Pop+Culture+Lyrics

This week, we're examining some important issues in Pop Culture:


 * Boxer Rubin Carter and the music of Bob Dylan (and later a film starring Denzil Washington)
 * Green Day and politics
 * John Cougar Mellencamp and the environment
 * Bruce Hornsby and The Range and equality
 * 2Pac and his version of The Way it is

We'll begin with Dylan's masterpiece of the time: //Hurricane//

Here are the full lyrics to the song. Check out the interview with Rubin Carter at the end of the lyrics:

**"Hurricane"**

 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 came to blame  For something that he never done  Put him in a prison cell but one time he could-a been  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 was only robbing the register I hope you understand  I saw them leaving" he says and he stops  "One of us had better call up the cops" <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> And so Patty calls the cops <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> And they arrive on the scene with their red lights flashing <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> In the hot New Jersey night.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> Meanwhile far away in another part of town <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> Rubin Carter and a couple of friends are driving around <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> Number one contender for the middleweight crown <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> Had no idea what kinda shit was about to go down <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> When a cop pulled him over to the side of the road <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> Just like the time before and the time before that <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> In Patterson that's just the way things go <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> If you're black you might as well not shown up on the street <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> 'Less you wanna draw the heat.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> Alfred Bello had a partner and he had a rap for the corps <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> Him and Arthur Dexter Bradley were just out prowling around <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> He said "I saw two men running out they looked like middleweights <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> They jumped into a white car with out-of-state plates" <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> And Miss Patty Valentine just nodded her head <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> Cop said "Wait a minute boys this one's not dead" <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> So they took him to the infirmary <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> And though this man could hardly see <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> They told him that he could identify the guilty men.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> Four in the morning and they haul Rubin in <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> Take him to the hospital and they bring him upstairs <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> The wounded man looks up through his one dying eye <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> Says "Wha'd you bring him in here for ? He ain't the guy !" <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> Yes here comes the story of the Hurricane <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> The man the authorities came to blame <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> For something that he never done <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> Put in a prison cell but one time he could-a been <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> The champion of the world.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> Four months later the ghettos are in flame <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> Rubin's in South America fighting for his name <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> While Arthur Dexter Bradley's still in the robbery game <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> And the cops are putting the screws to him looking for somebody to blame <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> "Remember that murder that happened in a bar ?" <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> "Remember you said you saw the getaway car?" <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> "You think you'd like to play ball with the law ?" <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> "Think it might-a been that fighter you saw running that night ?" <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> "Don't forget that you are white".

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> Arthur Dexter Bradley said "I'm really not sure" <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> Cops said "A boy like you could use a break <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> We got you for the motel job and we're talking to your friend Bello <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> Now you don't wanta have to go back to jail be a nice fellow <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> You'll be doing society a favor <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> That sonofabitch is brave and getting braver <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> We want to put his ass in stir <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> We want to pin this triple murder on him <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> He ain't no Gentleman Jim".

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> Rubin could take a man out with just one punch <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> But he never did like to talk about it all that much <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> It's my work he'd say and I do it for pay <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> And when it's over I'd just as soon go on my way <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> Up to some paradise <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> Where the trout streams flow and the air is nice <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> And ride a horse along a trail <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> But then they took him to the jailhouse <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> Where they try to turn a man into a mouse.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> All of Rubin's cards were marked in advance <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> The trial was a pig-circus he never had a chance <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> The judge made Rubin's witnesses drunkards from the slums <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> To the white folks who watched he was a revolutionary bum <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> And to the black folks he was just a crazy nigger <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> No one doubted that he pulled the trigger <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> And though they could not produce the gun <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> The DA said he was the one who did the deed <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> And the all-white jury agreed.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> Rubin Carter was falsely tried <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> The crime was murder 'one' guess who testified <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> Bello and Bradley and they both baldly lied <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> And the newspapers they all went along for the ride <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> How can the life of such a man <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> Be in the palm of some fool's hand ? <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> To see him obviously framed <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> Couldn't help but make me feel ashamed to live in a land <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> Where justice is a game.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> Now all the criminals in their coats and their ties <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> Are free to drink martinis and watch the sun rise <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> While Rubin sits like Buddha in a ten-foot cell <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> An innocent man in a living hell <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> That's the story of the Hurricane <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> But it won't be over till they clear his name <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> And give him back the time he's done <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> Put him in a prison cell but one time he could-a been <span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;"> The champion of the world.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;">media type="youtube" key="wteznuvigV8" height="390" width="480"

