"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, Franky, and is set in the 1960s. Franky is portrayed as unruly and frequently causing and encountering trouble, while Joe is the more mature, sensible brother who always comes to his aid. In 1965, Franky joins the United States Army, while Joe takes a farm deferment and marries a girl called Maria. Within three years however, falling wheat prices cause Joe to leave the farm and take a job as a highway patrolman. Meanwhile, in 1968, Franky leaves the army and returns home. One night, Joe receives a call and visits a bar where a boy has been attacked and appears to be in a serious condition, with a witness identifying his attacker as Franky, who has fled. Joe chases Franky through rural Michigan until they reach - and Franky crosses - the Canada–US 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 "I pulled over the side of the highway and watched his tail lights disappear." Like the rest 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 his full band; however, it was felt that the demo version of the song was superior to the eventual 'band cut' and was released on the album in its original form. It features the same stark, bleak atmosphere as the other songs on the album, and it consists of only vocals, very quiet harmonica and acoustic guitar. Springsteen featured the song only once on the "American Land" leg of his critically acclaimed tour with the Seeger Sessions band, and the version is featured on the 2007 release . This version was praised by Rolling Stone critic Andy Greene as the "fantastic, maybe definitive" version of the song.
Artistic licenses
Like many creative writers, Springsteen creates a time and place that people can relate to but that may not necessarily exist:
The story is set in an area where one can drive into Canada - presumably Ohio due to the lyric "Seen a Buick with Ohio plates, behind the wheel was Frank"; however, Ohio and Canada are separated by Lake Erie
While the lyrics state, "I must have done a hundred and ten through Michigan county that night," there is no Michigan County anywhere in the United States.
The refrain mentions a song called "The Night of the Johnstown Flood," but the tune is probably fictitious. In the years after the Springsteen song was released, several groups would record songs with that title.
Legacy
based the screenplay of his 1991 directorial debutThe Indian Runner on the song's story. Penn also directed a music video of the song that appears on Video Anthology / 1978-88. The song was covered by Johnny Cash on his 1983 album Johnny 99. The title track of the album is also a Springsteen song originally released on the album Nebraska. Dar Williams performed "Highway Patrolman" on Badlands - A Tribute to Bruce Springsteen's Nebraska. Whitey Morgan covered this song on his 2014 album Grandpa's Guitar. Croatian writer Jurica Pavičić was inspired by the song to write an eponymous novel about two brothers. Croatian Television made it into a 5-episodes TV ShowPatrola na cesti in 2015/16.
