Am                           F
Pistol shots ring out in the barroom night
Am                             F
Enter Patty Valentine from the upper hall
Am                            F
  She sees the bartender in a pool of blood
Am                      F
 Cries out "My God they killed them all!"
 
C                             F         G
  Here comes the story of the Hurricane
C                         F
  The man the authorities came to blame
Dm                            C
  For something that he never done
Dm                         C
  Put in a prison cell but one time 
              Am       F               C      G
He could have been the champion of the world


[Instrumental]

| Am | F | Am | F |


[Verse 2]

Am                              F
  Three bodies lyin’ there does Patty see
     Am                              F
And another man named Bello, movin’ around mysteriously
Am                                  F
  “I didn’t do it,” he says, and he throws up his hands
       Am                           F
“I was only robbin’ the register, I hope you understand
C   N.C.                  F    N.C.          G
  I saw them leavin’,” he says, and he stops
C  N.C.                   F  N.C.
  “One of us had better call up the cops”
Dm                       C
  And so Patty calls the cops
Dm                       C                Em         Am
  And they arrive on the scene with their red lights flashin’
       F              C      G
In the hot New Jersey night


[Instrumental]

| Am | F | Am | F |


[Verse 3]

Am                      F
Meanwhile, far away in another part of town
      Am                     F
Rubin Carter and a couple of friends are drivin’ around
Am                           F
Number one contender for the middleweight crown
    Am                           F
Had no idea what kinda shit was about to go down
C  N.C.                             F  N.C.           G
  When a cop pulled him over to the side of the road
C  N.C.                             F  N.C.
  Just like the time before and the time before that
   Dm                                  C
In Paterson that’s just the way things go
       Dm                         C        Em        Am
If you’re black you might as well not show up on the street
          F              C     G
’Less you wanna draw the heat


[Instrumental]

| Am | F | Am | F |


[Verse 4]

       Am                               F
Alfred Bello had a partner and he had a rap for the cops
        Am                                  F
Him and Arthur Dexter Bradley were just out prowlin’ around
   Am                                     F
He said, “I saw two men runnin’ out, they looked like middleweights
Am                           F
Jumped into a white car with out-of-state plates”
C  N.C.                         F  N.C.          G
  And Miss Patty Valentine just nodded her head
C   N.C.                        F   N.C.
Cop said, “Wait a minute, boys, this one’s not dead”
        Dm                      C
So they took him to the infirmary
Dm                                 C
  And though this man could hardly see
     Em                Am     F            C    G
They told him he could identify the guilty men


[Instrumental]

| Am | F | Am | F |


[Verse 5]

Am                             F
  Four in the mornin’ and they haul Rubin in
     Am                                F
They took him to the hospital and they brought him upstairs
    Am                               F
The wounded man looks up through his one dyin’ eye
      Am                                   F
"Say, why’d you bring him in here for?  He ain’t the guy!”
C  N.C.                        F  N.C.    G
  Yes, here’s the story of the Hurricane
C  N.C.                   F  N.C.
  The man the authorities came to blame
Dm                            C
  For somethin’ that he never done
Dm                          C   Em              Am
  Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been
    F               C      G
The champion of the world


[Instrumental]

| Am | F | Am | F |


[Verse 6]

Am                       F
  Four months later, the ghettos are in flame
Am                       F
Rubin’s in South America fightin’ for his name
      Am                                   F
While Arthur Dexter Bradley’s still in the robbery game
        Am                                             F
And the cops are puttin’ the screws to him lookin’ for somebody to blame
C  N.C.                      F  N.C.             G
  “Remember that murder that happened in a bar?
C  N.C.                         F  N.C.
  Remember you said you saw the getaway car?
    Dm                                     C
You think you’d like to play ball with the law?
Dm                                          C   Em           Am
Think it might-a been that fighter that you saw runnin’ that night?
         F                C        G
Don’t forget that you are white.”


[Instrumental]

| Am | F | Am | F |


[Verse 7]

Am                               F
Arthur Dexter Bradley said, “I’m really not sure”
    Am                                   F
The cop said, “A poor boy like you could use a break
   Am                                  F
We got you for the motel job and we’re talkin’ to your friend Bello
Am                                       F
You don’t wanta have to go back to jail, be a nice fellow
C  N.C.                     F  N.C.  G
  You’ll be doin’ society a favor
C  N.C.               F  N.C.
  That sonofabitch is brave and gettin’ braver
Dm                           C
  We want to put his ass in stir
Dm                           C  Em     Am
  We want to pin this triple murder on him
   F                  C     G
He ain’t no Gentleman Jim”


[Instrumental]

| Am | F | Am | F |


[Verse 8]

Am                              F
Rubin could take a man out with just one punch
       Am                              F
But he never did like to talk about it all that much
        Am                F
It’s my work, he’d say, I do it for pay
    Am                         F
And when it’s over I’d just as soon go on my way
C  N.C.      F  N.C.   G
  Up to some paradise
C  N.C.                                F  N.C.
  Where the trout streams flow and the air is nice
Dm                         C
  And ride a horse along a trail
Dm                              C   Em
  But then they took him to the jailhouse
           Am            F          C      G
Where they try to turn a man into a mouse


[Instrumental]

| Am | F | Am | F |


[Verse 9]

Am                        F
All of Rubin’s cards were marked in advance
    Am                         F
The trial was a pig-circus, he never had a chance
    Am                           F
The judge made Rubin’s witnesses drunkards from the slums
       Am                               F
To the white folks who watched he was a revolutionary bum
C  N.C.                                F  N.C.       G
  And to the black folks he was just a crazy nigger
C  N.C.                  F  N.C.
  No one doubted that he pulled the trigger
Dm                                      C
  And though they could not produce the gun
    Dm                   C       Em      Am
The D.A. said he was the one who did the deed
        F               C      G
And the all-white jury agreed


[Instrumental]

| Am | F | Am | F |


[Verse 10]

Am                 F
  Rubin Carter was falsely tried
    Am                       F
The crime was murder “one.”  Guess who testified?
Am                           F
  Bello and Bradley and they both baldly lied
Am                             F
And the papers, they all went along for the ride
C  N.C.               F  N.C.     G
  How can the life of such a man
C  N.C.             F  N.C.
  Be in the palm of some fool’s hand?
Dm                     C
  To see him obviously framed
Dm                                C         Em        Am
  Couldn’t help but make me feel ashamed to live in a land
      F            C     G
Where justice is a game


[Instrumental]

| Am | F | Am | F |


[Verse 11]

    Am                         F
Now all the criminals in their coats and their ties
    Am                         F
Are free to drink martinis and watch the sun rise
      Am                          F
While Rubin sits like Buddha in a ten-foot cell
   Am                F
An innocent man in a living hell
C  N.C.                        F  N.C.    G
  Yes, that’s the story of the Hurricane
C  N.C.                          F  N.C.
  But it won’t be over till they clear his name
Dm                              C
And give him back the time he’s done
Dm                          C   Em              Am
  Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been
    F               C      G
The champion of the world


[Outro]

| Am | F | Am | F |
| Am | F | Am | F |
| C  | F | C  | F |
| Dm | C | Dm | C Em | Am F | C | G |
| Am | F | Am | F |
| Am | F | Am | F | C
                    (fade)