo   Albacore   Alla This   Allergic to Water   Amazing Grace   Amendment   Angel Food   Angry Any More   Angry Any.   Angry Anymore   Animal   Anticipate   Anyday   As Is   Asked You First   Asked You First (live)   Asking Too Much   Astronaut (feat. Radiohead)   Astronaut (Ft Radiohead)   Back Around   Back Back Back   Beautiful Night   Bliss Like This   Blood in the Boardroom   Bodily   Born a Lion   Both Hands   Both Hands (Live In Austin, Texas)   Both Hands [Live in Austin, Texas]   Both Hands [Live in Austin, Texas]   Both Hands [New Version]   Brief Bus Stop   Brief Bus Stop [*]   Bubble   Building And Bridges   Buildings & Bridges   Buildings and Bridges   Callous   Carry You Around   Christians & Pegans   Christians and Pagans   Circe of Light   Circle of Light   Cloud Blood   Cloud Blood?   Cold & Mean   Cold And Mean   Cold And Mean (Answering Machine)   Come Away   Come Away From It   Comfortably Numb (Pink Floyd cover)   Coming Up   Company   Cradle & All   Cradle & All   Cradle & All   Cradle and All   Cradle And All (Live)   Crime for Crime   Decree   Deep Dish   Dilate   Diner   Distracted   Dithering   Do Re Me   Do Re Me (Woody Guthrie cover)   Do Re Me (Woody Guthrie cover)   Dog Coffee   Don't Nobody Know   Done Wrong   Educated G.   Educated Guess   Egos Like Hairdos   Egos Like Hairdos (Live)   Emancipated   Emancipated Minor   Everest   Every Angle   Every State Line   Evolve   Evolve - Album: Evolve   Face up & Sing   Face Up And Sing   Fair Weather   Falling Is Like This   Feakshow   Fierce Flawless   Find A Fire   Fire Door   Fixing Her Hair   Flood Waters   Forest For the Trees   Freakshow   Fuel   Fuel (spoken Word)   Garden Of Simple   Glass House   God's Country   Going Down   Going Once   Good Luck   Good, Bad, Ugly   Grand Canyon   Gratitude   Gravel   Grey   Half-Assed   Handsome Musician   Happy All the Time   Harder Than It Needs To Be   Harvest   Hat Shaped Hat   Hear The Train   Hearse   Heart Break Even   Heartbreak Even   Hell Yeah   Hello Birmingham   Here for Now   Here For Now - Album: Evolve   Hide & Seek (is The Zygote Song!!)   Hide & Seek   Hide And Seek   Hide Seek   Hour Follows Hour   How Have You Been   How Long Can It Last   Hurricane   Hurricane (Bob Dylan cover)   Hypnotized   I Know This Bar   I'm No Heroine   Icarus   Icarus - Album: Evolve   If He Tries Anything   If It Isn't Her   If Yr Not   Imagine That   Imperfectly   In Here   In or Out   In The Margins   In the Margins   In the Way   In The Way - Album: Evolve   Independence Day   Itch   J   Joyful Girl   Joyful Girl (Danger And Uncertainty Mix)   Joyful Girl (Live With The Buffalo Philharmonic)   Joyful Girl (Peace And Love Extended Mix)   Joyful Girl (Peace And Love Mix)   Joyful Girl [Live]   Joyful Girl [Live]   Jukebox   Kazoointoit   Know Now Then   Knuckle Down   Lag Time   Landing Gear   Letter to a John   Letting the Telephone Ring   Letting the Telephone Ring [*]   Life Boat   Light of Some Kind   Little Plastic Castle   Looking for the Holes   Loom   Lost Woman Song   Lullaby   Make Me Stay   Make Them Apologize   Manhole   Mariachi   Mariachi   Marrow   Millennium Theater   Minerva   Modulation   Most Of The Time   Most Of The Time (accompanied On Violin By Cregan ...   My I Q   My I.Q.   My IQ   My Name Is Lisa Kalvelage   Names & Dates   Names & Dates   Names and Dates and Times   Napoleon   Napoleon [New Version]   Napoleon [New Version]   Nicotine   No Reason To Come Home   North Main Street   Not a Pretty Girl   Not Angry Anymore   Not So Soft   O My My   O My My - Album: Evolve   O. K.   O.K.   Oh My My   Old Old Song   On Every Corner   One More Night   One Times One Times One   Origami   Origami - Educated Guess Album   Out of Habit   Out of Range   Out Of Range (electric Version)   Out of Range (Electric)   Out of Range [Acoustic]   Out of Range [Electric]   Outa Me, Onto You   Outta Me, Onto You   Overlap   Overlap [New Version]   Overlap [New Version]   Pale Purple   Paradigm   Parameters   Perfect Fingers   Phase   Phase - Album: Evolve   Pick Yer Nose   Pixie   Pixie (Be Nice)   Platforms   Present Infant   Present/Infant   Prison Prism   Promiscuity   Promised Land   Promised Land - Album: Evolve   Providence   Pulse   Rain check   Raincheck   Rainy Parade   Reckoning   Recoil   Red Letter Year   Reprieve   Reprise   Revelling   Rock Paper Scissors   Rockabye   Roll With It   Round A Pole   Rush Hour   School Night   Second Intermission   Second Intermission - Album: Evolve   See See See See   Seeing Eye Dog   Self Evident   Serpentine   Serpentine - Album: Evolve   Served Faithfully   Shameless   Shameless (Bathtub Mix)   Shameless [New Version]   Shameless [New Version]   She Says   Shroud   Shroud   Shrug   Shrug - Album: Evolve   Shy   Sick Of Me   Silver Ingrid   Sistersong   Slide   Slide - Album: Evolve   Small World   Smiling Underneath   So What   Soft Shoulder   Sorry I Am   Splinter   Star Matter   Still My Heart   Studying Stones   Subconscious   Subdivision   Submerged   Subway   Sunday Morning   Superhero   Swan Dive   Swandive   Swim   Swim - Album Educated Guess   Swing   Swing (Radio Set)   Swing [Album Version]   Swing [Radio Set]   Talk To Me Now   Tamburitza Lingua   That Was My Love   The Arrivals Gate   The Atom   The Boys In Blue   The Diner   The Internationale   The Million You Never Made   The Million You Never Made [#]   The Next Big Thing   The Slant   The Story   The True Story Of What Was   The Waiting Song   The Whole Night   This Bouqet   This Bouquet   This Box Contains...   This Box Contains...   Tip Toe (outtakes)   Tiptoe   To Be Free   To the Teeth   To the Teeth [Shoot-Out Remix]   Tr’w   Travel Tips   Trickle Down   True Story Of What Was   Two Little Girls   Unforgettable   Unrequited   Untouchable Face   Unworry   Up Up Up Up Up Up   Used Cars   Used to You   Virtue   Waiting For Susan   Way Tight   Welcome To   Welcome to :   Welcome To:   Welcome To: - Album: Evolve   What How When Where   What How When Where (Why Who)   What If No One's Watching   Whatall Is Nice   Whatever   When Doves Cry   When Doves Cry (Prince cover)   When I'm Gone   Wherever   Which Side Are You On   Which Side Are You On?   Willing to Fight   Wish I May   Wishin' & Hopin'   Wishin' And Hopin'   Woe Be Gone   Work Your Way Out   Worthy   Wrong With Me   Yeah Yr Right   You Each Time   You Had Time   Your House   Your Next Bold Move   Your Next Bold Move [New Version]   Your Next Bold Move [New Version]   Zoo

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