I was eleven months old
I was just starting to walk
And daddy always kept a big stick behind the door
Just in case somebody was to come in
That was drunk on moonshine, you know
And daddy had to do something about it
Anyway, this woman
We called her old Aunt Boyd
She come in and she was telling mommy about her
Uh, husband
She thinks is going out with this woman in Paintsville
So she reared back with that big stick, showing mommy
How she was going to hit this woman in the head with it
And when she went back with it
She hit me in the head
And mommy said I cried for five days
And she said on that fifth night
I had a great big knot
To show up right in the middle of my forehead
And you know, the only thing I remember
I don't remember no pain
But I just remember mommy and daddy
Carrying me in this old quilt
That mommy had made out of overalls
The knots kept getting bigger and bigger
So she took me to the doctor
And that stuff called Mesitor, something like that
Mommy said it made both ears flat to my face
And I ain't got very big ears
And they told mommy that I would
That I was gonna die
And that happened like four times
So I didn't walk till I was almost five
It was, it was kind of a mess
Oh, I forgot about the shoes
Well, shoot
I hadn't, I'd never had a pair of shoes
And mommy had went took me to the hospital
You know, to see what if they couldn't do something
But they wouldn't keep me
Because mommy and daddy didn't have no money
They just tell them to take me home
And let me die, you know
Cause there wasn't nothing they could do
About that kind of disease, I guess
And, um, mommy told daddy
Says, "Ted, you take her down the street
You carry her down the street"
And said, "Let me try this store here"
And mommy went in and told them the story
That I was dying
That she had to carry me twelve miles to town
And twelve miles back
And that I had no shoes
That place
I think it was Murphy's five and ten
And they're still there in Paintsville, Kentucky
And I think they told mommy
They wasn't in business to give shoes away
Mommy told daddy
Says, "Carry Loretta on down a little farther"
Said, "Let me stop in another store"
And mommy went right back to the same store
When the guy's back was turned
She stole these little red shoes
And I remember
On the big old bridge
That went across the river
It went way up high
And I've always been scared of that bridge
That took me across the big Sandy River
Mommy pulled them out from under that yellow jacket
That she was wearing
And she was putting them red shoes on me
And I thought them was the prettiest things
I ever saw in my life
And daddy started crying
And I wondered why
And he said
"Clerie, we're not going to make it home"
And mommy put the shoes on me
And daddy took off running
And run all the way ahead to Butcher Holler with me
And mommy never had a chance to carry me any farther
And that's almost twelve miles
That daddy run with me
But daddy knew that the cops was gonna get us
He left mommy standing
And he took off in a dead run
I remember him running
But I didn't know what for
And I remember asking mommy
"Mommy, why is daddy running?"
I remember her hollering
"To put your little red shoes away, honey
When you get home"
Can you believe that?
So I wrote a song called
"Put My Little Red Shoes Away"
You know, they're my little red shoes
And I don't want them to get, to be dirty