I thought I would resurrect my themed twelve days of Christmas posts for 2017. The theme for this year is songs about historical figures from many branches of life. First up is probably my favourite ever Bob Dylan song about Rubin Carter a.k.a. The Hurricane a middleweight boxer who was jailed for twenty years for a triple murder that he did not commit. He was born in New Jersey in 1937 and died in Toronto, Canada in 2014.
Carter was tried and convicted twice for the 1966 murders (in 1967 and 1976). The second of those was overturned in 1985 and Carter finally became a free man as a result. Dylan read Rubin’s book ‘The Sixteenth Round’ which lead to him writing (with Jacques Levy) and recording the epic (more than 8 minutes long) song “Hurricane”in 1975. It was the lead off track on the 1976 Dylan album ‘Desire’. “Hurricane” was released as a single in 1975 in edited form. It reached the US top 40, number 43 in the UK and made the top ten in Australia. For me when Dylan was angry he was stunning, especially on this song.
With Just A Hint Of Mayhem 