JPF Home Page Forums General Messages General Message Forum "Hurricane" lyric by Bob Dylan is, uh...

...kinda all over the map.

Sometimes I have a fiddler play at gigs with me. Someone suggested we learn "Hurricane" by Bob Dylan. First, no way am I going to learn a song with 771 words in it. I think that one wins the prize for word count.

I like the message, for sure, but man, this lyric is so screwball with the rhyme structure. I think he could have done it far better. He must've been spaced out. And I'm a Dylan fan.

I wonder if the Jacques Levy fellow is the fiddler.

I can't even imagine Dylan remembering his songs. Of course, he's in another league in that department.

...

"HURRICANE" - Bob Dylan
(Bob Dylan, Jacques Levy)

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 [naughty word removed] 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 wanna 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 ****** .
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

2,633 words in Alice's Restaurant

I used to cover that tune and it probably wouldn't be too hard to learn it again - if there were a reason to and an audience.

Seems to me if you really wanted to learn "Hurricane" you wouldn't have a problem. If you're doing it solely because one member of an audience once suggested you should and you don't really want to do the song, you never will.


------------------
Marty my home

Experience is that marvelous thing that enables you
recognize a mistake when you make it again!

[This message has been edited by Marty Helly (edited 01-16-2006).]

Didn't you guys know? He was a staff writer for Reader's Digest, and when one of his condensed book stories didn't get published, he made them into a song! R.D. claimed some of his stories where too long to be called condensed. Quote from the editor: "Although they weren't long enough to be novels, they felt like it". And that's before having them be songs!

Why couldn't it be April 1st!

"Artistic" can be in any form, and not always on a short form.
John



[This message has been edited by dhsongs (edited 01-16-2006).]

Well,
Maybe you could learn a couple of Marty Robbins songs, EL PASO and THEY'RE HANGING ME TONIGHT and split the difference. And then you could learn SAN ANGELO.

I don't want to learn it. I didn't say I did. I can't say I've ever learned ANY cover song with over 300 words in it. I purposely only learn those with shorter lyrics. The woods are full of good songs. Zillions of songs with shorter lyrics. So, that's what I work with.

As for why I posted this thread, I was more suprised at the lack of rhyme structure. The 700 word length was just an obervation about nope, this one's not for me. As for rhyming, usually, Dylan is very structured.

As I listened to this song, it didn't flow very well to me. Kind of another song that breaks the rules.

Was just talking about this song to someone, couple nights ago! Not about the length though...wow! Knew it was long but not that long...What is the time involved to play it? Would be entertaining...I used to help people with preparing for tests-GED namely and the one test they had the hardest time with wasn't even math-it was english literature and interpretation that dealt with excerpts from plays...and totally boring plays at that! The problem was solved when they put themselves into the play-they'd take on a role and understand how to answer the test questions better...perhaps you could try the same to remember what the song is about and the order of it? Your audience will love it!
Linda A.

------------------
http://www.soundclick.com/lindaanthony

you think you can or you think you can't; you are right"

I do a number of Dylan tunes,including several of his epics {Tangled up in blue,Like a rolling stone,Subterranian homesick blues ,ect} I think if I had to learn one more, my 2 remaining brain cells would rupture all over the stage!

------------------
bc

"Three bodies lyin' there does Patty see"


if i posted something like that on ANY songwriting forum...i'd be jumped all over by critiques stating this is yoda yoda whatever they call it? Just goes to show ya-anything goes when you're big

I like how Dylan mocks in one of his songs...don't know the title but he rhymes using "o" at the end of his lines....peggy-o,louisiana-o, rodeo etc....I heard it was a comeback for being rejected by folk genre artists?

Good Day! Linda

------------------
http://www.soundclick.com/lindaanthony

you think you can or you think you can't; you are right"

Precisely, Linda! I caught that, too. To me, the song just does not sing well AT ALL. I'd bet he was stoned.

I have trouble remembering my own songs. But I'm getting better. For one thing, I quit drinking Diet Coke. I dunno if that did it but I can say I am WAY better at remembering. Either I got more efficient or the baddies in the Diet Coke were a factor. Was drinking about 4 a day.

Dylan is a special case. He gets away with all kinds of things that no one else could. The number of songs with flubs in them is amazing. The number exceeding six minutes is amazing. As pointed out above, many lyrics would be laughed off a critiqueing board (the ghost of electricity howled in the bones of her face). And yet, to those that get him, there's no one better.

