Bob Dylan - Hurricane Lyrics






Pistols shots ring out in the bar room 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 him in a prison cell but one time he could-a 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 kinda 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
'Less 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 he could identify the guilty men

Four in the morning and they haul Rubin in
They took him to the hospital and they brought him upstairs
The wounded man looks up through his one dying eye
Says, "Why'd you bring him in here for? He ain't the guy!"

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-a 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 you 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."
The cop said, "A 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 wanna 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 DA 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

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





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Bob Dylan Hurricane Comments
  1. L.... A....

    Para aquellos interesados en la tremenda letra de esta canción y les interese una versión en castellano les dejo la versión de 1984 de María José Cantilo completamente en castellano. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLfzAEK7sho
    ------------------------------------------------------

    For those who are intresting in hearing an spanish version of this song I let this link to a version made in 1981 by Maria Jose Cantilo https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLfzAEK7sho

  2. D.... B....

    bruh he said the n word

  3. P.... F....

    Loved him for 4 decades since I was a kid. Dylan is part of my life.

  4. P.... F....

    Bobee -we LOVE you.

  5. K.... ....

    There was once a time when finding any bob dylan songs on youtube was almost an impossible task but I'm glad things have changed.

  6. R.... V....

    hi 2020!

  7. L.... f....

    Bob Dylan, simplesmente genial. O violino é maravilhoso.

  8. L.... f....

    HEURECA!!!

  9. E.... M....

    Alguém em 2020? Hahaha

  10. l.... p....

    Eu tô assistindo no ultimo dia de 2019 pqp isso é som

  11. V.... V....

    Como não amar este cara é sua obra ..
    Salve Bob Dylan ...

  12. M.... A....

    Bom Dylan só existe um: maravilhoso!

  13. T.... ....

    Bod Dylan> god

  14. R.... V....

    Inefável!!

  15. P.... H....

    Magnificent.....

  16. G.... C....

    Is this anybody else's fav Dylan track?

  17. P.... G....

    Ruben Carter the man convicted and released twice Bob Dylan and Mohammed Ali all fought to realise him. True story about a triple murder in 1966

  18. E.... ....

    My chemistry teacher in high school told us the story and played us the song for no reason thanks Mr. Poindexter you were all around badass!

  19. d.... b....

    LOL cherie,advantage to life is living,bobs music is a bonus to us like all music,but cant take it away from him,genius muscian

  20. P.... G....

    Was soll man noch zu Klo Fleisch sagen Ringo

  21. g.... p....

    Why you cry in this song Bob??? So Greek rythm.. PAOK GATE 4 ATHENS ANTIFA MIKROS.... (πες τους Νέο Υορκεζους θα τους κόψουμε τα χέρια και τα δάχτυλα αν ξαναπειραξουν Παοκτζηδες ή Παοκια (Ένας Παοκτζης αν και ο άλλος είναι Παοκτζης μπορεί να τον αποκαλέσει Παοκι.. Είσαι Παοκι Bob. Τέλος. Μikros!)

  22. 9.... ....

    Do not forget that you are "mentally ill" - Robert Anton Wilson "How many psychiatrists does it take to screw in a light bulb?" - Ask the British Columbia Review Board and the RCMP! - Indian Act = Mental Health Act - justice is just a game! And those playing the game do not know that they do not know that they do not know!

  23. �.... ....

    この曲をひっさげて行ったローリング・サンダー・レビューの頃がロックしていて、一番好きです‼️のぶ😘

  24. T.... c....

    Excuse the n word

  25. G.... S....

    Missing my dad

  26. D.... K....

    Total masterpiece. Was listening to this in a supermarket and couldn't fight back the tears. How does he evoke such an emotion. such a gut-wrenching story told and performed masterfully by such an incredible artist.

    D.... K....

    How? Because he is Bob Dylan

  27. A.... V....

    He was blamed because he was a champion not just because he was black.

  28. J.... B....

    He kept it real

  29. J.... B....

    Bob is a national treasure

  30. D.... R....

    Springsteen never got it ... right....lmmao

  31. S.... ....

    I love this

  32. S.... P....

    A true American treasure!!

