Highway Patrolman
1982 · Columbia QC 38358 · Freehold, New Jersey
- Artist
- Bruce Springsteen
- Title
- Highway Patrolman
- Release
- Nebraska
- Year
- 1982
- Label
- Columbia # QC 38358
- Format
- LP · Album
- Language
- English
- Country
- Freehold, New Jersey, USA
- Songwriter
- Bruce Springsteen
- Genre
- Singer Songwriter · Singer Songwriter · Americana
- Primary theme
- Post-War
Annotation — Bruce Springsteen Songs
The song "Highway Patrolman" featured on the Springsteen album Nebraska (Columbia Records # QC 38358), which told the story of two brothers, one a Vietnam veteran - it presented the perspective of a vet struggling back home. Although in this case, it suggested the vet had troubles before the war.1 It's narrated from the perspective of one brother, Joe Roberts, who became a law enforcement officer. He recalled that his brother was always getting into trouble: "Franky ain't no good". However, he looked out for him, as it was family: "I catch him when he's strayin', like any brother would". In 1965 he went to the Vietnam War: "Franky went in the army, back in 1965", while the narrator got "a farm deferment, settled down, took Maria for my wife". When Frank returned, he got into trouble, including shooting a man. The brother chased him up to the Canadian border, and then let him safely cross the line: "sign said Canadian border five miles from here, I pulled over the side of the highway and watched his tail lights disappear".Sources1Bruce Springsteen, Cultural Studies and the Runaway American Dream (Kenneth Womack, 2012)↩
Annotation by Justin A. Brummer
Lyrics
English: My name is Joe Roberts / I work for the state / I'm a sergeant out of Perrineville / Barracks number 8 / 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 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 of done a hundred and ten / Through Michigan county that night / It was out at the crossroads / Down round Willow bank / Seen a Buick…
About the artist
Born Freehold, New Jersey, USA (23 September 1949). Currently Rumson, New Jersey.