"The Red Shoes" is a song written and recorded by musician Kate Bush

Kate Bush

Kate Bush is an English singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Her eclectic musical style and idiosyncratic vocal style have made her one of the United Kingdom's most successful solo female performers of the past 30 years.In 1978, at the age of 19, Bush topped the UK Singles Chart...

. It was the third single released from, and is the title track of, the album The Red Shoes

The Red Shoes (album)

-Personnel:*Jeff Beck: Guitar*Haydn Bendall: Engineer*Gary Brooker: Hammond Organ*Kate Bush: Bass, Guitar, Piano, Arranger, Composer, Keyboards, vocals, Producer, Fender Rhodes...

.

"The Red Shoes" was released in April 1994 and made it to number 21 in the UK Singles Chart

UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

. 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

Michael Powell (director)

Michael Latham Powell was a renowned English film director, celebrated for his partnership with Emeric Pressburger...

 and Emeric Pressburger

Emeric Pressburger

Emeric Pressburger was a Hungarian-British screenwriter, film director, and producer. He is best known for his series of film collaborations with Michael Powell, in a multiple-award-winning partnership known as The Archers and produced a series of classic British films, notably 49th Parallel , The...

 film The Red Shoes.

"The Red Shoes" was released on 7" vinyl, as a cassette single

Cassette single

A cassette single is a music single in the form of a Compact Cassette.- History :...

, and as a two-part CD single

CD single

A CD single is a music single in the form of a standard size Compact Disc, not to be confused with the 3-inch CD single, which uses a smaller form factor. The format was introduced in the mid-1980s, but did not gain its place in the market until the early 1990s...

. "You Want Alchemy" was the B-Side song on all formats, except the second part of the CD single.

The second part of the CD single was released one week after the first part, and was more dance-oriented. It features a 10 minute remix by Karl Blagan of "The Red Shoes", renamed "Shoedance", and remixes of "The Big Sky

The Big Sky (song)

12" single -Chart performance:...

" and "Running Up that Hill

Running Up That Hill

12" Maxi single -Charts:-Placebo version:Alternative rock band Placebo covered "Running Up that Hill", releasing it originally on the bonus disc of their 2003 album Sleeping with Ghosts, then featuring it on Covers and the US version of Meds in 2007. Placebo's take on the song is more downbeat than...

".

Track listings

All songs were written by Kate Bush.

7" / Cassette single
CD #1
CD #2

Chart performance

Chart (1994)	Peak position
UK Singles Chart	21