Hurricane

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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!" 
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Here comes the story of the Hurricane, 
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The man the authorities came to blame 
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For something that he never done 
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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 bodied 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 
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I saw them leavin'," he says and he stops 
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One of us had better call the cops 
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And so Patty calls the cops 
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And they arrive on the scene 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 
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When a cop pulled him over to the side of the road 
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Just like the time before and the time before that 
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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" 
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And Miss Patty Valentine just nodded her head 
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Cop said "Wait a minute boys, this one's not dead" 
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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!" 
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Yes, here the story of the Hurricane 
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The man the authorities came to blame  
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For something that he never done 
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Put in a prison cell but one time he could've been 
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The champion of the world 

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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 
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"Remember that murder that happened in a bar?" 
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"Remember you said you saw the getaway car?" 
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"You think you'd like to play ball with the law?" 
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"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 
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You'll be doin' society a favor  
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That son of a bitch is brave and getting braver 
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We want to put his ass in the stir 
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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 
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Up to some paradise 
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Where the trout streams flow and the air is nice 
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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 
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No one doubted that he pulled the trigger 
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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 
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How can the life of such a man 
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Be in the palm of some fool's hand? 
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To see him obviously framed 
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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 
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That's the story of the Hurricane 
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But it won't be over till they clear his name 
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And give him back the time he's done 
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Put in a prison cell but one time he could've been 
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The champion of the world