Highway Patrolman Chords

KeyD CapoNone TuningStandard Difficulty Plays392

Highway Patrolman by Johnny Cash is a beginner-friendly guitar song played in the key of D. It uses the chords D, G, A and A7. Use the transpose and diagram tools on this page to change the key, see each shape, or simplify the chords.

Transpose
D
Text
16
Speed
  			  D                    G              D 
My name is Joe Roberts I work for the state 
                                                   A 
I'm a sergeant out of Perrineville barracks number eight 
 D                             G           D 
I always done an honest job as honest as I could 
                      A                            D 
I got a brother named Frankie and Frankie ain't no good 
D                                     G                  D 
Now ever since we was young kids it's been the same come down 
                                                   A 
I get a call on the shortwave Frankie's in trouble downtown 
        D                         G                 D 
Well if it was any other man, I'd put him straight away 
                     A                                  D 
But when it's your brother sometimes you look the other way 
G                                D 
Yeah me and Frankie laughin' and drinkin' 
        G                          D 
Nothin' feels better than blood on blood 
G                         D 
Takin' turns dancin' with Maria as the band 
                               A 
Played "Night of the Johnstown Flood" 
D                              G                D 
I catch him when he's strayin' like any brother would 
                          A (or A7)                    D 
Man turns his back on his family well he just ain't no good 
 
 
Well Frankie 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 
Frankie 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, 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 cry'n' 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 one 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 tail-lights disappear 
    	

Chord diagrams

Guitar tuner

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Start the tuner and play a string

Reference tones

Standard tuning, lowest to highest. Click a string to play it; the string the mic hears is highlighted.

Click Start tuner and allow microphone access. The needle centers and turns green when a string is in tune (within 5 cents).
No microphone? You can still tap any string above to hear its exact reference pitch.

Metronome

100 BPM Andante