FEATURE:
Feel Your Feet Start Kissing the Ground
The Title Track of Kate Bush’s The Red Shoes
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I am going to focus on a track…
that does not get a lot of love. There are a few reasons why I am concentrating on The Red Shoes. From the 1993 album of the same name, the single was released on 5th April, 1994. It was one of the first Kate Bush songs that I remember hearing when I was at school. Ten at the time, it definitely caught me unaware! The lead track of the movie The Line, The Cross and the Curve, the film premiered on the same day as the single’s release. Reaching twenty-one in the U.K., many people are divided. The short film scored mostly negative reviews. A feeling that it was a missed opportunity and just not that good, Bush distanced herself from the project soon enough. I do love a lot of The Line, The Cross and the Curve, and I think The Red Shoes and its video is excellent. The Red Shoes as an album is very strong and remains underrated. Maybe it is a little top-heavy when it comes to the best songs but, opening the second side, the title track really strikes you! One of Bush’s best vocal performances on the album, I also really love the lyrics. About a girl who puts on a pair of enchanted ballet slippers and can't stop dancing until she breaks the spell, it was inspired by a character in the Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger film, The Red Shoes. The whole album needs to be reappraised. The first album where Bush did not appear on the cover, it is a pair of feet in the red shoes. A shot taken by her brother, John Carder Bush, there is a sense of mystery and romance I feel. Bush re-recorded some of the songs from The Red Shoes for 2011’s Director’s Cut. Included was The Red Shoes. I think I prefer the original.
I cannot find any interviews where Bush goes into depth about that song. I can vaguely remember The Red Shoes being released as a single. It was exciting. The Red Shoes was released in the U.K. as a 7" single, a cassette single and two different C.D. singles. On the B-side for the 7" single and cassette was the excellent You Want Alchemy. C.D. single one had on it Cloudbusting (Video Mix) and This Woman's Work. I really dig the composition. The Red Shoes sees mandola, whistles, musical bow and vocals by Paddy Bush (Kate’s brother), valiha by Justin Vali, and a brilliant performance by the rest of the band. Kate Bush draws you into the world of the song instantly! With this huge energy and excitement, one cannot help but resist The Red Shoes. The opening verse sets out the stall: “Oh she move like the Diva do/I said "I'd love to dance like you."/She said "just take off my red shoes/Put them on and your dream'll come true/With no words, with no song/You can dance the dream with your body on/And this curve, is your smile/And this cross, is your heart/And this line, is your path”. Without a real or distinct chorus, instead the story flows and you get this development. Bush, as the dancer/narrator, puts on the shoes. This once-dream is now really happening. There is something child-like about putting on a pair of red shoes and having this magic flow through your feet. It is like a fairy-tale. In some ways, The Line, the Cross and the Curve affords the story a more gothic twist.
It does seem like the shoes are possessed and sort of lure you in: “She gotta dance, she gotta dance/And she can't stop 'till them shoes come off/These shoes do, a kind of voodoo/They're gonna make her dance 'till her legs fall off”. The way Kate Bush thinks and writes is like nobody else. On tracks such as The Red Shoes, there is something filmic and theatrical. Rather than her writing an ordinary song about love, we get this captivating tale of a woman (Bush or a heroine) putting on these coveted and magical red shoes and dancing almost to her feet fall off. It is a reason why I think more people need to hear and love this song. The track never really lets the energy and sense of sensation fade. Beguiling to the very end, Bush ensures that the listener is deeply involved in the story: “Feel your hair come tumbling down/Feel your feet start kissing the ground/Feel your arms are opening out/And see your eyes are lifted to God/With no words, with no song/I'm gonna dance the dream/And make the dream come true/I'm gonna dance the dream/And make the dream come true”. As someone who trained as a dance before she released her debut album, it is only natural that she would keep it close to her heart. Some of Kate Bush’s greatest and most moving moments have come about where dance is very much at the centre. I am thinking of the video for Running Up That Hill (A Deal with God). The way she moves and tells a story is like nobody else! Even if some do not like 1993’s The Red Shoes, its brilliant 1994 single…
IS well worth your time.