Eddard
by Jed Moffitt

On April 4, 2015, Walter Scott, a 50-year old black man, was fatally shot by a police officer in North Charleston, South Carolina. The officer had stopped Scott for a non-functioning brake light. We clearly have some ground to cover in America with respect to justice, equal opportunity, and just not being so darn trigger-happy. Eddard was written right after the killing of George Floyd. I am just one of many artists who let the gravity of that incident influence our work. The song is written in goofy metaphor, and references an incident in a video-game alliance where a member of the alliance, with the handle “Eddard”, was preemptively booted from the alliance without cause, simply because we jumped to conclusions. The tune is a fun Rat-Pack flavored romp with a big-band Sinatra feel. A bit of an Ocean’s Eleven vibe. Very fun tune about a hasty campfire shootout, with undertones of a sober subject matter.

Eddard, stumbled into camp that night
By the fading firelight
Wounded in a knife fight

Blue steel flashes, bullets fly
In for a dime, in for a dollar
We never got to know

Busted brake lights
Danger to the common good
Shoot first, questions later
Segregated neighborhood

Judge declares a mistrial
Jury of his peers is hung

And it’s a fine line
It’s a fine fine line
It’s a fine line between the cops and the robbers
The law of the smoking gun

Eddard, riding shotgun to the sun
Cowboy angel on patrol
Flexing his immortal soul

Like a diamond in the sky
Mystery waits, there to define

And it’s a fine line
It’s a fine fine line
It’s a fine line between the cops and the robbers
The law of the smoking gun

It’s a fine line
It’s a fine fine line
It’s a fine line between hope and the carnage done
The law of the smoking gun
The law of the smoking gun
The law of the smoking gun

Jed Moffitt: songwriter, co-producer, vocals, keyboards
Stan Snow: producer, backing vocals, guitars, bass
Ben Smith: drums
Mia Boyle: backing vocals
Eva Acton Stokes: backing vocals
Eric Patterson: tenor sax and horn arrangements
Javier Gonzalez: trumpet
Don Gunn: drum session engineering, mastering, mixing AltMix version

Copyright 2021 Jed Moffitt, BMI, All rights reserved.