Highway Patrolman
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"Highway Patrolman" is a song written and recorded by Bruce Springsteen, and was first released as the fifth track on his 1982 album Nebraska.
The song tells the story of Joe Roberts, the highway patrolman of the title - from whose viewpoint the song is written - and his brother, Frankie, and is set in Perrineville, Ohio in the 1960s. Frankie is portrayed as unruly and frequently causing and encountering trouble, while Joe is the more mature, sensible (and likely elder) brother who always comes to his aid.
In 1965, Frankie joins the United States Army (and presumably visits Vietnam, although this is not made explicit), while Joe takes a farm deferment and marries a girl called Maria (who, it is inferred, had attracted the attentions of both brothers at different times). Within three years however, falling wheat prices cause Joe to leave the farm and take a job as a highway patrolman; meanwhile, Frankie leaves the army and returns home. One night, Joe receives a call and visits a bar where a boy has been attacked and possibly killed, with witnesses identifying his attacker as Frankie, who has fled. Joe chases Frankie through Michigan County until they reach - and Frankie crosses - the Canadian border, the implication being that Joe has allowed him to escape; as the lyrics suggest, "when it's your brother, sometimes you look the other way" and "Man turns his back on his family, well he just ain't no good."
As with the whole of the album, the song was recorded on Springsteen's four-track cassette recorder with the intention of it being performed for the album with full band orchestration; however, it was felt the demo version of the song was superior to the eventual 'band cut', and consequently was released on the album in its original form. It features 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.
The song was covered by Johnny Cash on his 1983 album, Johnny 99, named after another song Cash recorded from Nebraska.
Sean Penn based the screenplay of his 1991 directorial debut The Indian Runner on the song's story.
