D G D
My name is Joe Roberts I work for the state
A
I'm a sergeant out of Perrineville barracks number eight
D G D
I always done an honest job as honest as I could
A D
I got a brother named Frankie and Frankie ain't no good
D G D
Now ever since we was young kids it's been the same come down
A
I get a call on the shortwave Frankie's in trouble downtown
D G D
Well if it was any other man, I'd put him straight away
A D
But when it's your brother sometimes you look the other way
G D
Yeah me and Frankie laughing and drinking
G D
Nothing feels better than blood on blood
G D
Taking turns dancing with Maria as the band
A
Played "Night of the Johnstown Flood"
D G D
I catch him when he's straying like any brother would
A D
Man turns his back on his family well he just ain't no good
Well Frankie went in the army back in 1965
I got a farm deferment, settled down, took Maria for my wife
But them wheat prices kept on dropping
till it was like we were getting robbed
Frankie came home in `68, and me, I took this job
Yeah we're laughing and drinking
Nothing feels better than blood on blood
Takin' turns dancing with Maria
as the band Played "Night of the Johnstown Flood"
I catch him when he's straying
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 lying on the floor looking bad bleeding hard from his head
There was a girl cry'ng at a table and it was Frank, they said
Well I went out and I jumped in my car and I hit the lights
Well I musta done one 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 tail-lights disappear
