Hurricane chords by Kurt Elling

Intro: Am F Am F

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