Highway Patrolman

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My name is Joel Roberts I work for
    D
 the state
I'm a sergeant out of Perrineville 
                A
barracks number eight
 D                            
I always done an honest job as 
 G           D
honest as I could
                      A          
I got a brother named Frankie and 
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Frankie ain't no good
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Now ever since we was young kids 
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it's been the same come down
I get a call on the shortwave 
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Frankie's in trouble downtown
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Well if it was any other man, I'd 
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put him straight away
                     A             
But when it's your brother 
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sometimes you look the other way


[Chorus]
     G                          
Yeah me and Frankie laughin' and 
  D
drinkin'
        G                          
Nothin' feels better than blood on 
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blood
G                         D
Takin' turns dancin' with Maria as 
the band
Played "Night of the Johnstown 
A
Flood"
D                              G 
I catch him when he's strayin' 
               D
like any brother would
                          A (or A7) 
                   D
Man turns his back on his family 
well he just ain't no good


Continues after the ad
[Verse]
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Well Frankie went in the army 
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back in 1965
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I got a farm deferment, settled 
                          A
down, took Maria for my wife
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But them wheat prices kept on 
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droppin' till it was like we were 
           D
gettin' robbed
D                      G         
Frankie came home in `68, and me,
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 I took this job


[Chorus]
G                       D
Yeah we're laughin' and drinkin'
        G                          
Nothin' feels better than blood on 
D
blood
G                         D
Takin' turns dancin' with Maria as 
the band
Played "Night of the Johnstown 
A
Flood"
D                              G 
I catch him when he's strayin' 
                         D
teach him how to walk that line
                          A        
Man turns his back on his family he
                    D
 ain't no friend of mine


[Verse]
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Well the night was like any other, 
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I got a call `bout quarter to nine
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There was trouble in a roadhouse 
                   A
out on the Michigan line
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There was a kid lyin' on the floor
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 lookin' bad bleedin' hard from his
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 head
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There was a girl cry'n' at a table
A                        D
 and it was Frank, they said
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Well I went out and I jumped in my
     G             D
 car and I hit the lights
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Well I musta done one hundred and 
ten through Michigan county that 
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night
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It was out at the crossroads, 
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down `round Willow bank
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Seen a Buick with Ohio plates. 
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Behind the wheel was Frank
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Well I chased him through them 
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county roads Till a sign said 
"Canadian border five miles from 
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here"
D                           
I pulled over the side of the 
             A                     
highway and watched his tail-lights
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 disappear


[Chorus]
G                                
Yeah me and Frankie laughin' and 
D
drinkin'
        G                          
Nothin' feels better than blood on 
D
blood
G                         D
Takin' turns dancin' with Maria as 
the band
Played "Night of the Johnstown 
A
Flood"
D                              G 
I catch him when he's strayin' 
               D
like any brother would
                          A (or A7) 
                   D
Man turns his back on his family 
well he just ain't no good