Highway Patrolman

My name is Joe Roberts

I work for the state

I'm a sergeant out of Perrineville

Barracks number eight

I always done an honest job

As honest as I could

I got a brother named Franky

And Franky ain't no good

Now ever since we was young kids

It's been the same come down

I get a call on the short wave

Franky's in trouble downtown

Well, if it was any other man

I'd put him straight away

But when it's your brother sometimes you look the other way

Yeah, me and Franky, laughin' and drinkin'

Nothing feels better than blood on blood

Takin' turns dancin' with Maria

As the band played "Night of the Johnstown Flood"

I catch him when he's strayin'

Like any brother would

Man turns his back on his family

Well, he just ain't no good

Well, Franky went in the army

Back in 1965

I got a farm deferment

Settled down, took Maria for my wife

But then wheat prices kept on droppin'

Till it was like we were gettin' robbed

Franky came home in '68

And me, I took this job

Yeah, we were laughin' and drinkin'

Nothing feels better than blood on blood

Takin' turns dancin' with Maria

As the band played "Night of the Johnstown Flood"

I catch him when he's strayin'

Teach him how to walk that line

Man turns his back on his family

He ain't no friend of mine

Well, the night was like any other

I got a call 'bout quarter to nine

There was trouble in a roadhouse

Out on the Michigan line

There was a kid lyin' on the floor lookin' bad

Bleedin' hard from his head

There was a girl cryin' at a table

And it was Frank, they said

Well, I went out and I jumped in my car

Then I hit the lights

Well, I must've done a hundred and ten

Through Michigan County that night

It was out at the crossroads

Down 'round willow bank

Seen a Buick with Ohio plates

Behind the wheel was Frank

Well, I chased him through them county roads

Till a sign said Canadian border five miles from here

I pulled over the side of the highway

And watched his taillights disappear

Me and Franky, laughin' and drinkin'

Nothing feels better than blood on blood

Takin' turns dancin' with Maria

As the band played "Night of the Johnstown Flood"

I catch him when he's strayin'

Like any brother would

Man turns his back on his family

Well, he just ain't no good