In the spring of '75, Bob Dylan crossed the heavy bars of Rahway State Prison in Woodbridge to meet in person Rubin âHurricaneâ Carter, unjustly accused of triple murder by an all-white jury, just as the prosecutor was also white.
It was an emotional meeting captured by a famous black-and-white photograph that inspired Bob Dylan to write a song destined for history, a song that from the start achieved such success it was pressed as a 45 RPM, with 4 minutes on each side.
In '75, Bob Dylan also held a benefit concert for Rubin âHurricaneâ Carter at Madison Square Garden, accompanied by Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, and Allen Ginsberg, where he raised $100,000 for âHurricane'sâ lawyers.
Thanks to the collective protest movement greatly influenced by Dylan's song, in 1985, Judge Haddon Lee Sarokin of the Federal Court declared that the trial had been tainted by racial motivations.
On February 26, 1988, all charges against the former boxer "Hurricane" were finally dropped, and he returned to freedom.
After Rubin âHurricaneâ Carter's release, Dylan has not performed the song live again, but the memorable lines still resonate today:
âThis is the story of Hurricane/
but it wonât be over until they clear his name/
and give back the years he lost/
They put him in a cell but he could have been champion of the world.â
Bob Dylan - Hurricane (Audio)