My name is Joe Roberts
I work for the state
I'm a sergeant out of Pineville
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
Me and Franky laughin' and drinkin'
Nothin' 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 them wheat prices kept on droppin'
'Til it was like we were gettin' robbed
Franky came home in '68
And me, I took this job
Yeah, we're laughin' and drinkin'
Nothin' 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
And I hit the lights
Well, I must have 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
'Til a sign said Canadian border five miles from here
I pulled over the side of the highway
And watched his tail lights disappear
Me and Franky laughin' and drinkin'
Nothin' 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