Hurricane (song) - Background

Background

Carter and a man named John Artis had been charged with a triple murder during a robbery at the Lafayette Grill in Paterson, New Jersey in 1966. Carter and Artis were found guilty of the murders, which were widely reported as racially motivated. In the years that followed, a substantial amount of controversy emerged over the case, ranging from allegations of faulty evidence and questionable eyewitness testimony to an unfair trial. In his autobiography, Carter maintained his innocence, and his story eventually led Dylan to visit him in Rahway State Prison in Woodbridge Township, New Jersey.

Dylan had written topical ballads such as "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll" and Bob wasn't sure that he could write a song .... He was just filled with all these feelings about Hurricane. He couldn't make the first step. I think the first step was putting the song in a total storytelling mode. I don't remember whose idea it was to do that. But really, the beginning of the song is like stage directions, like what you would read in a script: 'Pistol shots ring out in a barroom night.... Here comes the story of the Hurricane.' Boom! Titles. You know, Bob loves movies, and he can write these movies that take place in eight to ten minutes, yet seem as full or fuller than regular movies.

After meeting with Carter in prison and later with a group of his supporters, Dylan began to write "Hurricane". The song was one of his few "protest songs" during the 1970s and proved to be his fourth most successful single of the decade, reaching #33 on the Billboard chart and #43 in the UK chart.