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;">Next up we'll take a look at 2PAC Shakir's remix of the Bruce Hornsby and The Range song //The Way it is//.

media type="youtube" key="1UbX_CTMjOA" height="390" width="480"

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Arial; line-height: normal;">The lyrics are included here also:

<span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;">(1st Verse) <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> I see no changes <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> I wake up in the morning and I ask myself <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> Is life worth livin' should I blast myself? <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> I'm tired of bein poor and even worse I'm black <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> My stomach hurts so I'm lookin' for a purse to snatch <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> Cops give a damn about a Negro <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> Pull the trigga, kill a nigga, he's a hero <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> Sell the crack the the kids, who the hell cares? <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> One less hungry mouth on the welfare <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> First ship 'em dope and let 'em deal the brothas <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> Give 'em guns, step back and watch 'em kill each other <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> It's time to fight back that's what Huey said <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> Two shots in the dark now Huey's dead <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> I got love for my brotha, but we can never go nowhere <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> Unless we share wit each other <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> We gotta start makin' changes <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> Learn to see me as a brotha instead-a two distant strangers <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> And that's how it's 'pose to be <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> How can the Devil take a brotha if he's close to me? <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> I'd love to go back to when we played as kids, but things change <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> And that's the way it is.

<span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> (chorus) <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> thats just the way it is <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> things will never be the same <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> thats just the ways it is <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> aaw yeah <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> thats just the way it is <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> things will never be the same <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> thats just the ways it is <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> aaw yeah <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> 2x

<span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> (2nd Verse) <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> I see no changes, all I see is racist faces <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> Misplaced hate makes disgrace to races <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> We under, I wonder what it takes to make this <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> One better place, let's erase the wasted <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> Take the evil out the people they'll be actin right <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> 'Cuz both black and white is smokin' crack tonight <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> And the only time we chill is when we kill each otha <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> It takes skill to be real time to heal each other <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> And I know it seems heaven sent <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> We aint ready to see a black presidant, unh <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> it aint a secret don't conceal the facts, the penitentiaries packed <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> And it's filled with blacks <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> But some things will never change <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> Ya try to show anotha way but ya stayin in the dope game <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> Now tell me what's a motha to do <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> Bein' real don't appeal to the brotha in you <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> You gotta operate the easy way <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> "I made a G today,", but you made it in a sleezy way <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> Sellin crack to the kids, "I gotta get paid"

<span style="color: #888888; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 23px;"> [ From: http://www.metrolyrics.com/thats-just-the-way-it-is-lyrics-2pac.html ]

<span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> Well hey, well thats the way it is <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> Come on, come on

<span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> (chorus) <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> thats just the way it is <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> things will never be the same <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> thats just the ways it is <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> aaw yeah <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> thats just the way it is <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> things will never be the same <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> thats just the ways it is <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> aaw yeah <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> 2x

<span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> (Talking) <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> You gotta make a change <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> It's time for us as a people to start makin' some changes <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> Let's change the way we eat let's change the way we live <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> And let's change the way we treat each other <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> You see the old way wan'ts workin, so its on us to do what we gotta do, to survive

<span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> (3rd Verse) <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> And still I see no changes <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> Can't a brotha get a little peace <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> There's war on the streets and war on the Middle east <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> Instead of a war on poverty, <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> They got a war on drugs so the police can bother me <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> And I ain't never did a crime i aint have to do <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> But now I'm back with the facts givin' it back to you <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> So don't let 'em jack you up, back you up, crack you up, and pimp smack you up <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> Ya gotta learn to hold ya own <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> They get jealous when they see ya with ya mobile phone <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> But tell the cops they can't touch this <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> I don't trust this, when they try to rush I bust this <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> It's the sound on my tool, you it ain't cool <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> My mama didn't raise no fool <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> And as long as I stay black, I gotta stay strapped and i never get to lay back <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> 'Cuz I always gotta worry bout the payback <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> Of some ruff that i ruffed up way back <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> Comin back after all these years <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> Rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> That's the way its is

<span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> (chorus) <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> thats just the way it is <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> things will never be the same <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> thats just the ways it is <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> aaw yeah <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> thats just the way it is (you're my brotha your my sister, yeah) <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> things will never be the same(neva be the same yeah, yeah aaw yeah) <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> thats just the ways it is <span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> aaw yeah

<span style="color: #656565; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 23px;"> Some things will never change

OK, so there's the two songs and the lyrics. Your assignment which is due next week is included here as a PAGES doc:



Green Day- 21 Guns: (politics)

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John Cougar Mellencamp: Rain on the Scarecrow: (Environmental issues)

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