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My name is Joe Roberts
I work for the state
I'm a sergeant out of Perrineville
Barracks number eight
I've  always done an honest job
Honest as I could
Got a brother named Frankie
Frankie ain't no good

Well, ever since we were young kids
It's been the same come down
I'd get a call on the shortwave
Frankie's in trouble down town
Well, 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
And 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 and I hit the lights
I musta done about a hundred and ten
Through Michigan county that night
It was down by the crossroads
Out by Willow Bank
Seen a Buick with Ohio plates
Behind the wheel was Frank

Well, I chased him through them county roads
'Til a sign said, 'Canadian border five miles from here'
Pulled over to the side of 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

©Bruce Springsteen