HIGHWAY PATROLMAN [Album version]

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 shortwave, 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

Yeah 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

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, well 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 musta 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
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, he just ain't no good

Page last updated: 01 Aug 2010

Intro

Music and lyrics by Bruce Springsteen, HIGHWAY PATROLMAN was released on his 1982 solo album Nebraska. DEPUTY was the original title of the song, but it was re-titled HIGHWAY PATROLMAN upon its release.

Springsteen recorded the song as a home demo on or around 03 Jan 1982 at Thrill Hill East, his home studio in Colt's Neck, NJ. The track has the same stark, bleak atmosphere as the remainder of its parent album, and in terms of instrumentation, contains simply vocals, very quiet harmonica, and finger-picked acoustic guitar. Dave Marsh wrote in hi book Glory Days: Bruce Springsteen in the 1980s, "Springsteen's voice quakes as he sings the final verse, and when Joe [Roberts] finally watches his brother's 'taillights disappear,' the voice breaks and Bruce fumbles the guitar pick, which he has otherwise strummed steadily throughout the song."

The above lyrics are for the home demo recording of HIGHWAY PATROLMAN as found on the Nebraska album. It features Bruce Springsteen solo on vocals, acoustic guitar, and harmonica. This recording was laid on a four-track cassette recorder, part of what became the famous Nebraska demo tape of January 1982.

Nebraska

Following The River Tour, Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band were supposed to start recording the next album in New York City in February 1982. Bruce decided to record multi-channel, professional sounding, finished demos of some songs he had written during the period. He felt the upcoming band sessions would progress faster than they had for his previous three albums if he records these finished demos and demonstrates them to The E Street Band.

To achieve his goal, in December 1981, he asks his guitar technician, Mike Batlan, to set up a no frills "porta-studio" in a spare room of his home in Colt's Neck, NJ. Some modification work was done to the room making it more receptive to achieving a decent sound. Batlan purchased a Teac Tascom Series 144 4-track cassette recorder, two SM57's microphones, and two microphone stands. The sound was mixed through an old Gibson Echoplex, and an old Panasonic boom box acted as the mix-down deck.

Springsteen recorded during the first few days of January, with most of the songs cut in one all day/night session on 03 Jan 1982. There were 15 songs recorded on tape, and some of them were recorded 2 or 3 times in slightly different arrangements. The tape was never conceived to result in a commercially released album, as the songs were recorded by the E Street Band with multi-instrument arrangements, during what's known as the "Electric Nebraska Session". However two or three months later, Springsteen recorded two additional songs (MY FATHER'S HOUSE and THE BIG PAYBACK) at home on the same equipment – thus making a total of 17 different songs.

Most of the E Street Band arrangements of these songs were discarded and the original solo demos from the tape were released on the Nebraska album. Max Weinberg revealed to Rolling Stone in June 2010 that the recording of the "Electric Nebraska Session" does exist. He said that "the E Street Band actually did record all of Nebraska and it was killing [...] It was all very hard-edged. As great as it was, it wasn't what Bruce wanted to release. There is a full band Nebraska album, all of those songs are in the can somewhere."

Nebraska was released on Columbia Records on 20 Sep 1982. It was produced by Bruce Springsteen.

Recording

As Springsteen himself confirmed, only one recording of HIGHWAY PATROLMAN was made on the Nebraska demo tape of January 1982. That recording is circulating under two alternate mixes: the official mix which was officially released on Nebraska in 1982, and a merely different mix which later appeared on several bootlegs, including The Lost Masters Vol. 1 (Labour Of Love).

Other Official Releases

The live 18 Nov 2006 version of HIGHWAY PATROLMAN was released on the Live In Dublin CD and DVD in 2007.

Music Video

Sean Penn is a lifelong Bruce Springsteen fan, and he also briefly dated Springsteen's younger sister Pamela. HIGHWAY PATROLMAN was the inspiration for the Sean Penn directed 1991 film The Indian Runner (see info about the film below), and in 2000, Penn directed a video for HIGHWAY PATROLMAN in which he used scenes from The Indian Runner to create a moody visual interpretation of the story. The previously unreleased video was included on Springsteen's The Complete Video Anthology / 1978-2000 DVD which was released in January 2001.

Live History

HIGHWAY PATROLMAN appeared live for the first time on the opening night of the Born In The USA Tour, on 29 Jun 1984 at St. Paul Civic Arena. It was played a total of 28 times on that tour, with the E Street Band, and Patti Scialfa on background vocals.

