Little Red Shoes

(From The 2004 Album Van Lear Rose)

Intro
E

Verse 1
EI Was Eleven Months Old, I Was Just Starting To Walk
EAnd Daddy Always Kept A Big Stick Behind The Door
EJust In Case Somebody Was To Come In
EThat Was Drunk On Moonshine, You Know
EAnd Daddy Had To Do Something About It
EAnyway, This Woman, We Called Her Old Aunt Boyd
EShe Come In And She Was Telling Mommy About Her, Uh, Husband,
EShe Thinks Is Going Out With This Woman In Paintsville
So She Reared Back With That Big Stick, Showing GMommy
How She Was Going To Hit This AWoman In The Head With It
And When She EWent Back With It, She Hit Me In The Head
And Mommy Said I GCried For Five Days
AAnd She Said On That Fifth ENight, I Had A Great Big Knot
ETo Show Up Right In The Middle Of My Forehead
EAnd You Know, The Only Thing I Remember
EI Don’t Remember No Pain
EI Just Remember Mommy And Daddy Carrying Me In This Old Quilt
EThat Mommy Had Made Out Of Overalls
EThe Knots Kept Getting Bigger And Bigger
ESo She Took Me To The Doctor
EAnd That Stuff Called Mesitor, Something Like That
EMommy Said It Made Both Ears Flat To My Face
EAnd I Ain’t Got Very Big Ears
And They Told Mommy That I Would, That I Was Gonna Die G​
And That AHappened Like Four Times
ESo I Didn’t Walk Till I Was Almost Five
It Was, It Was Kind GOf A Mess

Verse 2
A Oh I Forgot About The Shoes
Well EShoot, I Hadn’t, I’d Never Had A Pair Of Shoes
EAnd Mommy Had Went Took Me To The Hospital
EYou Know, To See What If They Couldn’t Do Something
EBut They Wouldn’t Keep Me Because Mommy And Daddy Didn’t Have No Money
EThey Just Tell ‘Em To Take Me Home And Let Me Die, You Know
E'Cause There Wasn’t Nothing They Could Do About That Kind Of Disease, I Guess
EAnd, Um, Mommy Told Daddy, Says “Ted, You Take Her Down The Street
EYou Carry Her Down The Street” And Said “Let Me Try This Store Here”
And Mommy GWent In And Told Them The Story AThat I Was Dying
EThat She Had To Carry Me Twelve Miles To Town
And GTwelve Miles Back And That I AHad No Shoes
That EPlace, I Think It Was Murphy’s 5 And 10
EAnd They’re Still There In Paintsville, Kentucky
EAnd I Think They Told Mommy They Wasn’t In Business To Give Shoes Away
EMommy Told Daddy, Says, “Carry Loretta On Down A Little Farther”
ESaid, “Let Me Stop In Another Store”
EAnd Mommy Went Right Back To The Same Store
EWhen The Guy’s Back Was Turned She Stole These Little Red Shoes
EAnd I Remember On The Big Old Bridge That Went Across The River
It Went GWay Up High And I’ve AAlways Been Scared Of That EBridge
EThat Took Me Across The Big Sandy River
MommyG Pulled Them Out From Under That Yellow AJacket That She Was Wearing
And EShe Was Putting Them Red Shoes On Me
EAnd I Thought Them Was The Prettiest Things I Ever Saw In My Life

Verse 3
EAnd Daddy Started Crying And I Wondered Why
EAnd He Said, “Clerie, We’re Not Going To Make It Home”
EAnd Mommy Put The Shoes On Me And Daddy Took Off Running
EAnd Run All The Way Ahead To Butcher Holler With Me
EAnd Mommy Never Had A Chance To Carry Me Any Farther
EAnd That’s Almost Twelve Miles That Daddy Run With Me
EBut Daddy Knew That The Cops Was Gonna Get Us
EHe Left Mommy Standing And He Took Off In A Dead Run
EI Remember Him Running But I Didn’t Know What For
EAnd I Remember Asking Mommy, “Mommy, Why Is Daddy Running?”
EI 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