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
And you know the light is fading all too soon You're just two umbrellas one late afternoon You don't know the next thing you will say This is your favorite kind of day It has no walls, the beauty of the rain is how it falls, how it falls, how it falls
And there's nothing wrong, but there is something more And sometimes you wonder what you love her for She says you've known her deepest fears Cause she's shown you a box of stained-glass tears It can't be all, the truth about the rain is how it falls, how it falls, how it falls
But when she gave you more to find You let her think she'd lost her mind and that's all on you Feeling helpless if she asked for help or scared you'd have to change yourself
And you can't deny this room will keep you warm You can look out of your window at the storm But you watch the phone and hope it rings You'll take her any way she sings, or how she calls, the beauty of the rain is how it falls, how it falls, how it falls How it falls, how it falls, how it falls
