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Hurricane by Bob Dylan - Guitar Chords

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Version 1 Version 2
            #----------------------------------PLEASE NOTE---------------------------------#
#This file is the author's own work and represents their interpretation of the #
#song. You may only use this file for private study, scholarship, or research. #
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From: Steve Vetter 

Hurricane - Bob Dylan
CRDs by Steve Vetter &amp; TSOBD


[Intro]

| Am | F | Am | F |


[Verse 1]

Am                           F
Pistol shots ring out in the barroom 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,
G C                        F
   The man the authorities came to blame
Dm                           C
 For something that he never done
Dm                        C   Em
 Put in a prison cell but one time 
              Am       F               C      G  
He could have been the champion of the world


[Instrumental]

| Am | F | Am | F |


[Verse 2]

Am                           F
Three bodies lyin’ there does Patty see
Am                           F
And another man named Bello, movin’ 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
G C                        F
“One of us had better call up the cops”
Dm                           C
And so Patty calls the cops
Dm                        C   Em
And they arrive on the scene with their red lights flashin’
              Am       F               C      G
In the hot New Jersey night


[Instrumental]

| Am | F | Am | F |


[Verse 3]

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


[Instrumental]

| Am | F | Am | F |


[Verse 4]

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 middleweights
Am                           F
They jumped into a white car with out-of-state plates”
C                           F
And Miss Patty Valentine just nodded her head
G C                        F
Cop said, “Wait a minute, boys, this one’s not dead”
Dm                           C
So they took him to the infirmary
Dm                        C   Em
And though this man could hardly see
              Am       F               C      G 
They told him that he could identify the guilty men


[Instrumental]

| Am | F | Am | F |


[Verse 5]

Am                           F
Four in the mornin’ and they haul Rubin in
Am                           F
Take him to the hospital and they bring him upstairs
Am                           F
The wounded man looks up through his one dyin’ eye
Am                           F
Says, “Wha’d you bring him in here for? He ain’t the guy!”
C                           F
Yes, here’s the story of the Hurricane
G C                        F
The man the authorities came to blame
Dm                           C
For somethin’ that he never done
Dm                        C   Em
Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been
              Am       F               C      G 
The champion of the world


[Instrumental]

| Am | F | Am | F |


[Verse 6]

Am                           F
Four months later, the ghettos are in 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 screws to him, lookin’ for somebody to blame
C                           F
“Remember that murder that happened in a bar?”
G 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   Em
“Think it might-a been that fighter that you saw runnin’ that night?”
              Am       F               C      G 
“Don’t forget that you are white”


[Instrumental]

| Am | F | Am | F |


[Verse 7]

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


[Instrumental]

| Am | F | Am | F |


[Verse 8]

Am                           F
Rubin could take a man out with just one punch
Am                           F
But he never did like to talk about it all that much
Am                           F
It’s my work, he’d say, and 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
G C                        F
Where the trout streams flow and the air is nice
Dm                           C
And ride a horse along a trail
Dm                        C   Em
But then they took him to the jailhouse
              Am       F               C      G 
Where they try to turn a man into a mouse


[Instrumental]

| Am | F | Am | F |


[Verse 9]

Am                           F
All of Rubin’s cards 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
And to the black folks he was just a crazy nigger
G C                        F
No one doubted that he pulled the trigger
Dm                           C
And though they could not produce the gun
Dm                        C   Em
The D.A. said he was the one who did the deed
              Am       F               C      G 
And the all-white jury agreed


[Instrumental]

| Am | F | Am | F |


[Verse 10]

Am                           F
Rubin Carter was falsely tried
Am                           F
The crime was murder “one,” guess who testified?
Am                           F
Bello and Bradley and they both baldly lied
Am                           F
And the newspapers, they all went along for the ride
C                           F
How can the life of such a man
G C                        F
Be in the palm of some fool’s hand?
Dm                           C
To see him obviously framed
Dm                        C   Em
Couldn’t help but make me feel ashamed to live in a land
              Am       F               C      G 
Where justice is a game


[Instrumental]

| Am | F | Am | F |


[Verse 11]

Am                           F
Now all the criminals 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
An innocent man in a living hell
C                           F
That’s the story of the Hurricane
G 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   Em
Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been
              Am       F               C      G 
The champion of the world
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