The Red Shoes (song)

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The Red Shoes (song) - Wikipedia

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"The Red Shoes"

CD single, part one

Single by Kate Bush

from the album The Red Shoes

B-side

"You Want Alchemy"
"Shoedance" (The Red Shoes dance mix)
"Running Up That Hill" (12-inch mix)
"The Big Sky" (special single mix)
"This Woman's Work"
"Cloudbusting" (video mix)

Released

5 April 1994

Genre

Baila^[1]

Length

4:02

Kate Bush

Kate Bush

Kate Bush singles chronology

"Moments of Pleasure"
(1993)

"The Red Shoes"
(1994)

"The Man I Love"
(1994)

Audio video

"The Red Shoes" on YouTube

"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. The song peaked at No. 21 and spent 3 weeks on the UK Singles Chart.

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 tracks are written by Kate Bush

7-inch and cassette single
No.	Title	Length
1.	"The Red Shoes"
2.	"You Want Alchemy"

CD1
No.	Title	Length
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.	Title	Length
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

Kate Bush – lead and backing vocals, keyboards
Paddy Bush – mandola, tin whistle, musical bow, backing vocals
Del Palmer – Fairlight CMI programming
Danny McIntosh – guitar
Gaumont d'Olivera – bass guitar
Stuart Elliott – drums, percussion
Colin Lloyd Tucker – backing vocals

Charts

Chart (1994)	Peak position
UK Singles (OCC)^[9]	21
Europe (Eurochart Hot 100)^[10]	54

References

^ "Baila Music from Sri Lanka: The Gypsies".
^ Reynolds, Simon (6 November 1993). "Heaven's Kate". Melody Maker. pp. 36–37.
^ "Single Releases". Music Week. 2 April 1994. p. 21.
^ "Single Releases". Music Week. 9 April 1994. p. 23.
^ Roberts, Chris (30 October 1993). "Albums". Melody Maker. p. 32. Retrieved 28 June 2023.
^ Paphides, Peter (9 April 1994). "Singles". Melody Maker. p. 27. Retrieved 21 August 2023.
^ Gettelman, Parry (3 December 1993). "Kate Bush". Orlando Sentinel.
^ Sutherland, Mark (30 March 1994). "New Singles". Smash Hits. p. 53. Retrieved 6 October 2023.
^ "everyhit.com search results for Kate Bush". Retrieved 18 December 2008.
^ "European Hot 100" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 11, no. 18. 30 April 1994. p. 14. Retrieved 8 August 2024.

v t e Kate Bush songs
Discography
The Kick Inside	"Moving" "Strange Phenomena" "Kite" "The Man with the Child in His Eyes" "Wuthering Heights" "Them Heavy People"
Lionheart	"Symphony in Blue" "Wow" "Hammer Horror"
Never for Ever	"Babooshka" "Army Dreamers" "Breathing"
The Dreaming	"Sat in Your Lap" "There Goes a Tenner" "Suspended in Gaffa" "The Dreaming" "Night of the Swallow"
Hounds of Love	"Running Up That Hill" "Hounds of Love" "The Big Sky" "Cloudbusting"
The Whole Story	"Experiment IV"
The Sensual World	"The Sensual World" "Love and Anger" "Deeper Understanding" "This Woman's Work"
The Red Shoes	"Rubberband Girl" "And So Is Love" "Eat the Music" "Moments of Pleasure" "The Red Shoes"
Aerial	"King of the Mountain"
50 Words for Snow	"Wild Man"
Other songs	"December Will Be Magic Again" "Ne t'enfuis pas" "Don't Give Up" "Rocket Man" "The Man I Love" "Lyra"

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