Little Red Shoes

(From The 2004 Album Van Lear Rose)

Intro
G

Verse 1
GI Was Eleven Months Old, I Was Just Starting To Walk
GAnd Daddy Always Kept A Big Stick Behind The Door
GJust In Case Somebody Was To Come In
GThat Was Drunk On Moonshine, You Know
GAnd Daddy Had To Do Something About It
GAnyway, This Woman, We Called Her Old Aunt Boyd
GShe Come In And She Was Telling Mommy About Her, Uh, Husband,
GShe Thinks Is Going Out With This Woman In Paintsville
So She Reared Back With That Big Stick, Showing A#Mommy
How She Was Going To Hit This CWoman In The Head With It
And When She GWent Back With It, She Hit Me In The Head
And Mommy Said I A#Cried For Five Days
CAnd She Said On That Fifth GNight, I Had A Great Big Knot
GTo Show Up Right In The Middle Of My Forehead
GAnd You Know, The Only Thing I Remember
GI Don’t Remember No Pain
GI Just Remember Mommy And Daddy Carrying Me In This Old Quilt
GThat Mommy Had Made Out Of Overalls
GThe Knots Kept Getting Bigger And Bigger
GSo She Took Me To The Doctor
GAnd That Stuff Called Mesitor, Something Like That
GMommy Said It Made Both Ears Flat To My Face
GAnd I Ain’t Got Very Big Ears
And They Told Mommy That I Would, That I Was Gonna Die A#​
And That CHappened Like Four Times
GSo I Didn’t Walk Till I Was Almost Five
It Was, It Was Kind A#Of A Mess

Verse 2
C Oh I Forgot About The Shoes
Well GShoot, I Hadn’t, I’d Never Had A Pair Of Shoes
GAnd Mommy Had Went Took Me To The Hospital
GYou Know, To See What If They Couldn’t Do Something
GBut They Wouldn’t Keep Me Because Mommy And Daddy Didn’t Have No Money
GThey Just Tell ‘Em To Take Me Home And Let Me Die, You Know
G'Cause There Wasn’t Nothing They Could Do About That Kind Of Disease, I Guess
GAnd, Um, Mommy Told Daddy, Says “Ted, You Take Her Down The Street
GYou Carry Her Down The Street” And Said “Let Me Try This Store Here”
And Mommy A#Went In And Told Them The Story TChat I Was Dying
GThat She Had To Carry Me Twelve Miles To Town
And A#Twelve Miles Back And That I HCad No Shoes
That GPlace, I Think It Was Murphy’s 5 And 10
GAnd They’re Still There In Paintsville, Kentucky
GAnd I Think They Told Mommy They Wasn’t In Business To Give Shoes Away
GMommy Told Daddy, Says, “Carry Loretta On Down A Little Farther”
GSaid, “Let Me Stop In Another Store”
GAnd Mommy Went Right Back To The Same Store
GWhen The Guy’s Back Was Turned She Stole These Little Red Shoes
GAnd I Remember On The Big Old Bridge That Went Across The River
It Went A#Way Up High And I’ve AClways Been Scared Of That BGridge
GThat Took Me Across The Big Sandy River
MommyA# Pulled Them Out From Under That Yellow JCacket That She Was Wearing
And GShe Was Putting Them Red Shoes On Me
GAnd I Thought Them Was The Prettiest Things I Ever Saw In My Life

Verse 3
GAnd Daddy Started Crying And I Wondered Why
GAnd He Said, “Clerie, We’re Not Going To Make It Home”
GAnd Mommy Put The Shoes On Me And Daddy Took Off Running
GAnd Run All The Way Ahead To Butcher Holler With Me
GAnd Mommy Never Had A Chance To Carry Me Any Farther
GAnd That’s Almost Twelve Miles That Daddy Run With Me
GBut Daddy Knew That The Cops Was Gonna Get Us
GHe Left Mommy Standing And He Took Off In A Dead Run
GI Remember Him Running But I Didn’t Know What For
GAnd I Remember Asking Mommy, “Mommy, Why Is Daddy Running?”
GI Remember Her Hollering
                                           N.c.
“To Put Your Little Red Shoes Away, Honey, When You Get Home”
N.c.
Can You Believe That?
N.c.
So I Wrote A Song Called “Put My Little Red Shoes Away”
N.c.
You Know, They’re My Little Red Shoes
N.c.
And I Don’t Want ‘Em To Get, To Be Dirty