The Dance Man
We knew the whispered stories
That warned of his strange appeal.
The Dance Man watches darkly
When you ask for a special deal
We were carefree kids and crazy
Red-eye opened up our chance
We made the fateful call
“We’re ready for your dance.”
He stole out of the twilight
Settled in with a wicked grin
Right across the dancing sweet fire
To watch our deadly sins.
The Dance Man knows the story,
Of love with no regret.
He wrote the book on lonely,
No sense trying to forget.
Lyrics
Contacts
NEWS - REDBONE- Winner Best Script - 2017 London International Filmmaker Festival
Ned Eckhardt © 2017 | All Rights Reserved
Americana Music
There exists in America a dedicated group of itinerant singer-songwriters who play passionately to small crowds in remote places and receive very little recognition. They sing songs about the hard side of life, but still know how to find the good times.
Redbone is a story about one of these singers.
Americana music encompasses blues, folk, country, roots and soul music. It is often the voice of the forgotten and the lost. Its roots run deep into rural America.
Redbone is an opportunity for a current Americana singer-songwriter to score (and star in?) a film where the music is an integral part of the story.
Redbone is also about revenge and how a woman must deal with killing the man who killed her sister. Americana style music was chosen because the stories told there are deep. dark, filled with passion, and fit the story of Redbone.
Redbone
Feature Film Script
It’s hard to stand the smell
Those chemicals burn deep
Her hands are raw and red
Her nails are cracked for keeps
She’ll polish all the silver
Shine the windows. Do some chores
The sofas need deep cleanin'
But at six she’s out the door
Sometimes I hear her laughing
Sometimes I see her cry
Sometimes my heart spins wildly
My love will never die
We’re beat when day is over
Sometimes we’ll share a beer
Two worn out smiles remind us
Daybreak will soon be here.
Her hair slides through my fingers
And I pray we’ll be OK
I hate to chase the money
But that’s life another day
The nights are short and fast
Been doin’ this too long
We crawl into the covers
The one place we belong
Fresh Daybreak lights up mornin'
Opens up our weary hearts
Puts life back into sadness
Gives love a brand new start.
Emma Rose’s gentle touch
A quick kiss .Then we’re out
I chase the slabs and boards
She scrubs the floors no doubt
We find our time together
Spin gold out of yesterday
Our Daybreaks bind us both
It will always be that way.
The Logger and the Lady
Daybreak is the sweet time
Of my Emma Rose’s day
We watch the sun rise up
Before we’re on our way
I’ll slip my hand in hers
Put a kiss inside her lips
She’ll smile and squeeze my heart
Love can’t be more than this
But the times are rough and ready
Jobs seem to come and go
We still back down the wolf
But gettin’ ahead is slow
Sometimes I hear her laughing
Sometimes I see her cry
Sometimes my heart spins wildly
My love will never die
My Emma Rose smiles softly
She’ll make it through the day
I’ve got some loggin’ work
She’ll clean a house for pay
Daybreak’s still a memory
That quiet golden time
We dream of cars and Katydids
We’ll touch our lonely minds
The chainsaw runs my life
Notches drop the giant pines
The mill eats logs for breakfast
Chipper’s always on my mind
My Stiehl's been bucking hard woods
Shag bark hickories on the skids
The jig cart never stops
Double ax is on my mind
My Emma Rose is strong
Leans hard to clean the floor
The beds and towels need changin’
She scrubs the dirt hardcore
Stone Winds
Can the Spirit hear me singing
On my Turtle Island stone?
The wolf howls to the sunset
Beat the drum for Crane and Loon
It’s a quick, hard ride, my friend
From the Res to the Stone Hotel.
Thick bars and angry brothers
Riding the wind that blows through hell
The beer in the mornin’
Drove up my big mistake.
The Judge said fifteen long ones
Redbones get no special breaks.
But music rides that dark wind
Casts a Redbone singer’s spell.
Can it keep me breathin’, brother?
My song that blows through hell?
Time is the hungry demon
That eats our tattooed lives.
Tight walls and jangled nerves,
It’s the beast The Man swears by
I’ll play a song that digs
Down deep in your chest and cell.
I”ll pluck my Juice Card strings
Chasing the wind that blows through hell.
Can the Spirit hear me singing
On my Turtle Island stone?
The wolf howls to the sunset
Light the fires for Crane and Loon
I see the broken lives.
Eyes that stare and do not see.
Forgotten fires and pow wows,
Tough guys longing to be free
Nobody did the crime
That bought us all this grief.
Walkin’ circles round your mind,
A half-breed they call thief
This life bleeds out both souls.
It’s a truth I can’t ignore.
Sweetgrass for Goose and Bear
On my smokey lost Lake shore
Can the Spirit hear me singing
On my Turtle Island stone?
The wolf howls to the sunset,
Play the pipes for Crane and Loon
My music carves a notch
In the endless yard patrol.
