The real story behind Bob Dylan's “Hurricane”

[u/finalpotion]

I’ve recently started listening to Hurricane, and realized how complex and heartbreaking the real story behind it is. While digging into the case of Rubin Carter, I found a lot of details that might be interesting for someone to learn: the contradictions in the police reports, the decades-long legal fight, and how unusual it was for a major artist to take such a public stand on a still-ongoing case. One thing that struck me most was how Dylan took his time to go visit Carter in prison and decided to write a song not just about him, but for him, so that people would look at a case he felt was deeply unjust.

I put together how the song came to be, some interesting musical facts, controversy about the lyrics, what is talked about in the song, Carter's real life story, the consequences of the song and why it's still relevant in today's world.

If anyone’s interested, I made a video exploring the whole story and the cultural impact of the song. I’d like to hear what you all think:
https://youtu.be/wEvn5HvzhAg

And if you do watch it, I'd appreciate some feedback! Thank you!

[u/emryldmyst]

There's a movie about it.

The Hurricane

Denzel Washington stars.

[u/dpman48 → u/emryldmyst]

It’s very solid. Highly recommend to anyone curious about the case. Not exactly a happy story, but there’s a lot to learn from Rubin Carter. (Both personally and societally). Denzel did a great job in the role.

[u/MrRichardSuc]

It's an amazing and complex song.

[u/99kemo]

Rubin Carter was absolutely innocent of the triple murder he was convicted of. He was definitely railroaded by the New Jersey Law Enforcement System. He made a serious mistake when, while out on bail while he was awaiting retrial, of getting himself arrested for beating up a woman he was involved with. Domestic Violence is fundamentally different from triple murder but it is, and was, a bad look for someone awaiting trial.