Bob Dylan - Hurricane (Live on PBS, 1975) [RARE ORIGINAL LYRICS BEFORE LEGAL STRIKE AUDIO]
After many requests, here is the other part of Dylan's appearance at WTTW-TV Studios in Chicago on September 10, 1975. This particular video is very special because most other versions you will hear have overdubbed lines on verses 2, 4, 7, and 10. Here is the explanation: This performance was recorded about a month after the first version of "Hurricane" was recorded (find this early version here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4JU-...). This was about to be released as a single when Columbia's lawyers blocked it from release, citing worries about lines regarding Arthur Dexter Bradley and Alfred Bello, the two main witnesses, being false and grounds for defamation lawsuits. Read more about this on the "Controversy and Re-recording" section on this page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurrica...). Dylan re-recorded the song again in October. This all happened after this performance, though, so Dylan was still singing his original lyrics. The first broadcast of this concert had the original lyrics, which is what you hear here, but in the second broadcast the following year, controversial lines were overdubbed with the "safe" album version. You can hear the overdubbing relatively clearly at 1:34, 2:52, 5:06, and 7:16 on this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H763L....
He played two songs after this one: "Oh, Sister" (watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smb86...) and "Simple Twist of Fate" (watch it here: https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=161...). It's a shame that Dylan's channel doesn't upload good quality versions of this entire concert. In my opinion, this is the definitive live version of Hurricane; It's so good that I've found myself watching this performance over and over again, and I have "music ADHD" (the habit of skipping songs I've heard after the first verse). I edited this video together using three sources: 1. An original, complete VHS tape is used in the beginning as the host and John Hammond introduce Dylan, 2. A higher-quality transfer I obtained from a bootleg DVD is used for the footage of Dylan's actual performance, and 3. A soundboard audiotape is overdubbed to footage. This was recorded for the PBS special, "The World of John Hammond", which celebrated the influence and success of legendary talent scout and producer John Hammond; he can be seen at 2:18 grooving along to Dylan's performance. Taping took place at WTTW-TV Studios in Chicago on September 10, 1975, and also included "Hurricane" and "Simple Twist of Fate". This recording was subsequently broadcast that December, and then once more the following year. Legends such as Benny Goodman and Teddy Wilson were also featured on this show. Whereas they accepted PBS's invitation months in advance, Dylan confirmed just two days prior, as is typical! He recruited some of the musicians who played on his recently completed album, "Desire": Scarlet Rivera (violin), Howie Wyeth (drums), and Rob Stoner (Bass & Backup vocals). This band eventually became the core of Dylan's set on the Rolling Thunder Revue tour, which would start touring the next month. So, one could argue that this is the earliest live performance of the Rolling Thunder Revue. The raw, whispy sound that this four-piece band makes is really incredible, so I wish we had more recordings like this. Interestingly, when Dylan recruited these musicians, he only told them that they were doing a gig in Chicago, mentioning nothing about being broadcasted on a major television station with Columbia executives in the audience, and not to mention John Hammond himself. Here is a fascinating anecdote from Rivera: "Bob asked me and the trio of Rob and Howie to join him in Chicago for the tribute to John Hammond Sr, who changed the course of music by his vision and courage to sign many greats, including Bob Dylan, to CBS. This was another First. I had never performed on live TV and now it was going to be in front of every senior executive of CBS and a viewing audience of millions! I am amazed still that Bob had confidence in me to pull this extremely important concert off without failing on live TV, especially as this show was before a single live concert to support Desire. I would also perform "A Simple Twist of Fate" with him, and I had only rehearsed it that afternoon once backstage. Appreciating the song and playing it live with the man himself are two very different things! I was incredibly tense and taut, but I indeed pulled it off, and it is my all-time favorite video of playing live with him." Love & Peace, ~SP
Bob Dylan - Hurricane Full 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 blame For somethin' that he never done Put in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been The champion of the world Three bodies lyin' there does Patty see And another man named Bello, movin' around mysteriously "I didn't do it, " he says, and he throws up his hands "I was only robbin' the register, I hope you understand I saw them leavin', " 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 flashin' In the hot New Jersey night Meanwhile, far away in another part of town Rubin Carter and a couple of friends are drivin' 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 Paterson that's just the way things go If you're black you might as well not show up on the street 'Less you want to draw the heat Alfred Bello had a partner and he had a rap for the cops Him and Arthur Dexter Bradley were just out prowlin' around He said, "I saw two men runnin' 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 mornin' and they haul Rubin in Take him to the hospital and they bring him upstairs The wounded man looks up through his one dyin' eye Says, "Wha'd you bring him in here for? He ain't the guy!" Yes, here's the story of the Hurricane The man the authorities came to blame For somethin' 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, fightin' for his name While Arthur Dexter Bradley's still in the robbery game And the cops are puttin' the screws to him, lookin' 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 that you saw runnin' that night?" "Don't forget that you are white." Arthur Dexter Bradley said, "I'm really not sure." Cops said, "A poor boy like you could use a break We got you for the motel job and we're talkin' to your friend Bello Now you don't wanta have to go back to jail, be a nice fellow You'll be doin' society a favor That sonofabitch is brave and gettin' 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 D.A. 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 in a prison cell, but one time he could-a been The champion of the world...ORIGINAL + EARLIEST RECORDING? Bob EARLIEST RECORDING? Dylan - Hurricane (Take 1) New York July 1975 [ORIGINAL BANNED VERSION]
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People also ask:
Is Hurricane by Bob Dylan a true story?
"Hurricane" is a protest song by Bob Dylan
co-written with Jacques Levy and released on the 1976 album Desire. ...
It compiles acts of racism and profiling against Carter, which Dylan describes as leading to a false trial and conviction.
Hurricane (Bob Dylan song) - Wikipedia
This song is about Rubin "Hurricane" Carter, a boxer who spent 19 years in jail for a murder Dylan felt he did not commit. ... Carter had a copy sent to Dylan, who read it and took up his cause, writing this song about him and raising money for him on his 1975 Rolling Thunder Revue tour.
