Hurricane chords

Kurt Elling

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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