Hurricane (song)

For other uses, see Hurricane (disambiguation).

"Hurricane"
Single by Bob Dylan
from the album Desire
B-side	"Hurricane (Part II)"
Released	November 1975
Format	Single
Recorded	July – October 1975
Genre	Folk rock, protest song
Length	8:33
Label	Columbia
Writer(s)	Bob Dylan, Jacques Levy
Bob Dylan singles chronology
"Tangled Up in Blue" (1975) "Hurricane" (1975) "Mozambique" (1976)

"Hurricane" is a protest song by Bob Dylan co-written with Jacques Levy, about the imprisonment of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter. It compiles alleged acts of racism and profiling against Carter, which Dylan describes as leading to a false trial and conviction.

Background

Carter and a man named John Artis had been charged with a triple murder during a robbery at the Lafayette Grill in Paterson, New Jersey in 1966. Carter and Artis were found guilty of the murders, which were widely reported as racially motivated, and both were sentenced to four consecutive life terms. In the years that followed, a substantial amount of controversy emerged over the case, ranging from allegations of faulty evidence and questionable eyewitness testimony to an unfair trial. In his autobiography, Carter maintained his innocence, and his story eventually led Dylan to visit him in Rahway State Prison in Woodbridge Township, New Jersey.

Dylan had written topical ballads such as "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" and "The Death of Emmett Till" early in his career, but according to Jacques Levy:

Bob wasn't sure that he could write a song [about Carter].... He was just filled with all these feelings about Hurricane. He couldn't make the first step. I think the first step was putting the song in a total storytelling mode. I don't remember whose idea it was to do that. But really, the beginning of the song is like stage directions, like what you would read in a script: 'Pistol shots ring out in a barroom night.... Here comes the story of the Hurricane.' Boom! Titles. You know, Bob loves movies, and he can write these movies that take place in eight to ten minutes, yet seem as full or fuller than regular movies.

After meeting with Carter in prison and later with a group of his supporters, Dylan began to write "Hurricane". The song was one of his few "protest songs" during the 1970s and proved to be his fourth most successful single of the decade, reaching #33 on the Billboard chart and #43 in the UK chart.

Controversy and re-recording

Dylan was forced to re-record the song, with altered lyrics, after concerns were raised by Columbia's lawyers that references to Alfred Bello and Arthur Dexter Bradley as having "robbed the bodies" could result in a lawsuit. Neither Bello nor Bradley were ever accused of such acts. Because there was too much leakage on the multitracks to make a vocal "punch in", Dylan decided to re-record the entire song. At this time, Dylan was already rehearsing for his upcoming tour, and the musicians from the Rolling Thunder Revue were still at his disposal. Dylan took them back into the studio, and a new, faster version of "Hurricane" was recorded again with Don Meehan at the board, with Ronee Blakley providing a harmony vocal. There were no edits in the song that ran over eight minutes. Even though some offending lyrics were rewritten, the song still drew some legal action, from eyewitness Patricia Graham Valentine. Her lawsuit was dismissed by a federal district court and the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the dismissal.

Even with the revised lyrics, "Hurricane" still raised controversy. The song included a description of Carter as the "number one contender"; according to the May 1966 issue of The Ring, he was ranked ninth around the time of his arrest and had never been ranked higher than third. Reporters for the Herald News, a New Jersey newspaper published not far from the scene of the crime, questioned Dylan's objectivity at the time of the song's release and accused him of excessive poetic license and of ignoring Carter's criminal history and evidence of his temper and confrontational rhetoric.

Benefit concert and new trial

During the fall tour preceding Desire's release, Dylan and the Rolling Thunder Revue played a benefit concert for Carter in New York City's Madison Square Garden, raising $100,000. The following year, they played another benefit at the Houston Astrodome. Dylan met with managers Richard Flanzer and Roy Silver, who provided Stevie Wonder, Ringo Starr and Dr. John for the concert. After expenses were paid, however, the Houston event failed to raise any money.^{[citation needed]}

Despite winning the right to a new trial, Carter and Artis were once again found guilty. On February 9, 1976, Carter was sentenced to two consecutive life terms. Dylan, and the other high-profile supporters, did not attend the trial. In 1985 Federal Judge H. Lee Sarokin of the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, ruled that Carter had not received a fair trial and set aside the conviction, commenting that the prosecution had been "based on racism rather than reason and concealment rather than disclosure." In 1988, after the prosecution said they would not seek a third trial and filed a motion to dismiss, a Superior Court judge dropped all charges against Carter.

The song was published on the album Desire in January 1976, making the Carter case known to a broad public. "Hurricane" is credited with harvesting popular support for Carter's defense.

The song features Scarlet Rivera on violin and Vinnie Bell on Danelectro Bellzouki 12-string guitar.

Cover versions

The song has been covered by Ani DiFranco, Middle Class Rut and the Milltown Brothers. A Hebrew language adaptation of the song, called "Ms. Sara the Neighbour", was recorded by Mashina for their 1993 album "Si Ha-Regesh".

In popular culture

The song is featured in the 1999 film The Hurricane about Carter's life. It is also featured in the 1993 film Dazed and Confused, during the scene where the characters are entering the Emporium, a pool hall popular among the teenagers.

The song is featured in two Seth McFarlane works. In "McStroke", the eighth episode of Family Guy's sixth season, it is featured in a scene where Stewie, disguised as a high-schooler, reveals his identity and is leaving the school naked. In "Backstage with Bob Dylan", a segment of Seth MacFarlane's Cavalcade of Cartoon Comedy, Muhammad Ali appears in response to Dylan claiming to be the "greatest", and then asks him why he didn't play the song.

During UFC 100, Alan Belcher played this song as his entrance music in the opening fight of the maincard on July 11, 2009, in which he went on to lose via a controversial split decision against Yoshihiro Akiyama.