Love the song "Hurricane" although there has been a bit of debate about its accuracy. It had my 16 year old brain believin' though when I first heard it.

Scarlet Rivera plays the fiddle.....

You do Subtereanean (sp?) Homesick Blues, B.C.? You da man!

Scott

Interesting comment; and probably accurate. I wonder if this means that Dylan is doing something "wrong," or that people on critique boards don't know their butt from a manhole.

Probably lots of opinions on this. I think the boards are useful in helping people get to a certain level of competence. After that, you have to chart your own course. Course I'm not there yet....

I think many people on the boards know their butt from a manhole. I think Dylan does too. Difference is, most people keep butts and manholes distinct. Dylan knows when to switch them for effect.

Scott


[This message has been edited by scott59 (edited 01-16-2006).]

awesome response scott! Linda

------------------
http://www.soundclick.com/lindaanthony

you think you can or you think you can't; you are right"

I used to memorize Dylan songs in my teen years. I had Hurricane down back then, along with the entire song, "Hard rain a gonna fall," and "It's all right, Ma."
It used to be so easy to memorize that stuff back then. I always thought the music made it so easy cause the words would just fall into place.
Now that I'm older, it's much more of an effort. Maybe I shouldn't have soaked my brain in beer and other various assorted mind altering stuff for so many years. Oh well, it was fun while it lasted.

Hurricane Carter was cleared just recently, wasn't he?

"Hurricane" is one of my two fave Dylan tunes, the other being his more recent, "Things Have Changed".

I like Hurricane because it breaks rules where it sees fit. It's almost like "stream of consciousness" with rhymes and near rhymes thrown in when he remembers to do it.

But no, I haven't learned it.

All that being said, it may well be that ol' Hurricane isn't as innocent as Bob and the recent movie with Denzel Washington want us to believe.

Check out http://graphicwitness.com/carter/ for "the other side of the story". A quote from the site:

What you may not realize is that Rubin Carter has NEVER been declared innocent or otherwise exonerated by the courts. Carter was set free because of two alleged procedural errors, NOT because of new evidence. Those alleged errors were cited by a single judge who heard no witnesses and issued an error-filled opinion that demonstrated his very poor grasp of the facts. The judge claimed the prosecution had appealed to "racism over reason" -- which makes no sense because the 1976 jury that convicted Carter included two blacks! That lone judge threw out the work of scores of police and prosecutors who, to this day, believe Rubin Carter is a triple murderer. So do I. -- Cal Deal

So who knows?


------------------
Howlin' Hobbit ( www.howlinhobbit.com )
Got Uke?
Snake Suspenderz ( www.snakesuspenderz.com )
Hot jass, Hokum and Novelty music... with a bite!

Give this man a gold star!

I think a lot of us spend too much time wondering what is right and wrong, without ever figuring out, there is no right or wrong that can be set down as the standard to work to.
And way too much time judging others by how we see they choose to see and do things.
Anybody who hasn't had one of those just keeps rolling along until it finds an end writes, has maybe been studying them rules too much and allowed them to dictate how their mind is allowed to play.
Graham


------------------
http://www.soundclick.com/bands/2/grahamhenderson_music.htm

Very well said Graham.


Calvin

http://www.soundclick.com/bands/0/calvinstewart

Since it fits with the discussion, I have to point out one of my favorite examples of Dylan doing something with a lyric that few others would try.

On his most recent album, "Love and Theft" is a song called "Po' Boy".

In one verse is the line:

The game is the same - it's just up on a different level

In a later verse, occupying the same portion of the melody as the line above, is the line

By the way, what happened to that poison wine?" She says, "I gave it to you, you drank it."

Great, fun song....

Scott

Yes, and perhaps it really is a crappy lyric. Did Dylan do drugs? I think so. Did Dylan himself admit in print and on the 60 Minutes interview that he ON PURPOSE wrote some shitty songs? I think it had to do with he was sick of people elevating him to godhood. He did, indeed, say that. Maybe this is one of them, I dunno. Just something to inspire chatter on an internet forum.

In my opinion, one thing that defines a true artist in any medium is their knowlege of 'the rules" of composition, and their sensibility of exactly when to break them for maximum effect.

Also... it may not have the most lyrics, but try learning The Beatles' 'Come Together'! That one took me a long time since the lyrics are so non-literal.