YouLyric
Sign in
Sign up for free
Hurricane
Share
Ani Difranco
What's this song about?
Generate meaning
1
Pistol shots ring out in the barroom night
2
Enter Patty Valentine from the upper hall
3
She sees the bartender in a pool of blood
4
Cries out, "My God, they killed them all"
5
Here comes the story of the hurricane
6
The man, the authorities came to blame
7
For somethin' that he never done
8
Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been
9
The champion of the world
10
Three bodies lyin' there, does Patty see?
11
And another man named Bello, movin' around mysteriously
12
"I didn't do it," he says, and he throws up his hands
13
"I was only robbin' the register, I hope you understand
14
I saw them leavin'" he says, and he stops
15
"One of us had better call up the cops"
16
And so Patty calls the cops
17
And they arrive on the scene with their red lights flashin'
18
In the hot New Jersey night
19
Meanwhile, far away in another part of town
20
Rubin Carter and a couple of friends are drivin' around
21
Number one contender for the middleweight crown
22
Had no idea what kinda shit was about to go down
23
When a cop pulled him over to the side of the road
24
Just like the time before and the time before that
25
In Paterson that's just the way things go
26
If you're black you might as well not show up on the street
27
'Less you wanna draw the heat
28
Alfred Bello had a partner and he had a rap for the cops
29
Him and Arthur Dexter Bradley were just out prowlin' around
30
He said, "I saw two men runnin' out, they looked like middleweights
31
They jumped into a white car with out-of-state plates"
32
And Miss Patty Valentine just nodded her head
33
Cop said, "Wait a minute, boys, this one's not dead"
34
So they took him to the infirmary
35
And though this man could hardly see
36
They told him that he could identify the guilty men
37
Four in the mornin' and they haul Rubin in
38
Take him to the hospital and they bring him upstairs
39
The wounded man looks up through his one dyin' eye
40
Says, "Wha'd you bring him in here for? He ain't the guy"
41
Yes, here's the story of the hurricane
42
The man the authorities came to blame
43
For somethin' that he never done
44
Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been
45
The champion of the world
46
Four months later, the ghettos are in flame
47
Rubin's in South America, fightin' for his name
48
While Arthur Dexter Bradley's still in the robbery game
49
And the cops are puttin' the screws to him
50
Lookin' for somebody to blame
51
"Remember that murder that happened in a bar?"
52
"Remember you said you saw the getaway car?"
53
"You think you'd like to play ball with the law?"
54
"Think it might-a been that fighter that you saw runnin' that night?"
55
"Don't forget that you are white"
56
Arthur Dexter Bradley said, "I'm really not sure"
57
Cops said, "A poor boy like you could use a break
58
We got you for the motel job and we're talkin' to your friend Bello
59
Now you don't wanta have to go back to jail, be a nice fellow
60
You'll be doin' society a favor
61
That sonofabitch is brave and gettin' braver
62
We want to put his ass in stir
63
We want to pin this triple murder on him
64
He ain't no gentleman Jim"
65
Rubin could take a man out with just one punch
66
But he never did like to talk about it all that much
67
It's my work, he'd say, and I do it for pay
68
And when it's over I'd just as soon go on my way
69
Up to some paradise
70
Where the trout streams flow and the air is nice
71
And ride a horse along a trail
72
But then they took him to the jailhouse
73
Where they try to turn a man into a mouse
74
All of Rubin's cards were marked in advance
75
The trial was a pig-circus, he never had a chance
76
The judge made Rubin's witnesses drunkards from the slums
77
To the white folks who watched he was a revolutionary bum
78
And to the black folks he was just a crazy nigger
79
No one doubted that he pulled the trigger
80
And though they could not produce the gun
81
The D.A. said he was the one who did the deed
82
And the all-white jury agreed
83
Rubin Carter was falsely tried
84
The crime was murder one, guess who testified?
85
Bello and Bradley and they both baldly lied
86
And the newspapers, they all went along for the ride
87
How can the life of such a man
88
Be in the palm of some fool's hand?
89
To see him obviously framed
90
Couldn't help but make me feel ashamed to live in a land
91
Where justice is a game
92
Now all the criminals in their coats and their ties
93
Are free to drink martinis and watch the sun rise
94
While Rubin sits like Buddha in a ten-foot cell
95
An innocent man in a living hell
96
That's the story of the hurricane
97
But it won't be over till they clear his name
98
And give him back the time he's done
99
Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been
100
The champion of the world
Hurricane
562 views
1 meanings
Go Pro
Unlimited meanings ยท Priority generation
Upgrade
