"(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes" as written by and Elvis Costello....
Oh, I used to be disgusted
And now I try to be amused
But since their wings have got rusted
You know, the angels want to wear my red shoes
But when they told me 'bout their side of the bargain
That's when I knew that I could not refuse
And I won't get any older, 'cause the angels want to wear my red shoes
Oh, oh, I was watching while you're dancing away
Our love got fractured in the echo and sway
How come everybody wants to be your friend?
You know that it still hurts me just to say it
Oh, I know that she's disgusted (Oh, why's that?)
'Cause she's feeling so abused (Oh, that's too bad)
She gets tired of the lust (Oh, I'm so sad)
But it's so hard to refuse
Can you say that I'm too old
When the angels have stolen my red shoes?
Oh, I said, "I'm so happy I could die"
She said, "Drop dead," then left with another guy
That's what you get if you go chasing after vengeance
Ever since you got me punctured, this has been my sentence
Oh, I used to be disgusted
And now I try to be amused
But since their wings have got rusted
You know, the angels want to wear my red shoes
But when they told me 'bout their side of the bargain
That's when I knew that I could not refuse
And I won't get any older, 'cause the angels want to wear my red shoes
Oh, I won't get any older, now the angels want to wear my red shoes
Red shoes, the angels want to wear my red shoes
Red shoes, the angels want to wear my red shoes...
And now I try to be amused
But since their wings have got rusted
You know, the angels want to wear my red shoes
But when they told me 'bout their side of the bargain
That's when I knew that I could not refuse
And I won't get any older, 'cause the angels want to wear my red shoes
Oh, oh, I was watching while you're dancing away
Our love got fractured in the echo and sway
How come everybody wants to be your friend?
You know that it still hurts me just to say it
Oh, I know that she's disgusted (Oh, why's that?)
'Cause she's feeling so abused (Oh, that's too bad)
She gets tired of the lust (Oh, I'm so sad)
But it's so hard to refuse
Can you say that I'm too old
When the angels have stolen my red shoes?
Oh, I said, "I'm so happy I could die"
She said, "Drop dead," then left with another guy
That's what you get if you go chasing after vengeance
Ever since you got me punctured, this has been my sentence
Oh, I used to be disgusted
And now I try to be amused
But since their wings have got rusted
You know, the angels want to wear my red shoes
But when they told me 'bout their side of the bargain
That's when I knew that I could not refuse
And I won't get any older, 'cause the angels want to wear my red shoes
Oh, I won't get any older, now the angels want to wear my red shoes
Red shoes, the angels want to wear my red shoes
Red shoes, the angels want to wear my red shoes...
Lyrics submitted by Mopnugget
"(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes" as written by Elvis Costello
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
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Like several other songs such as Mystery Dance and No Dancing on the first album, this one's about sex, lust and relationships. I hear a reference to H.C. Andersen's classic (and gruesome) fairy tale about the vain girl (in this case the storyteller) whose red dancing shoes, once she starts dancing, won't let her stop. The storyteller makes a deal with the angels, where they show him the secret of sex, and once he understands it, he can't stop. His girlfriend gets tired of his lust, feels disgusted and abused. Once the angels lose their own power "their wings have got rusted", they want the shoes back, resulting in the storyteller's quick aging and imminent death. While he declares his love "I'm so happy I could die" to the girl, she tells him to drop dead and dances on without him.
A previous poster had stated that ‘Red Shoes’ is “obviously” about suicide. That writer is on track but did not finish. The more literal line of this story is, starting after the ‘lead in’ refrain, is about a older man (“how can you say I’m too old..”) in blissfully ignorant to reality love (“I’m so happy I could die”) with a girl who is sleeping around (“everybody wants to be your friend (it hurts me just to say it)”, and, (the lust is) “hard to refuse”. She finally tells him to “drop dead”, but (stalker like logic) he looks to get vengeance, either on her, by his suicide, or, going after the guy she is with. In either case his gets wounded (“you got me punctured”) mortally (“my sentence”, “won’t get any older” and ‘wearing red shoes’). At first he is pissed off at his situation, then as he resigns to death, he finds cynical amusement in the situation he brought on himself (“I used to be disgusted, now I try to be amused”).
More broadly, the song is about giving your life to something or someone that does not appreciate the level of your sacrifice, and especially, about the visceral feelings when the truth is recognized. This is something that is usually not experienced while one is still young and idealistic, which maybe why Elvis is quoted as saying he finds it funny he wrote this at 22 years of age. I don’t think its funny…. it is flat out inspired. I think we are looking at the lyrical Van Gogh of our time. Under- understood and appreciated, he writes the poetry of the anti-fairy tale, vignettes of real life drama of the mundane or base human experience. His lyrics are a bit of a Rorschach test and allow for lots of visceral resonance. They are understood somatically even when they are not instinctually.
ELVIS YOU ROCK MY WORLD!
"And I won't get any older, now the angels wanna wear my red shoes." this woman left him ("she said drop dead and left with another guy") and he doesn't want to live anymore because the angels that "want to wear his red shoes" have tempted him with death.
Dad
Well, I hadn't listened carefully to Red Shoes until recently (I'm not an original Elvis fan but recently got to see him live). Suicide had not occured to me, but after reading these posts, it now seems quite logical. However, my original impression was quite different.
Angels stealing his shoes could refer to death. But the way he refers to angels suggested to me they signify something else. What does he mean their wings are rusted? What is the bargain they offer that he can't refuse?
So, though Elvis may choke, here's what I hear. This song is about his (then) newfound fame, and groupies. The angels are girls, who used to spurn him (given his "nerd" persona, not impossible), which disgusted him. Now that he's famous, they throw themselves at him, an offer he "can't refuse" (there is no pronoun saying who can't refuse the lust), a change of situation about which he tries to stay amused. The stuff in the middle is a flashback of sorts, thinking about a girl (or girls) who hurt him in the past, and who, even now, are compelled to chase after famous or "cool" guys (e.g., groupies, who may feel "abused"). Basically, the song takes a pretty dim view of women, but now that Elvis is on the other side of the fence, as it were, he's pretty amused about it. Is this the vengeance he's wreaking -- sleeping with groupies? (By the way, in this interpretation, red shoes take on a specific meaning -- his fame. It would make sense that Elvis would be grappling with the house of mirrors qualities of fame at about this time.)
Anyway, the most fascinating part is my interpretation can be just as coherent but completely different from someone else's. A testatment to the genius amgibuity w/which Elvis's lyrics are imbued. Personally, I feel my interpretation fits the upbeat melody a bit better.