Lyrics:

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