Hurricane (song)

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Hurricane is a protest song written by Bob Dylan and Jacques Levy from 1975. It deals with the arrest and conviction of the boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter . In the song, Dylan criticized the Carter investigation and the racist acts it contained . The title was published on his 17th studio album Desire .

background

Carter and a man named John Artis were convicted of triple murders. This occurred in 1966 at the Lafayette Grill in Paterson, New Jersey . After widespread reports that the crime was apparently racist (the victims were white, Carter and Artis were black), Carter and Artis were found guilty of the murder and sentenced to life imprisonment. In the years that followed, the case became more and more of a controversial topic. The legality of the investigation and the testimony of an alleged eyewitness were called into question. Carter protested his innocence in his biography, which eventually led to a contact from Bob Dylan.

effect

Dylan reached number 33 on the Billboard charts with the song . This success resulted in media coverage and finally a resumption of the investigation. However, Carter was also found guilty at the second trial. But Dylan and his prominent associates did not give up and reached a further investigation. In the third instance, Carter was eventually acquitted. Rüdiger Schaper wrote about the song in June 2020: " Hurricane from 1975 describes the racism of the American police and judiciary so clearly and brutally that you can't believe your ears in 2020."

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Dylan on US Charts
  2. ^ Joel Whitburn: The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits . 7th edition. Billboard Books, New York 2000, ISBN 0-8230-7690-3 , pp. 204/205.
  3. ↑ Bob Dylan: Biography. ( Memento of the original from April 5, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Rolling Stone @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.rollingstone.com
  4. ↑ https://www.tagesspiegel.de/kultur/rough-and-rowdy-ways-bob-dylans-neues-album-wektiven-wie-eine-sammlung-bonus-tracks/25929214.html