How historically accurate is Bob Dylan’s “Hurricane”?..Or is it a fictional song?
Thanks
um…accurate.
In the sense that there really was a Rubin Carter who got sent to prison for the murder of three white people. Dylan did a couple of benefit gigs for him and wrote the song after visiting him in prison.
Whether or not Rubin really was innocent I don’t know, since I haven’t read the transcripts of the case. All I’ve got is Bob’s story and the fact the Carter’s conviction was eventually overturned and he was freed.
Since his conviction was overturned, one assumes he didn’t do it and the real murderer is still out there. But anyway, yes the events depicted really happened but as to whether or not Rubin done the deed - who knows?
The legal system says he didn’t do it. Bob says he didn’t do it. What more evidence do you need? That’s good enough for me.
I’m sorry, I accidentally posted this in the wrong forum. Thanks for the answer though.
There was a 1999 movie about the case starring Denzel Washington as Rubin Carter.
[Moderator Hat ON]
Though perhaps a debate, I think this will do better in Cafe Society.
[Moderator Hat OFF]
Accurate, hmmm…
Dylan’s song was written while Carter was still in jail so you can’t say it’s accurate or inaccurate as more as it was designed to take a stand.
The film is another matter.
This site http://graphicwitness.com/carter/
thought that the film was all wrong and many people think that the campaign against the accuracy of the film kept Denzel Washington from winning an Oscar.
Here’s a short site that is more sympathetic to Carter
http://wi.essortment.com/hurricanerubi_rdit.htm
Carter was not exonerated. His conviction was set aside because it was ruled that his trial was unfair.
More info on him here
Does anyone know who played the violin on Dylan’s “The Hurricane”?
Scarlet Rivera, who also toured with Dylan at the time.
Tucked away on the site linked to by BobT is a link to this page, which really rips apart the song’s accuracy. Many of the points they make are trivial, but overall it’s pretty damning–if you believe them.
Dylan stretches and slants the story tremendously, but the basic outline is true. Note that the liberties he takes would have been unforgivable if he had been writing an essay for a news magazine, and probably as an editorial piece, but he’s a song writer composing a ballad which can not be presumed to be an unbiased account. I think he was within the bounds of acceptable artistic license for his medium.
“Hurricane” is from “Desire” which is an unusual Dylan album - he collaborated with Jacques Levy, who probably had some input to the form the song took. It was supposedly Levy who caused them to try to make a folk hero out of an even more unlikely candidate - Joey Gallo. Gallo was a vicious mafia hood, and it’s REALLY stretching to try to say any different. “Catfish” was cut from the final release of the album, but also falls into that era.
It’s difficult to find unbiased material on Rubin Carter, and I’m not even going to try. Personally I think:
1 - He did it.
2 - Judges were correct in overturning his conviction. Twice.
This is not contradictory:
As noted, the convictions were overturned NOT because he was presumed innocent, but because the trials were botched. Juries thought he did it, New Jersey Supreme Court and Federal judges thought the prosecution had cheated to reach the verdict, presumably because they realized their case was a bit thin.
Jim Hunter supposedly hated the song “Catfish” and it’s not particularly accurate about the Hunter-Finley dispute.
But how do you write an interesting song about a baseball owner letting one of his best players become a free agent because he failed to make a timely payment on an annuity?
C’mon Bob. I’m waiting. I’m waiting.
You would have thought Curt Flood would have been a more interesting baseball figure to write about, although I have a feeling that Dylan is likely not the biggest baseball fan in the world.