Hurricane accordi

     Lam  Fa  Lam  Fa

Lam                          Fa
Pistol shots ring out in the barroom night
Lam                              Fa
  Enter Patty Valentine from the upper hall
Lam                           Fa
  She sees the bartender in a pool of blood
Lam                 Fa
  Cries out "My God they killed them all!"

Do                          Fa
Here comes the story of the Hurricane,
Sol  Do                       Fa
      The man the authorities came to blame
Rem                           Do
  For something that he never done
Rem                         Do  Mim             Lam
  Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been
    Fa              Do    Sol
The champion of the world


     Lam  Fa  Lam  Fa

Lam                             Fa
  Three bodies lyin’ there does Patty see
Lam                                     Fa
   And another man named Bello, movin’ around mysteriously
Lam                              Fa
  “I didn’t do it,” he says, and he throws up his hands
Lam                                   Fa
  “I was only robbin’ the register, I hope you understand
Do                           Fa
  I saw them leavin’,” he says, and he stops
Sol  Do                     Fa
      “One of us had better call up the cops”
Rem                      Do
  And so Patty calls the cops
Rem                        Do             Mim        Lam
  And they arrive on the scene with their red lights flashin’
       Fa             Do   Sol
In the hot New Jersey night


     Lam  Fa  Lam  Fa

Lam                       Fa
  Meanwhile, far away in another part of town
Lam                            Fa
  Rubin Carter and a couple of friends are drivin’ around
Lam                            Fa
  Number one contender for the middleweight crown
Lam                      Fa
  Had no idea what kinda shit was about to go down
Do                                  Fa
  When a cop pulled him over to the side of the road
Sol  Do                                 Fa
      Just like the time before and the time before that
Rem                           Do
  In Paterson that’s just the way things go
Rem                            Do            Mim       Lam
  If you’re black you might as well not show up on the street
          Fa             Do   Sol
’Less you wanna draw the heat


     Lam  Fa  Lam  Fa

Lam                      Fa
  Four months later, the ghettos are in flame
Lam                         Fa
  Rubin’s in South America, fightin’ for his name
Lam                                          Fa
  While Arthur Dexter Bradley’s still in the robbery game
Lam                                           Fa
  And the cops are puttin’ the screws to him, lookin’ for somebody to blame
Do                           Fa
  “Remember that murder that happened in a bar?”
Sol  Do                              Fa
      “Remember you said you saw the getaway car?”
Rem                             Do
  “You think you’d like to play ball with the law?”
Rem                           Do                   Mim          Lam
  “Think it might-a been that fighter that you saw runnin’ that night?”
          Fa               Do    Sol
“Don’t forget that you are white”


     Lam  Fa  Lam  Fa

Lam                              Fa
Arthur Dexter Bradley said, “I’m really not sure”
Lam                                     Fa
  Cops said, “A poor boy like you could use a break
Lam                                      Fa
  We got you for the motel job and we’re talkin’ to your friend Bello
Lam                                            Fa
  Now you don’t wanta have to go back to jail, be a nice fellow
Do                  Fa
  You’ll be doin’ society a favor
Sol  Do                   Fa
      That sonofabitch is brave and gettin’ braver
Rem                         Do
  We want to put his ass in stir
Rem                          Do Mim    Lam
  We want to pin this triple murder on him
   Fa                 Do   Sol
He ain’t no Gentleman Jim”


     Lam  Fa  Lam  Fa

Lam                         Fa
  All of Rubin’s cards were marked in advance
Lam                              Fa
  The trial was a pig-circus, he never had a chance
Lam                                Fa
  The judge made Rubin’s witnesses drunkards from the slums
Lam                                           Fa
  To the white folks who watched he was a revolutionary bum
Do                                     Fa
  And to the black folks he was just a crazy nigger
Sol  Do                      Fa
      No one doubted that he pulled the trigger
Rem                                     Do
  And though they could not produce the gun
Rem                        Do  Mim         Lam
  The D.A. said he was the one who did the deed
        Fa              Do   Sol
And the all-white jury agreed


     Lam  Fa  Lam  Fa

Lam                              Fa
  Now all the criminals in their coats and their ties
Lam                              Fa
  Are free to drink martinis and watch the sun rise
Lam                                 Fa
  While Rubin sits like Buddha in a ten-foot cell
Lam                    Fa
  An innocent man in a living hell
Do                        Fa
  That’s the story of the Hurricane
Sol  Do                              Fa
      But it won’t be over till they clear his name
Rem                               Do
  And give him back the time he’s done
Rem                         Do  Mim             Lam
  Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been
    Fa              Do    Sol
The champion of the world