Se basa en el caso del boxeador Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, el cual, por encontrarse en el momento y el lugar equivocados, fué acusado de asesinato pasando 19 años en la cárcel.
Primero escuchemos la canción y luego hablaremos de los problemas de Carter:
Ahora, os dejo la letra (lyrics) de la canción:
Pistols 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 something that he never done
Put him in a prison cell but one time he could-a been
The champion of the world.
Three bodies lying there does Patty see
And another man named Bello moving around mysteriously
"I didn't do it" he says and he throws up his hands
"I was only robbing the register I hope you understand
I saw them leaving" 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 flashing
In the hot New Jersey night.
Meanwhile far away in another part of town
Rubin Carter and a couple of friends are driving 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 Patterson that's just the way things go
If you're black you might as well not shown up on the street
'Less you wanna draw the heat.
Alfred Bello had a partner and he had a rap for the corps
Him and Arthur Dexter Bradley were just out prowling around
He said "I saw two men running 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 morning and they haul Rubin in
Take him to the hospital and they bring him upstairs
The wounded man looks up through his one dying eye
Says "Wha'd you bring him in here for ? He ain't the guy !"
Yes here comes the story of the Hurricane
The man the authorities came to blame
For something 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 fighting for his name
While Arthur Dexter Bradley's still in the robbery game
And the cops are putting the screws to him looking 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 you saw running that night ?"
"Don't forget that you are white".
Arthur Dexter Bradley said "I'm really not sure"
Cops said "A boy like you could use a break
We got you for the motel job and we're talking to your friend Bello
Now you don't wanta have to go back to jail be a nice fellow
You'll be doing society a favor
That sonofabitch is brave and getting 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 DA 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 him in a prison cell but one time he could-a been
The champion of the world.
La letra de la canción describe perfectamente el caso, como si de una película se tratase. Rubin Carter, que se dedicaba profesionalmente al boxeo, teniendo incluso opciones para el título mundial de los pesos medios, es detenido junto a su amigo John Artis acusados de un triple asesinato en 1955. A pesar de que aseguraron que ni siquiera estuvieron en la escena del crimen, fueron acusados debido al ambiente racista que inundaba Eatados Unidos en aquella época. Ni siquiera el hecho de que un superviviente del homicidio le exculpara de encontrarse en la escena del crimen, le sirvió para evitar el juicio. Éste se consideró una farsa, repleto de discriminación racial que desembocó en una condena de tres cadenas perpetuas.
Portada de un diario de Nueva Jersey comentando la repetición del juicio en 1976
Rubin Carter en su época de boxeador y en la actualidad.
Éste podría haber sido un caso más de una condena injusta contra un chaval negro en Estados Unidos. La única diferencia es que, 9 años más tarde, en 1975, la historia de Carter llega a oídos de Bob Dylan después de haber leído la autobiografía que Rubin escribió desde la cárcel. Poco después, ambos mantienen una reunión y Bob Dylan decide ayudarle con una canción.
La canción fué representada en la gira promocional del álbum Desire e hizo famoso el caso de Carter, sirviendo para recaudar dinero para la defensa de Rubin. Los afroamericanos empezaron a pelear en las caller por los derechos de Carter, apoyados por líderes de derechos humanos.
Todo esto hizo que se revisaran las pruebas, dejando al descubierto la cantidad de prejuuicios que se utilizaron contra Carter. Así, en 1985 se le concede la libertad condicional y en 1988 se le retiran los cargos, quedando su nombre completamente limpio.
Actualmente, Rubin Carter vive en Canadá y preside una asociación que ayuda a personas que han sido encarceladas injustamente, tal y como le ocurrió a él.
Siempre ha habido rumores de que más tarde, Bob Dylan empezó a pensar que Carter no era tan inocente como parecía. De hecho, Dylan lleva décadas sin tocar esta canción, a pesar de ser una de las más conocidas de su repertorio.
Portada de Desire
Contraportada de Desire
Como hemos dicho, la canción aparece en el álbum Desire. Es una canción demasiado larga (más de 8 minutos), pero eso no impidió que se convirtiera en un éxito. La gira de presentación del disco sirvió de enorme publicidad al caso Carter y, como hemos dicho, sirvió también para recaudar dinero en una serie de conciertos benéficos.
En la canción se menciona a Alfred Bello y Arthur Dexter Bradley, los cuales, a pesar de encontrarse en la escena del crimen y ser altamente sospechosos, se libran de toda culpa al acusar a Carter y John Artis. A pesar de que Bob Dylan prácticamente los inculpa en la letra de la canción, nunca fueron acusados de nada.
También se menciona a "Patty" Valentine, una testigo del caso. El papel que Dylan la otorga en la canción no gustó demasiado a Patty, la cual llegó a demandar al cantante, solicitando que no utilizara su nombre.
Patty Valentine
La instrumentación de la canción es sencilla y muy al estilo Dylan. A unas guitarras en plan folk y la inseparable armónica de Dylan se une un violín que para mi gusto da un toque mágico a esta canción. Además de servir como acompañamiento a la voz mientras Bob Dylan canta, tocando la melodía principal, también se convierte en puente entre las disintas estrofas con unos fragmentos simplemente maravillosos. La canción llego al puesto 33 del Billboard.
