The Red Shoes (song)

"The Red Shoes" is a song written and performed by English musician Kate Bush. It was the fourth single released from her seventh studio album, The Red Shoes (1993). The single was released in April 1994 by EMI and reached number 21 on the UK Singles Chart.

For the IU song of the same name, see Modern Times (IU album).

"The Red Shoes"
CD single, part one
Single by Kate Bush
from the album The Red Shoes
B-side
Released5 April 1994 (1994-04-05)
GenreBaila[1]
Length4:02
LabelEMI
Songwriter(s)Kate Bush
Producer(s)Kate Bush
Kate Bush singles chronology
"Moments of Pleasure"
(1993)		 "The Red Shoes"
(1994)		 "The Man I Love"
(1994)
Audio
"The Red Shoes" on YouTube

Background and content

The song is about a girl who puts on a pair of enchanted ballet slippers and can't stop dancing until she breaks the spell. It is inspired by a character in the Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger film The Red Shoes. Speaking to Melody Maker in 1993, Bush revealed, "It's just taking the idea of these shoes that have a life of their own. If you're unfortunate enough to put them on, you're going to dance and dance. It's almost like the idea that you're possessed by dance. Before I had any lyrics, the rhythm of the music led me to the image of, oh, horses, something that was running forward, and that led me to the image of the dancing shoes. Musically, I was trying to get a sense of delirium, of something very circular and hypnotic, but building and building."[2]

Release

"The Red Shoes" was released on 7-inch vinyl, cassette, and CD on 5 April 1994.[3] "You Want Alchemy" is the B-side song on all formats except the second part of the CD single. The second part of the CD single was released six days after the first part[4] and features a 10-minute remix by Karl Blagan of "The Red Shoes", renamed "Shoedance", as well as remixes of "The Big Sky" and "Running Up That Hill".

Critical reception

Chris Roberts from Melody Maker said, "'The Red Shoes' meets its jigging ambition and sticks a flag on top, making her dance till her legs fall off."[5] Another editor, Peter Paphides, commented, "Only as a grown-up will I be able to fully apprehend the texture and allegorical resonance of the themes dealt with in "The Red Shoes". Until then, I'll content myself with Tori Amos and Edie Brickell."[6] Parry Gettelman from Orlando Sentinel wrote, "The mandola, the whistles and various curious instruments on the driving title track really recall the fever-dream quality of the 1948 ballet film The Red Shoes, the album's namesake."[7] Mark Sutherland from Smash Hits gave it two out of five, adding that "loads of spooky "ethnic" noises and tribal beats make for a very weird single, but not a very good one."[8]

Track listings

All songs were written by Kate Bush.

7-inch and cassette single

No.TitleLength
1."The Red Shoes" 
2."You Want Alchemy" 

CD1

No.TitleLength
1."The Red Shoes"4:02
2."You Want Alchemy"4:22
3."Cloudbusting" (video mix)6:57
4."This Woman's Work"3:32

CD2

No.TitleLength
1."Shoedance" (The Red Shoes dance mix)10:08
2."The Big Sky" (special single mix)4:40
3."Running Up That Hill" (12-inch version)5:43

Personnel

Charts
Chart (1994) Peak
position
UK Singles (OCC)[9] 21

References
  1. "Baila Music from Sri Lanka: The Gypsies".
  2. Reynolds, Simon (6 November 1993). "Heaven's Kate". Melody Maker. pp. 36–37.
  3. "Single Releases". Music Week. 2 April 1994. p. 21.
  4. "Single Releases". Music Week. 9 April 1994. p. 23.
  5. Roberts, Chris (30 October 1993). "Albums". Melody Maker. p. 32. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
  6. Paphides, Peter (9 April 1994). "Singles". Melody Maker. p. 27. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
  7. Gettelman, Parry (3 December 1993). "Kate Bush". Orlando Sentinel.
  8. Sutherland, Mark (30 March 1994). "New Singles". Smash Hits. p. 53. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
  9. "everyhit.com search results for Kate Bush". Retrieved 18 December 2008.
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