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 over the radio 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' till it was like we were gettin' robbed
 Franky came home in `68, and me, I took this job
 
Yea 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 of done one 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 till a sign said Canadian border five miles from here
 I pulled over the side of the highway and watched his taillights 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