Bob Dylan's Hurricane

Photo: Bob Dylan by Javier Badosa

Here is a new installment to my Songs for Singer-Songwriters series. This is for the artist that performs solo. I am adding how to play some great classic songs that might help the singer-songwriter make their set interesting. There will be some looping help on certain songs in case someone wants to improvise. I'm also posting a little history so the singer-songwriter has a little information to tell the audience before performing the song.

Here we'll take a look at Bob Dylan's "Hurricane." It's an 8-minute protest song co-written with Jacques Levy that details the wrongful conviction of middleweight boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter.

Inspiration and Writing

• The Book: Dylan read Rubin Carter's autobiography, The 16th Round, in 1974.
• The Visit: Dylan visited Carter at Rahway State Prison in New Jersey, which inspired him to write a protest song.
• The Collaboration: Dylan co-wrote the lyrics with theater director Jacques Levy, giving the song a cinematic, stage-direction style.

In a following blog post I will show how to loop the song and improvise over the chords with the violinist part. It will be a little challenging and a lot of fun.

The legendary meeting between Bob Dylan and violinist Scarlet Rivera reads like a scene from a movie. Stay tuned for the rest of the story.

Jeff's Chord Chart

Here's my handwritten chord chart for "Hurricane" to get you started: