Bob Dylan: Hurricane Meaning

Song Released: 1975

Hurricane Lyrics

Pistol 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...

1. 1TOP RATED

   #1 top rated interpretation:
   m320753

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   Nov 8th 2010 !⃝

   it's just another example of the unbelievable talent that puts bob above the pack. i don't know how involved he was in the cause of freeing ruben, but he read and took interest in the story. it may have helped release carter from prison,who knows? the lyrics are much more than excellent and his vocals are right on. another song on the same album Joey is a biography of joe gallo the gangster of whom jimmy breslin wrote 'the gang that couldn't shoot straight' where dylan gets these lyrics from, i gave up trying to figure it out and gave up a long time ago
2. m320753

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   Dec 5th 2012 !⃝

   he has written a few songs about true stories but changed some incidents. poetic freedom i think it's called. but in his defense Patterson N.J. was a powder keg in those days and the cops needed good press! but the keg blew up in their faces as time passed.
3. anonymous

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   Nov 27th 2012 !⃝

   Wait. Dylan changed lyrics from his original version, but he never had to pay any libel damages. The mere "technicalities" that resulted in Carter's release included the fact that, according to the appellate court judge, Carter's prosecution had been "based on racism rather than reason and concealment rather than disclosure."
4. anonymous

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   Feb 18th 2012 !⃝

   GREAT song, but Dylan ran fast and loose with the facts. Carter was eventually released due to technicalities with his trial, but his conviction was never overturned or him deemed "innocent" in any way. Dylan ended up being sued for libel by several of the people named in the song and had to pay damages against one or two of them.
   
   People take Dylan's interpretation of the events as factual and, as much as I love his music and the song in particular, it was inaccurate enough to be considered a "fictionalized" version.
5. anonymous

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   May 6th 2011 !⃝

   This song is about a boxer Ruben Carter somewhere in the 70's, Carter was framed at an arrest in a bar and he was wrongly trialed being that it was an all-white jury and carter was fighting for his rights and that he was innocent
6. anonymous

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   Oct 4th 2008 !⃝

   This is an amazing song. It's about Rubin Carter. He was a world class boxer that was wrongly convicted of a triple murder in New Jersey in the sixties. He had a fixed trial and ended up spending about 20 years in prison before being released.

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