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