6 Meanings
Add Yours
Follow
Share
Q&A
Ballad of the Boy in the Red Shoes Lyrics
I'm stoned in the twilight
Screaming on the inside
Give me your water
Help me survive
Gonna miss the sunlight
When I lose my eyesight
Give me my red shoes
I want to dance
They searched for an answer
But that old man wouldn't listen
Back then I was handsome
Back then he was ignorant
And shave off the years now
It's all inside my head
The boy in the red shoes is dancing by my bed
Put them in a box somewhere
Put them in a drawer
Take my red shoes
I can't wear them anymore
Had garlands in the wings back then
All the pretty little things back then
Calling out my name
Oh what fame brings
After curtain calls and bows
I can't see front row now
Hand me my red shoes
Just one more time
They pushed aside our presence
They refused to go the distance
Back then I was Sigmund
Back then he wouldn't listen
And shave off the years now
It's all inside my head
The boy in the red shoes is dancing by my bed
Put them in a box somewhere
Put them in a drawer
Take my red shoes
I can't wear them anymore
(solo)
They pushed aside our presence
They refused to go the distance
Back then I was Sigmund
Back then he wouldn't listen
Back then I was handsome
Back then he was ignorant
And shave off the years now
It's all inside my head
The boy in the red shoes is dancing by my bed
Put them in a box somewhere
Put them in a drawer
Take my red shoes
I can't wear them anymore
Take my red shoes
I can't wear them anymore
Take my red shoes
I can't wear them anymore
Screaming on the inside
Give me your water
Help me survive
When I lose my eyesight
Give me my red shoes
I want to dance
But that old man wouldn't listen
Back then I was handsome
Back then he was ignorant
It's all inside my head
The boy in the red shoes is dancing by my bed
Put them in a box somewhere
Put them in a drawer
Take my red shoes
I can't wear them anymore
All the pretty little things back then
Calling out my name
Oh what fame brings
I can't see front row now
Hand me my red shoes
Just one more time
They refused to go the distance
Back then I was Sigmund
Back then he wouldn't listen
It's all inside my head
The boy in the red shoes is dancing by my bed
Put them in a box somewhere
Put them in a drawer
Take my red shoes
I can't wear them anymore
They refused to go the distance
Back then I was Sigmund
Back then he wouldn't listen
Back then I was handsome
Back then he was ignorant
It's all inside my head
The boy in the red shoes is dancing by my bed
Put them in a box somewhere
Put them in a drawer
Take my red shoes
I can't wear them anymore
I can't wear them anymore
I can't wear them anymore
Add your song meanings, interpretations, facts, memories & more to the community.
The song is such a great song! He compares himself in the present to himself as a young boy. "That Old Man" and the constant reference to "back then." It is great song of the statement "just one more time before I move one!"
I recently attended an Elton John concert. Before playing this song, Elton explained how "Ballad of the Boy in the Red Shoes" is about a dancer who contracted AIDS around the time when the disease first boomed. Elton said it is also reflective of the government's lack of care and help to those with AIDS.
Props to Elton, another great song.
"The Ballad of the Boy in the Red Shoes" is not about Elton's remembering his youth. Rather, it is, as previously stated, a song about an American dancer with AIDS. The song describes the life of this man and the only joy in his life is the memory of his youth, specifically his dancing career.
I have not understood thism song at all until very recently. I just listened to it and suddenly had an idea and the whole lyrics brightened up to me. I think these red shoes could be used as a metaphor for pretty much everything. The things that make you happy and things you have abandoned for some reason. I've been through such a period in my life and that's why I connected it with my own feelings.
Yeah the song is about an American dancer who had AIDs and his country was doing nothing about AIDs. The lyrcis are self explanatory when you know that i feel. Elton explained this at Christenhof Castle on his solo leg of his tour in 2003.
@tompos Except the USA WAS doing something about AIDS.
@tompos Except the USA WAS doing something about AIDS.
The lack of action/funding is a complete myth. By 1985, the USA had spent nearly $1 Billion on what was still largely an unknown disease.
The lack of action/funding is a complete myth. By 1985, the USA had spent nearly $1 Billion on what was still largely an unknown disease.
This song is about how the US ignored the AIDS crisis. "That old man wouldn't listen" is a reference to Ronald Regan and his ignorance of the disease in it's early stages.
@BrianM245 the USA did NOT ignore the disease in the early stages.
@BrianM245 the USA did NOT ignore the disease in the early stages.