Disc 1 | ||||||
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1. |
| 4:20 | ||||
2. |
| 4:41 | ||||
3. |
| 4:40 | ||||
4. |
| 3:47 | ||||
Well they closed down the auto plant in Mahwah late that month
Ralph went out lookin' for a job but he couldn't find none He came home too drunk from mixin'Tanqueray and wine He got a gun shot a night clerk now they call'm Johnny 99 Down in the part of town where when you hit a red light you don't stop Johnny's wavin' his gun around and threatenin' to blow his top When an off duty cop snuck up on him from behind Out in front of the Club Tip Top they slapped the cuffs on Johnny 99 Well the city supplied a public defender but the judge was Mean John Brown He came into the courtroom and stared young Johnny down Well the evidence is clear gonna let the sentence son fit the crime Prison for 98 and a year and we'll call it even Johnny 99 A fistfight broke out in the courtroom they had to drag Johnny's girl away His mama stood up and shouted "Judge don't take my boy this way" Well son you got a statement you'd like to make Before the bailiff comes to forever take you away Now judge judge I had debts no honest man could pay The bank was holdin' my mortgage and they was takin' my house away Now I ain't sayin' that makes me an innocent man But it was more 'n all this that put that gun in my hand Well your honor I do believe I'd be better off dead And if you can take a man's life for the thoughts that's in his head Then won't you sit back in that chair and think it over judge one more time And let 'em shave off my hair and put me on that execution line |
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5. |
| 6:12 | ||||
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 Frank he 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 CHORUS 1: Yeah, me and Franky laughing and drinking nothing feels better than blood on blood Takin' turns dancin' with Marie as the band played Night of the Johnstown Flood I catch him when he's straying 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 dropping 'till it was like we were getting robbed Franky came home in '68, and me, I took this job CHORUS 2: Yea we're laughing and drinking nothing feels better than blood on blood Takin' turns dancin' with Marie as the band played Night of the Johnstown Flood I catch him when he's straying, 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 lying on the floor lookin' bad bleedin' hard from his head There was a girl crying at a table and it was Frank, they said Well I went out and I jumped in my car and I hit the lights But 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 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 to the side of the highway and watched his taillights disappear CHORUS 3: Me and Franky laughing and drinking nothing feels better than blood on blood Taking turns dancing with Marie as the band played Night of the Johnstown Flood I catch him when he's straying like any brother would Man turns his back on his family well he just ain't no good |
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6. |
| 3:13 | ||||
New Jersey Turnpike
Ridin' on a wet night 'Neath the refin'ry's glow Out where the great black rivers flow License, registration I ain't got none But I got a clear conscience 'Bout the things that I done Mister state trooper Please don't stop me Please don't stop me Please don't stop me Maybe you got a kid Maybe you got a pretty wife The only thing that I got's Been both'rin' me my whole life Mister state trooper Please don't ya stop me Please don't ya stop me Please don't ya stop me But In the wee, wee hours Your mind gets hazy Radio relay towers Gonna lead me to my baby Radio's jammed up With talk show stations It's just talk, talk, talk, talk 'Till you lose your patience Mister state trooper Please don't stop me Hey, somebody out there Listen to my last prayer Hiho silver-o Deliver me from nowhere |
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7. |
| 3:25 | ||||
8. |
| 3:47 | ||||
9. |
| 4:49 | ||||
Last night I dreamed that I was a child
Out where the pines grow wild and tall I was trying to make it home through the forest Before the darkness falls I heard the wind rustling through the trees And ghostly voices rose up from the fields I ran with my heart pounding down that broken path [way] With the devil snappin' at my heels I broke through the trees and there in the night My father's house stood shining hard and bright The branches and brambles tore my clothes and caused me harm But I ran till I fell shaking in his arms I awoke and imagined the hard things that pulled us apart Will never again sir, tear us from each other's hearts I got dressed and to that house I did ride From out on the road, I could see its windows shining in light I walked up the steps and stood on the porch A woman I didn't recognize spoke to me through a chained door I told her my story, and who I'd come for She said "I'm sorry, son, but no one by that name lives here anymore" My father's house shines hard and bright It stands like a beacon calling me in the night Calling and calling, so cold and alone Shining cross this dark highway where our sins lie unatoned |
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10. |
| 4:12 | ||||
11. |
| 3:06 | ||||
12. |
| 3:40 | ||||
13. |
| 5:06 | ||||