Written by Bruce Springsteen
( Bruce Springsteen)
From "Love, God and Murder", 1997, Columbia/Legacy

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 jo

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 tail-lights 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