HIGHWAY PATROLMAN^©

Album's 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: 03 Sep 2007

Music and lyrics by Bruce Springsteen, HIGHWAY PATROLMAN was released on his 1982 album Nebraska.

DEPUTY was the original title of the song, but it was later retitled HIGHWAY PATROLMAN. He recorded a home demo of the song on or around 03 Jan 1982 at at Thrill Hill East, Springsteen's home studio in Colt's Neck, NJ [read interview below]. It 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 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."

Springsteen recorded that home demo on a four-track cassette recorder, which became the famous Nebraska demo tape of Jan 1982:

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 (including HIGHWAY PATROLMAN) from the tape were released on Nebraska.

As Springsteen himself confirmed, only one recording of HIGHWAY PATROLMAN was made on that Nebraska demo tape. That recording is circulating under two alternate mixes:

• The official mix which was released on The Nebraska album in 1982
• The merely different mix which later appeared on several bootlegs, including The Lost Masters Vol. 1 (Labour Of Love Records)

HIGHWAY PATROLMAN appeared live for the first time on the opening show of the Born In The USA Tour, on 29 Jun 1984 at the Civic Center, St. Paul, MN. It was played a total of 28 times during the tour, with the E Street Band, and Patti Scialfa on background vocals. Check out the live 20 Aug 1984 version, live 19 Oct 1984 version, and live 07 Jan 1985 version.

The song was also played solo acoustic 25 times during The Ghost Of Tom Joad Solo Acoustic Tour. Check out the live 25 Apr 1996 version.

The song reappeared during the Devils & Dust Solo Acoustic Tour rehearsals, on 11 and 20 Apr 2005 at the Paramount Theatre, Asbury Park, NJ. Played during both the warm-up shows for the Devils & Dust Solo Acoustic Tour on 21 and 22 Apr 2005 at the Paramount Theatre, Asbury Park, NJ. It was played on 12 of the tour's regular shows. Check out the live 23 Jun 2005 version.

The last appearance of the song was a unique performance during The Seeger Sessions Tour, on 18 Nov 2006 at The Point Depot, Dublin, Ireland. That performance was included on the Live In Dublin CD and DVD. Check out the live 18 Nov 2006 version for more details.

HIGHWAY PATROLMAN was the inspiration for the 1991 film, The Indian Runner [read about the movie below], which Sean Penn wrote and directed. As described by Greasylake:

"A rare sight... a movie based on a song. So is the case with The Indian Runner, which was the first movie Sean Penn directed. The song was Springsteen's "Highway Patrolman", and it's true that the overall story sticks to the song, but a lot has been added, both to the plot and to the characters, which has made it rather lengthy. Altogether, it seems Bruce's simple but effective story has drowned somewhat in the attempt to make it a full-length movie. However, the main theme - doing your duty toward society versus protecting your own flesh and blood - remains the same."

In 2000, Sean Penn directed a movie for the song 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 The Complete Video Anthology / 1978-2000 DVD.

[Click on the below thumbnails to enlarge]

The song was covered by several artists, most notably Johnny Cash who released it on his 1983 album Johnny 99. It was the opener of the album which included another Springsteen cover, the title track JOHNNY 99. Cash's HIGHWAY PATROLMAN was also included on several other official Johnny Cash collections, including:

• Columbia Records 1958-1986 [Columbia - USA - 1987]
• Johnny Cash - The Greatest Years 1958-1986  [CBS - Germany - 1987]
• I Love Country [CBS - France - 1988]
• The Essential Johnny Cash (1955-1983) [Columbia / Legacy - USA - 1992]
• The Storyteller [Sony - Austria - 1995]
• Love, Murder, God [Columbia / American / Legacy - USA - 2000]
• Murder [Columbia / American / Legacy - USA - 2000]
• Wanted Man: Best Of Johnny Cash [Sony - Germany - 2000]
• I Walk The Line [Sony - Europe - 2003]
• Covered By Cash [Sterling - USA - 2003]
• The Legend [Sony Legacy - USA - 2005]

Three Bruce Springsteen tribute albums include covers of HIGHWAY PATROLMAN:

Various artists -- For You: A Tribute To Bruce Springsteen CD - Totem Records (TTM 480499 2) - Italy, 1995 HIGHWAY PATROLMAN is performed by Lost Weekend

Various artists -- Badlands: A Tribute To Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska CD - Sub Pop (SPCD 525) - USA, 2000 HIGHWAY PATROLMAN is performed by Dar Williams

Various artists -- Light Of Day: A Tribute To Bruce Springsteen 3 CD - Good Sounds (DM 797-02) - Spain, 2003 2 CD - Good Sounds (DM 797E-02) - Spain, 2003 2 CD - Schoolhouse Records (SHR0022-2) - USA, 2003 2-CD - Sony (MHCP-928/9) - Japan, 2005 2 CD - Revolver (REVXD 244) - UK, 2005 HIGHWAY PATROLMAN is performed by Matthew Ryan

The above lyrics refer to the album's version. Check out also the other available versions of this song (all have very similar lyrics):

• Album's version
• Live 20 Aug 1984 version
• Live 19 Oct 1984 version
• Live 07 Jan 1985 version
• Live 25 Apr 1996 version
• Live 23 Jun 2005 version
• Live 18 Nov 2006 version

Recording info taken from Brucebase.

From the interview by Bill Flanagan on Musician, Nov 1992:

"I think I saw the image somewhere in a book," Springsteen says. "When I started I planned to write a nice song about my kids. It just took a funny turn. It was one of those songs like 'Highway Patrolman' in that there was a certain inconclusiveness to it that always made me feel like it wasn't finished. I kept trying to make it nice and neat, to tie up the ending and make it more concrete. After I recorded it I thought, 'I didn't quite get it on this one.' But then it started to come out and I realized it was right the way it was. It's one of those songs you don't consciously write - it comes up out of your unconscious or subconscious. That's why it's better than the stuff you slave over. I haven't tried to really interpret it. It was dealing with death in some fashion."

Info about the motion picture The Indian Runner:

Sean Penn announced his retirement from acting, then wrote and directed this emotionally raw, somewhat sprawling film, suggested by Bruce Springsteen's song "Highway Patrolman." David Morse is the title character, an upstanding citizen and peace officer who tries to help his troubled -- and troublesome -- brother (Viggo Mortensen), recently returned from Vietnam. The brother and his girlfriend (Patricia Arquette) have bad news written all over them--but Morse does what he can to be protector, to no avail. Penn, whose model was John Cassavetes, favors long scenes that draw intense emotions from his cast, which includes Charles Bronson (in an unusually low-key role), Sandy Dennis, and Valeria Golino. But it's as depressing as Springsteen's song. -- Amazon.com editorial review Starring: David Morse, Viggo Mortensen, Patricia Arquette, Valeria Golino, Charles Bronson Directed by: Sean Penn Produced by: Don Phillips Written by: Sean Penn Release date: 20 Sep 1991