Someday I’ll get the Keys
To free my angry soul
I’ll check out soon, my brother.
From the cold, damp Stone Hotel.
Is there life for a lost Ojibwe
Riding the wind that blows through hell?Type your paragraph here.
Lost Morning
With the white earth around me
I lost my innocence
Two miles from home
A jump beyond the fence
She was no one that I knew
Just a kid out on the road
Never saw me coming
Never laughed again, Oh No
Can I take it back child?
Back up those crooked wheels
Start over that lost morning
Can I make another deal
My father sang me crazy
Friends got in the way
I drove the white earth wagon
And I killed us both that day
Stupid move derailed me
Sent my mind around the bend
Damaged decision
Brought a life to an end
She died that day alone
Outside Duluth
I died along with her
Lost my battle with the truth
Can I take it back, child?
Back up the crooked wheels
Start over that lost morning
With a song that makes it heal A song that makes me feel
With a song
Francine
My story starts on Monday.
Dad drank his morning beer.
My mom tried hard to stop me
But I’d learned to disappear
White earth was everywhere.
A perfect day for fun.
We cruised around Du Lac
Crazy moments in the sun
I came around a bend.
Ice cut me like a knife.
The shouts turned into screams
And I took a precious life
A sacred sister angel
Was taken by a boy
Too young to understand
How the Spirits can destroy
I sing the song Francine
Who watched the deadly skid.
Her sister bleeding fast.
The killer just a kid
Her family stole her youth
So sad their lust for hurt.
She became an angry soldier,
Iraq for two short bursts
Meanwhile……Meanwhile…..
I paid my price to God,
To country, and to pain.
After fifteen years on ice
I was set to live again.
But the fire of retribution
Found a singer-killer’s heart.
The music did us in
And tore our lives apart.
I sing the song Francine
Sweet soul beneath the pain
My music understands now
How life can leave big stains
Her sister reached out softly
Through gauze of ghosts long gone
But revenge was planted deep
In Francine’s broken mind
She couldn’t slip her memories
The killer had to die.
My music played a role,
Protection for a while
The day of reckoning came
One drunken day down south.
I saw death and didn’t care
Then she spared my sorry ass.
I sing the song Francine,
Her tormentor and her friend.
A grateful Redbone singer
Who loved her at the end.
I sing the song Francine
With eyes that finally see.
She stepped into my bullet
Now both of us are free
Slippery Spark
Too many nights we meet
When the whiskey spins my mind.
Down a long, dark hall of hurt,
She helps me to unwind.
We were always rebel lovers,
Out of bounds in our trailer park.
Was she ever mine, I wonder,
How’d we lose that slippery spark?
We cruised the roads all night.
Two crazy outlaw kids.
Then lay in the sand and grass
And pinched the Katydids
Her eyes saw life on fire.
Her smiles were my last hope.
…… Slipping away in the Jack.
Lost in a drifting smoke
We wore our favorite colors,
Back warmers woven tight
Can I forget the love
We caught those wild, wet nights?
Just one more long, cold taste,
Single Jack on the rocks.
I feel her breath behind me,
When I turn, her face is lost.
She was always one step faster,
So I never made the grade.
Didn’t have the life she needed.
I knew she’d never stay.
Her eyes saw life on fire.
Her smiles were my last hope.
……. Slipping away in the Jack.
Lost in a drifting smoke
One day the bed was empty.
I was lost for a while. In pain.
Waited ten years on the hope
She’d show up high again.
But all I got was whiskey
In my cold, damp trailer park.
My bike’s been broke for weeks.
Can’t chase our slippery spark.
My leather jacket’s ripped,
Don’t wear it much these days.
The patches fading slowly,
I’m a Nomad in decay
Where are those outlaw days?
Why’d our good times hit the skids?
The sand and grass were ours
But we lost the Katydids
Her eyes saw life on fire.
Her smiles lit the trailer park.
…… Slipping away in the Jack,
I need our slippery spark.
But there’s only whiskey dreams,
Down a long, dark hall of hurt.
I turn, she stares for a moment,
…… Then lost in a drifting smoke
Can’t Fly On One Wing
You came to me one evening
When the world was dark and grey.
A breath of long lost wonder
And I begged for you to stay
Your red, delicate smile
Sang a love song in my ear.
We shared these intense times,
Was there nothing left to fear?
Like two excited birds
Whose hearts could only cling
To the fragile dream of love.
But you can’t fly on one wing
We spread our new found love
Over pain and lost romances.
It was our time on the stage
To show our long, dark dances
Our hearts were wrapped around us
Protection from love’s lost sting
We knew the price might be too much.
You can’t fly on one wing
One day you were gone
Like a wisp of restless smoke
I searched in every corner
Where we loved to laugh and joke
But my love was gone forever
And the sorrow left a sting
We knew the price might be too much
You can’t fly on one wing