  33. K.... S....

    As this is in a way that I do it.as I ♡ the song as the documentary. so this then was a story once she couldn't believe suçh butchery and to see her Kreditcard no the not shown debit card you see as I am German citizen and for a me not a reason but why have they done this my story about my Sparkasse Darmstadt Germany Debitcard showed without an allowance a Debitcard. but you see in almighty America they want you Google to pay even so I done no not that I one no Debitcard shown info given by post not so we go before this law where all of these greats did threats. now we will see.as I swear I have not done .oh well this American politics and company you German you we do not sure give a shit.all you out there obey than u-tube premium as GOOGLE makes you pay not so we hijack EU laws and the USA president aa and hate up the anti German league yes Oh yes they did so please note write with hope to Canada.you might as lawyers get famously.yes that it be or was yours KARIN

  34. K.... S....

    That by far is the utmost right as best Bob did ever write to remind me what America was and more is.as ever all these songs till one gets in a way right so that itchy rolling stone. as that he thought his way was .as with a so greater understanding of Joan's understand. Diamonds and Rust. now s.times are the truth of all that is not about money him all that such as And Pat Garrett is about the influence that kind of tale of the American West which still ALIVE flew flows help us we are losing but Hurricane is as rolling stone as The songs that we know so we shouldn't Datastealing no all cool no one saw it shall wait for Bob to do a song about laws.EU and almighty u-tube as G.pay great as photograph of the same as sending it in.KARIN

  35. M.... W....

    Bob Dylan about the Story of Boxer Ruben "Hurricane" Carter(R.I.P.).

  36. A.... ....

    FOR EVER

  37. d.... h....

    Re-election theme song!!!

  38. d.... h....

    Respect

  39. L.... B....

    Dylan a disaster..
    .

  40. L.... B....

    As a singer:0

  41. L.... B....

    As musician :0

  42. L.... B....

    Go home poet of my ....

  43. b.... !....

    What a song

  44. J.... M....

    Bob can tell a story.

  45. A.... O....

    🖊🎮💪✅

  46. T.... M....

    Pohaaa essa música é do caralho

  47. L.... S....

    Kd o Brasil aí meu povo

    L.... S....

    Santos, SP.

  48. n.... v....

    Assistam o filme, é emocionante!

    n.... v....

    Qual o nome?

    n.... v....

    @Thayla MENEZES Bom dia! Hurricane, com Denzel Washington.

    n.... v....

    @natanael vieira Silva obrigada,
    Bom dia.

    n.... v....

    @Thayla MENEZES de nada! abraço...

  49. i.... ....

    Could'a been... Could'a been are the scariest two words in the English language.

  50. C.... D....

    Clássico sir bob Dylan

  51. P.... ....

    POTENTI MEZZI AMPLIFICATI

  52. M.... M....

    Too bad Rubin Carter did it.

    M.... M....

    Mike McGomer This is a biased reporter, stating that it’s their belief. If you’ve actually read ANYTHING non biased, the “witnesses” came clean while Carter was in prison and stated that what they said wasn’t real

    M.... M....

    @sharkfin I spoke to the prosecutor in the second trial myself...

    M.... M....

    Mike McGomer You have literally no proof to back up your claim

    M.... M....

    @sharkfin I don't need to give you proof. The man was found guilty by two juries that weren't all white as the song says... Dylan just believed him at face value.
    He got off because of the violation of his procedural rights. Looking into it in depth ruined my favorite song quite a bit. That belt I'm holding is, in fact, the middleweight W.B.A. world championship belt my sparring partner and roomie won, Davey Hilton and Matthew Hilton who won the middle weight I.B.F. crown, so the song had meaning to me.

    Carter failed a lie detector test and was offered another and told if he passed he could go free and he refused. Artis failed a test also. The truth is harsher. Carter had lost seven of his last 15 fights before the murders. He no longer was a contender. Omitted from the script was that Carter was separated from the Army for “unfitness” in 1956 after four courts-martial. He went to prison the following year for snatching a woman’s purse and for assaulting two men in different cases. All this occurred before he was 21.

    When Carter was pulled over he was hiding in the back seat laying down.

    M.... M....

    Mike McGomer You are so dumb, you keep changing your stories, bringing up irrelevant points that don’t need to be brought up, and everything you said can literally be searched up within seconds proving your false story. https://www.nytimes.com/1975/12/19/archives/report-says-rubin-carter-passed-liedetector-test.html . This NY Times link proves the story that Carter, did in fact, PASS a lie detector test HOURS after the murders. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rubin_Carter . This whole page dedicated to Carter shows how even though there were guns in his car, they carried different bullets then the ones found at the bar, and that he wasn’t lying down when they were driving. You

  53. K.... P....

    Rubin Carter controlled himself, he was falsely accused of a triple homicides. He was angry, but he chose not to rage, but instead he spent all that time in jail studying. When he came out, he resume living like a regular citizen, he wasn't being held back by the prison, he wasn't held back by any obstacles.

  54. m.... h....

    wtf? i was then listening about 20 years ago. so no anymore...

  55. C.... A....

    Rubin Carter was guilty as fuck. Good song, but total nonsense.

  56. E.... J....

    🇧🇷🎸🎼🎶
    https://youtu.be/qK3-kDfSl3U

  57. E.... d....

    Dylan!!!

  58. J.... W....

    Would love to see Charlie Day cover this 😂

  59. E.... ....

    Did they clear his name? Well, I guess his story will live on forever then...

    E.... ....

    Yes, Ruben was finally cleared of the false charges in tyre 90s.