29 Jun 1984 at St. Paul Civic Arena, St. Paul, MN
06 Jul 1984 at Riverfront Coliseum, Cincinnati, OH
08 Jul 1984 at Coliseum At Richfield, Richfield, OH
17 Jul 1984 at Rosemont Horizon, Chicago, IL
23 Jul 1984 at Canadian National Exhibition Grandstand, Toronto, Canada
27 Jul 1984 at Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Springs, NY
30 Jul 1984 at Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, MI
05 Aug 1984 at Brendan Byrne Arena, East Rutherford, NJ
09 Aug 1984 at Brendan Byrne Arena, East Rutherford, NJ
17 Aug 1984 at Brendan Byrne Arena, East Rutherford, NJ
20 Aug 1984 at Brendan Byrne Arena, East Rutherford, NJ
25 Aug 1984 at Capital Centre, Largo, MD
28 Aug 1984 at Capital Centre, Largo, MD
04 Sep 1984 at Centrum In Worcester, Worcester, MA
07 Sep 1984 at Hartford Civic Center, Hartford, CT
11 Sep 1984 at Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA
22 Sep 1984 at Pittsburgh Civic Arena, Pittsburgh, PA
25 Sep 1984 at Buffalo Memorial Auditorium, Buffalo, NY
17 Oct 1984 at Tacoma Dome, Tacoma, WA
19 Oct 1984 at Tacoma Dome, Tacoma, WA
22 Oct 1984 at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, CA
26 Oct 1984 at Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, Los Angeles, CA
16 Dec 1984 at The Omni, Atlanta, GA
05 Jan 1985 at Hampton Coliseum, Hampton, VA
07 Jan 1985 at Market Square Arena, Indianapolis, IN
13 Jan 1985 at Carolina Coliseum, Columbia, SC
06 Jul 1985 at Wembley Stadium, London, UK
19 Sep 1985 at Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, Oakland, CA

HIGHWAY PATROLMAN was played solo acoustic 25 times during The Ghost Of Tom Joad Solo Acoustic Tour.

25 Apr 1996 at Brixton Academy, London, UK
27 Apr 1996 at Royal Albert Hall, London, UK
24 Sep 1996 at Miller Auditorium, Kalamazoo, MI
02 Oct 1996 at Riverside Theater, Milwaukee, WI
17 Oct 1996 at Paramount Theatre, Denver, CO
19 Oct 1996 at Kiva Auditorium, Albuquerque, NM
22 Oct 1996 at Civic Theatre, San Diego, CA
25 Oct 1996 at Arlington Theater, Santa Barbara, CA
29 Oct 1996 at Paramount Theatre, Seattle, WA
12 Nov 1996 at Shea's Performing Arts Center, Buffalo, NY
14 Nov 1996 at Lowell Memorial Auditorium, Lowell, MA
19 Nov 1996 at Dixon-Myers Hall, Memphis, TN
14 Dec 1996 at Ovens Auditorium, Charlotte, NC
31 Jan 1997 at International Forum, Tokyo, Japan
05 Feb 1997 at Concert Hall, Brisbane, Australia
07 Feb 1997 at Capitol Theatre, Sydney, Australia
12 Feb 1997 at Capitol Theatre, Sydney, Australia
17 Feb 1997 at Palais Theatre, Melbourne, Australia
10 May 1997 at Sala Kongresowa, Warsaw, Poland
12 May 1997 at Congress Center, Prague, Czech Republic
15 May 1997 at Auditorium Maurice-Ravel, Lyon, France
18 May 1997 at Acropolis, Nice, France
21 May 1997 at Teatro Verdi, Florence, Italy
22 May 1997 at Teatro Augusteo, Napoli, Italy
25 May 1997 at Palais Des Congres, Paris, France

HIGHWAY PATROLMAN was reported to have been practiced during the private rehearsals for the Devils & Dust Solo Acoustic Tour, on 11 and 20 Apr 2005 at the Paramount Theatre in Asbury Park, NJ. It was then performed during both public rehearsal shows, on 21 and 22 Apr 2005 at the same venue.

HIGHWAY PATROLMAN appeared on 12 regular shows during the Devils & Dust Solo Acoustic Tour.

25 Apr 2005 at Fox Theatre, Detroit, MI
30 Apr 2005 at Glendale Arena, Phoenix, AZ
02 Jun 2005 at Palacio De Deportes De La Comunidad De Madrid, Madrid, Spain
23 Jun 2005 at Scandinavium, Gothenburg, Sweden
27 Jun 2005 at Color Line Arena, Hamburg, Germany
13 Jul 2005 at Corel Centre, Ottawa, Canada
24 Jul 2005 at Charlotte Coliseum, Charlotte, NC
06 Aug 2005 at Fox Theatre, St. Louis, MO
11 Aug 2005 at Key Arena, Seattle, WA
09 Oct 2005 at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, New York City, NY
13 Oct 2005 at United Center, Chicago, IL
08 Nov 2005 at Wachovia Spectrum, Philadelphia, PA

HIGHWAY PATROLMAN appeared only once on The Seeger Sessions Tour, on 17 Nov 2006 at Point Theatre in Dublin. That unique performance was on the Live In Dublin CD and DVD in 2007. See the live 18 Nov 2006 version for more details.

Appearance in Movies

HIGHWAY PATROLMAN was the inspiration for the Sean Penn directed 1991 film The Indian Runner, but the song does not appear in the movie soundtrack. The Indian Runner was Penn's directorial debut.

A cover of HIGHWAY PATROLMAN was used in the Peter Bogdanovich directed 1990 film Texasville.

Covers

Available Versions

References

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