Highway Patrolman

My name is Joe Roberts
I work for the State
I'm a sergeant out on Perenville
Barracks number eight

I've always done an honest job
Honest as I could
Got a brother named Frankie
Frankie ain't no good

And ever since we were young kids
It's been the same come down
I'd get a call on a short way
Frankie's in trouble downtown

But if it was any other man
I'd put him straight away
But sometimes when it's your brother
You look the other way

Yeah, me and Frankie laughin' and drinkin'
Nothin' feels better than blood on blood
Takin' turns dancin' with Maria
While the band played "The Night of the Johnstown Flood"

I catch him when he's strayin'
Like any brother should
Man turns his back on his family
He ain't no good

Well, Frankie went into the army
Back in 1965
I got a farm deferment
Settled down, took Maria for my wife

But them wheat prices kept on droppin'
'Til it was like we's gettin' robbed
Frankie came home in '68
Me, I took this job

Yeah, me and Frankie laughin' and drinkin'
Nothin' feels better than blood on blood
Takin' turns dancin' with Maria
While the band played "The 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
Ain't no friend of mine

The night was like any other
I got a call 'bout a quarter to nine
There was trouble at a roadhouse
Out on the Michigan line

There was a kid on the floor lookin' bad
Bleedin' hard from his head
There was a girl cryin' at a table
It was Frankie, she said

I ran out and I jumped in my car
Then I hit the lights
I must have done about a hundred and ten
Through Michigan County that night

It was down by the crossroads
Out 'bout willow bank
Seen the Buick with Ohio plates
Behind the wheel was Frank

Well, I chased him through them county roads
'Til the sign said, "Canadian border five miles from here"
Pulled over to the south out the highway
Watched the taillights disappear

Yeah, me and Frankie laughin' and drinkin'
Nothin' feels better than blood on blood
Takin' turns dancin' with Maria
While the band played "The Night of the Johnstown Flood"

I catch him when he's strayin'
Like any brother should
Man turns his back on his family
He ain't no good