  60. P.... M....

    I’m going play this at the company Christmas party. Sure to get things to rolling in there.

    P.... M....

    And when it's over, make sure you point out the fucker was guilty.

    P.... M....

    Let us know how it plays out

  61. K.... B....

    Pussy. Transcribe the lyrics as they were written or don't bother doing so at all. Bet you couldn't sing this at karaoke. Oh well. Grow a pair and do the art as it was intended to be presented.

  62. D.... H....

    Mi juventud. Lindo

  63. M.... M....

    Peut être que dieu est noir méfiez-vous.

  64. M.... M....

    Pauvre homme avoir perdu autant de temps en prison parce que il était noir putain si dieu existe j'espère qu'il réserve un châtiment horrible à ces gens qui sont raciste et qu'il le paieront le prix fort😔

  65. M.... d....

    Muito bom!!!!

  66. s.... ....

    came here right after watching the movie

    s.... ....

    Im watching it now !!

  67. R.... A....

    FODA !!!!

  68. y.... m....

    beruntung sebelum ajal menjemput, sempat mendengarkan lagu ini.

    terima kasih Bob.

  69. M.... P....

    Buenisimooo.....

  70. S.... R....

    And wer still going thru shit like this today not enough to take a mans freedom away and discriminate us they want it all man

  71. P.... J....

    Can't help seeing Stewie Griffin in my mind.

  72. e.... f....

    que guai ets el millo

  73. N.... R....

    Bob Dylan é com uma estrada cheia de obstáculos, mas com a certeza do chegar.

  74. S.... B....

    Hurricane carter

  75. W.... S....

    what an awesome job..wonderful!!

  76. M.... S....

    Advertisers wankers

  77. D.... E....

    Remember when my uncle Ed & my father, explained this song to me. Ed was from Cleveland, visiting NJ.
    Ed passed away with an autoimmune diseases.

    But I thank God , for that memory. It's inspirational in how to adapt to America Society, being an African-American.

  78. S.... T....

    True folk. He's making a poetic musical story of the real-life of the Hurricane.

    S.... T....

    Yeah thanks for the clarification, we would have never thought of that before you have said this.

  79. B.... L....

    To be on the same planet as Bob Dylan is an honor.

  80. P.... T....

    Amo muitoooo

  81. n.... ....

    People just like me, talk just mouth talk some good will emereg, hopfully or not, so what the shit.

  82. D.... M....

    Id have staved the cop at the beginning of ya boys first round

  83. R.... I....

    Great song.👌🏾

  84. h.... ....

    Confessions

  85. D.... L....

    Un grande no muy reconosido

  86. W.... M....

    The good musician and gooooood music

  87. R.... G....

    How much longer until leftist insanity censors this song from youtube as well.

    R.... G....

    Self-proclaimed Leftist here: This song is awesome. It deeply criticizes the corrupt American justice system, which needs vast reforms so that people like Rubin Carter are never falsely convicted for crimes they didn't commit. Black people back then (Even now) are subjected to more scrutiny than white people when it comes to criminal convictions. Rubin Carter (The Hurricane in this song) lost 20 years of his life because the Police just assumed he did it because he was black (The perpetrators were black men, but Rubin was not the man who did it)

    R.... G....

    @Branflakes, Bold new taste I'm not talking about the political message I'm saying based on recent trends of "the left" trying to whitewash (no pun intended) "bad things" irregardless of the context (take Robert e Lee statue)

    Dylan says that unfortunate word and it's only a matter of time before youtube just takes the song off or some moral crusader flags the video.

  88. M.... A....

    Simplesmente maravilhosa....🌷🌷🌷

  89. M.... A....

    Simplesmente maravilhosa....🌷🌷🌷

  90. A.... A....

    Bob Dylan respect for you👏👏👏

  91. L.... ....

    masterpiece

  92. E.... M....

    🇧🇷🇧🇷🇧🇷❤❤❤❤

  93. B.... V....

    Patty valentine is my grandma and she tells me this story all the time it’s honestly insane and apart of my families history good or bad I wil never forget

    B.... V....

    I'm gonna need to see some proof

    B.... V....

    So why did she file a suit for using her name? Justice is a game!$!$

    B.... V....

    So why did she file a suit for using her name?$$!!

    B.... V....

    Patty Valentine is a lying blowhard. N that's your Grandmother!!!

  94. T.... c....

    No offense intended for the N word

  95. B.... H....

    love this song

  96. S.... C....

    No wonder he's the only musician with an Oscar and a Pulitzer prize.

    S.... C....

    2020 bvb food us vfc out

    S.... C....

    And a literature Nobel prize

  97. b.... ....

    Bob Dylan himself said there ain't not Austinian straights so you better walk what's normal in Austin.

  98. i.... ....

    Black American people took possession of that word decades ago. Dylan used the word with poetic license.