Pistol shots ring out in the barroom 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 somethin' that he never done   Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been   The champion of the world      Three bodies lyin' there, does Patty see?   And another man named Bello, movin' around mysteriously   "I didn't do it," he says, and he throws up his hands   "I was only robbin' the register, I hope you understand      I saw them leavin'" 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 flashin'   In the hot New Jersey night      Meanwhile, far away in another part of town   Rubin Carter and a couple of friends are drivin' 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 prowlin' around   He said, "I saw two men runnin' 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 that he could identify the guilty men      Four in the mornin' and they haul Rubin in   Take him to the hospital and they bring him upstairs   The wounded man looks up through his one dyin' eye   Says, "Wha'd you bring him in here for? He ain't the guy"      Yes, here's the story of the hurricane   The man the authorities came to blame   For somethin' 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, fightin' for his name   While Arthur Dexter Bradley's still in the robbery game   And the cops are puttin' the screws to him   Lookin' for somebody to blame      "Remember that murder that 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 runnin' that night?"   "Don't forget that you are white"      Arthur Dexter Bradley said, "I'm really not sure"   Cops said, "A poor boy like you could use a break   We got you for the motel job and we're talkin' to your friend Bello   Now you don't wanta have to go back to jail, be a nice fellow      You'll be doin' society a favor   That sonofabitch is brave and gettin' 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 D.A. 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      That's the story of the hurricane   But it won't be over till 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