Intro
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[Verse]
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My name is Joe Roberts I work for the state
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I'm a sergeant out of Perrineville barracks number 8
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I always done an honest job as honest as I could
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I got a brother named Franky and Frank he ain't no good
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Now ever since we was young kids it's been the same come down
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I get a call on the shortwave Franky's in trouble downtown
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Well if it was any other man, I'd put him straight away
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But when it's your brother sometimes you look the other way
[Chorus 1]
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Yeah, me and Franky laughing and drinking nothing feels better than blood on blood
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Takin' turns dancin' with Marie as the band played Night of the Johnstown Flood
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I catch him when he's straying like any brother would
D# G#
Man turns his back on his family well he just ain't no good
[Verse]
C# G#
Well Franky went in the army back in 1965
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I got a farm deferment, settled down, took Maria for my wife
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But them wheat prices kept on dropping 'till it was like we were getting robbed
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Franky came home in `68, and me, I took this job
[Chorus 2]
C# G# D# C# G#
Yea we're laughing and drinking nothing feels better than blood on blood
D# C# G# D#
Takin' turns dancin' with Marie as the band played Night of the Johnstown Flood
G# C# G#
I catch him when he's straying, teach him how to walk that line
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Man turns his back on his family he ain't no friend of mine
[Verse]
C# G#
Well the night was like any other, I got a call `bout quarter to nine
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There was trouble in a roadhouse out on the Michigan line
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There was a kid lying on the floor lookin' bad bleedin' hard from his head
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There was a girl crying at a table and it was Frank, they said
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Well I went out and I jumped in my car and I hit the lights
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But I must of done a hundred and ten through Michigan county that night
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It was out at the crossroads, down round Willow bank
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Seen a Buick with Ohio plates behind the wheel was Frank
Well I chased him through them county roads
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'till a sign said Canadian border five miles from here
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I pulled over to the side of the highway and watched his taillights disappear
[Chorus 3]
C# G# D# C# G#
Me and Franky laughing and drinking nothing feels better than blood on blood
D# C# G# D#
Taking turns dancing with Marie as the band played Night of the Johnstown Flood
G# C# G#
I catch him when he's straying like any brother would
D# G# C# G#
Man turns his back on his family well he just ain’t no good