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AmF Pistol shots ring out in the barroom night
AmF Enter Patty Valentine from the upper hall
AmF She sees the bartender in a pool of blood
AmF Cries out "My God they killed them all!"
CF Here comes the story of the Hurricane,
G CF The man the authorities came to blame
DmC For something that he never done
DmCEm Put in a prison cell but one time
AmFCG He could have been the champion of the world
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AmF Three bodies lyin’ there does Patty see
AmF And another man named Bello, movin’ around mysteriously
AmF “I didn’t do it,” he says, and he throws up his hands
AmF “I was only robbin’ the register, I hope you understand
CF I saw them leavin’,” he says, and he stops
G CF “One of us had better call up the cops”
DmC And so Patty calls the cops
DmCEm And they arrive on the scene with their red lights flashin’
AmFCG In the hot New Jersey night
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AmF Meanwhile, far away in another part of town
AmF Rubin Carter and a couple of friends are drivin’ around
AmF Number one contender for the middleweight crown
AmF Had no idea what kinda shit was about to go down
CF When a cop pulled him over to the side of the road
G CF Just like the time before and the time before that
DmC In Paterson that’s just the way things go
DmCEm If you’re black you might as well not show up on the street
AmFCG ’Less you wanna draw the heat
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AmF Alfred Bello had a partner and he had a rap for the cops
AmF Him and Arthur Dexter Bradley were just out prowlin’ around
AmF He said, “I saw two men runnin’ out, they looked like middleweights
AmF They jumped into a white car with out-of-state plates”
CF And Miss Patty Valentine just nodded her head
G CF Cop said, “Wait a minute, boys, this one’s not dead”
DmC So they took him to the infirmary
DmCEm And though this man could hardly see
AmFCG They told him that he could identify the guilty men
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AmF Four in the mornin’ and they haul Rubin in
AmF Take him to the hospital and they bring him upstairs
AmF The wounded man looks up through his one dyin’ eye
AmF Says, “Wha’d you bring him in here for? He ain’t the guy!”
CF Yes, here’s the story of the Hurricane
G CF The man the authorities came to blame
DmC For somethin’ that he never done
DmCEm Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been
AmFCG The champion of the world
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AmF Four months later, the ghettos are in flame
AmF Rubin’s in South America, fightin’ for his name
AmF While Arthur Dexter Bradley’s still in the robbery game
AmF And the cops are puttin’ the screws to him, lookin’ for somebody to blame
CF “Remember that murder that happened in a bar?”
G CF “Remember you said you saw the getaway car?”
DmC “You think you’d like to play ball with the law?”
DmCEm “Think it might-a been that fighter that you saw runnin’ that night?”
AmFCG “Don’t forget that you are white”
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AmF Arthur Dexter Bradley said, “I’m really not sure”
AmF Cops said, “A poor boy like you could use a break
AmF We got you for the motel job and we’re talkin’ to your friend Bello
AmF Now you don’t wanta have to go back to jail, be a nice fellow
CF You’ll be doin’ society a favor
G CF That sonofabitch is brave and gettin’ braver
DmC We want to put his ass in stir
DmCEm We want to pin this triple murder on him
AmFCG He ain’t no Gentleman Jim”
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AmF Rubin could take a man out with just one punch
AmF But he never did like to talk about it all that much
AmF It’s my work, he’d say, and I do it for pay
AmF And when it’s over I’d just as soon go on my way
CF Up to some paradise
G CF Where the trout streams flow and the air is nice
DmC And ride a horse along a trail
DmCEm But then they took him to the jailhouse
AmFCG Where they try to turn a man into a mouse
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AmF All of Rubin’s cards were marked in advance
AmF The trial was a pig-circus, he never had a chance
AmF The judge made Rubin’s witnesses drunkards from the slums
AmF To the white folks who watched he was a revolutionary bum
CF And to the black folks he was just a crazy nigger
G CF No one doubted that he pulled the trigger
DmC And though they could not produce the gun
DmCEm The D.A. said he was the one who did the deed
AmFCG And the all-white jury agreed
 | Am | F | Am | F | 
AmF Rubin Carter was falsely tried
AmF The crime was murder “one,” guess who testified?
AmF Bello and Bradley and they both baldly lied
AmF And the newspapers, they all went along for the ride
CF How can the life of such a man
G CF Be in the palm of some fool’s hand?
DmC To see him obviously framed
DmCEm Couldn’t help but make me feel ashamed to live in a land
AmFCG Where justice is a game
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AmF Now all the criminals in their coats and their ties
AmF Are free to drink martinis and watch the sun rise
AmF While Rubin sits like Buddha in a ten-foot cell
AmF An innocent man in a living hell
CF That’s the story of the Hurricane
G CF But it won’t be over till they clear his name
DmC And give him back the time he’s done
DmCEm Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been
AmFCG