Listen to the song and put the verbs in the correct verb tense past simple or past continuous.
Pistols shots ring out in the barroom
night
Enter Patty Valentine from the upper
hall
She sees the bartender in a pool of
blood
Cries out "My God they killed them
all"
Here comes the story of the Hurricane
The man the authorities (1)__________ to blame (COME)
For something that he never done
(2)__________ him in a prison cell but one time he
could-a been (PUT)
The champion of the world.
Three bodies lying there does Patty see
And another man named Bello moving
around mysteriously
"I didn't do it" he says and
he throws up his hands
"I (3)__________ only the register I hope you understand (ROB)
I (4)__________
them leaving" he says and he stops (SEE)
"One of us had better call up the
cops"
And so Patty calls the cops
And they arrive on the scene with their
red lights flashing
In the hot New Jersey night.
Meanwhile far away in another part of
town
Rubin Carter and a couple of friends are
driving around
Number one contender for the
middleweight crown
(5)__________ no idea what kind of shit was about to
go down (HAVE)
When a cop pulled him over to the side
of the road
Just like the time before and the time
before that
In Patterson that's just the way things
go
If you're black you might as well not
shown up on the street
'Less you wanna draw the heat.
Alfred Bello had a partner and he had a
rap for the corps
Him and Arthur Dexter Bradley were just
out prowling around
He (6)__________
"I saw two men running out they looked like middleweights (SAY)
They (7)__________ into a white car with out-of-state plates" (JUMP)
And Miss Patty Valentine just nodded her
head
Cop said "Wait a minute boys this
one's not dead"
So they (8)__________ him to the infirmary (TAKE)
And though this man could hardly see
They told him that he could identify the
guilty men.
Four in the morning and they haul Rubin
in
Take him to the hospital and they bring
him upstairs
The wounded man looks up through his one
dying eye
Says "What do you bring him in here
for ? He ain't the guy !"
Yes here comes the story of the
Hurricane
The man the authorities (9)__________ to blame (COME)
For something that he never done
(10)__________ in a prison cell but one time he
could-a been (PUT)
The champion of the world.
Four months later the ghettos are in
flame
Rubin's in South America fighting for
his name
While Arthur Dexter Bradley's still in
the robbery game
And the cops are putting the screws to
him looking for somebody to blame
"Remember that murder that (11)__________ in a bar ?" (HAPPEN)
"Remember you said you saw the
getaway car?"
"You think you'd like to play ball
with the law ?"
"Think it might-a been that fighter
you (12)__________ running that
night ?" (SEE)
"Don't forget that you are white".
Arthur Dexter Bradley said "I'm
really not sure"
Cops said "A boy like you (13)__________ use a break (CAN)
We got you for the motel job and we're
talking to your friend Bello
Now you don't want to have to go back to
jail be a nice fellow
You'll be doing society a favour
That son of a bitch is brave and getting
braver
We want to put his ass in stir
We want to pin this triple murder on him
He ain't no Gentleman Jim".
Rubin could take a man out with just one
punch
But he never (14)__________ like to talk about it all that much (DO)
It's my work he'd say and I do it for
pay
And when it's over I'd just as soon go
on my way
Up to some paradise
Where the trout streams flow and the air
is nice
And ride a horse along a trail
But then they (15)__________ him to the jailhouse (TAKE)
Where they try to turn a man into a
mouse.
All of Rubin's cards (16)__________ marked in advance (BE)
The trial was a pig-circus he never had
a chance
The judge made Rubin's witnesses
drunkards from the slums
To the white folks who (17)__________ he was a revolutionary
bum (WATCH)
And to the black folks he was just a
crazy nigger
No one doubted that he pulled the
trigger
And though they could not produce the
gun
The DA said he was the one who did the
deed
And the all-white jury agreed.
Rubin Carter was falsely tried
The crime was murder 'one' guess who
testified
Bello and Bradley and they both baldly
lied
And the newspapers they all (18)__________ along for the ride (GO)
How can the life of such a man
Be in the palm of some fool's hand?
To see him obviously framed
Couldn't help but make me feel ashamed
to live in a land
Where justice is a game.
Now all the criminals in their coats and
their ties
Are free to drink martinis and watch the
sun rise
While Rubin sits like Buddha in a ten-foot
cell
An innocent man in a living hell
That's the story of the Hurricane
But it won't be over till they clear his
name
And give him back the time he's done
Put him in a prison cell but one time he
could-a been
The
champion of the world
ANSWER KEY:
1. came 2. put 3. was (only) robbing 4. saw 5. had 6. said 7. jumped 8. took 9. came 10. put 11. happened 12. saw 13. could 14. did 15. took 16. were 17. watched 18. went
