From the History Books

Bob Dylan Records "Hurricane"

Fifty years ago, the great singer-songwriter Bob Dylan was in the studio recording the song “Hurricane,” about the boxer Rubin “Hurricane” Carter, who served 19 years in prison before he was found wrongfully convicted of murder. The recording that emerged from the sessions, which became one of Dylan’s most legendary protest songs, touched on themes of racism and criminal justice that have unfortunately endured.

Born in 1937, Carter was well known in Paterson, New Jersey, for his punching power, his high-flying lifestyle (he drove around the city in a black Cadillac Eldorado), and his critical comments in the Saturday Evening Post in 1964 about police violence against Black Americans and the use of violent self-defense. Carter later reported having been harassed by police as a result of what he said. Even the FBI monitored him. Carter, who had knocked out the welterweight champion Emile Griffith in 1963 and fought for the middleweight title the year after, was in the prime of his career when he was charged with murder in 1966.

Carter and his acquaintance John Artis were both charged with murdering three people in a shooting at the Lafayette Bar and Grill in Paterson, N.J., in the early morning hours of June 17, 1966. Carter had visited a different bar about half a mile away from the scene of the crime, and Artis was giving him a lift home when the police stopped them. Their car bore a vague resemblance to the white getaway car that two eyewitnesses identified. While police initially let the men go, they were brought in for questioning later that night.

Initially, a grand jury let them go after one of the survivors due to insufficient evidence and questions about witness testimony. However, in a subsequent trial, state prosecutors presented two eyewitnesses, Alfred Bello and Arthur Bradley. The entire case was weak. Bello and Bradley had been attempting to burglarize a factory when the shooting occurred, and the evidence was thin, as was the alleged motivation. But Carter and Artis were convicted of triple murder on June 29, 1967, and both were sentenced to life.

Carter maintained his innocence. He didn’t wear a uniform in prison, but he studied the law. Carter also published an autobiography in 1974, titled “The 16th Round: From Number 1 Contender to Number 45742,” that gained widespread attention. That same year, Bello and Bradley recanted their testimonies.

Dylan, who was moved by Carter’s autobiography, visited the former boxer at Rahway State Prison and decided to write a song. At this point, Dylan was enjoying the success of the album Blood on the Tracks (my favorite Dylan album) while also struggling with the collapse of his first marriage.

-Bob Dylan visits Rubin Carter in Rahway