KATE BUSH - THE RED SHOES

Released: April 5, 1994

Charts:  UK: #21 

Released in April 1994 as the fourth single from her album of the same name, Kate Bush’s title track stands as one of her most kinetic and emotionally charged explorations of artistic obsession. Written, produced, and performed by Bush herself, the song draws its inspiration from Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger’s 1948 film “The Red Shoes”—a cinematic classic rooted in the darker edges of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale. In Bush’s retelling, the cursed ballet slippers become a metaphor for creative possession, the point at which devotion slips into delirium.

Bush explained in a 1993 interview with Melody Maker that the song began with rhythm rather than story. The propulsive beat suggested imagery of “horses, something that was running forward,” which evolved into the vision of enchanted dancing shoes—objects with a will of their own. Her goal, she said, was to evoke “delirium… something circular and hypnotic,” and the track achieves exactly that. Its insistent pulse and swirling arrangement create a sense of motion without escape, mirroring the protagonist’s unstoppable dance.

The accompanying music video, featuring actress Miranda Richardson as the enigmatic figure who bestows the cursed shoes, intertwines song and myth with Bush’s signature theatricality. The clip became part of Bush’s short musical film “The Line, The Cross & The Curve”, an ambitious visual companion to the album that debuted at the London Film Festival in 1993. Though its release suffered from delayed promotion—reaching U.S. audiences slowly—it eventually earned a Grammy nomination for Best Long Form Music Video in 1996.

The Red Shoes album marked a pivotal period in Bush’s career. It would be her final studio release before a self-imposed 12-year hiatus, shaped by personal challenges including the death of her mother and the end of her long relationship with bassist and engineer Del Palmer. The record’s digital production—a then-modern choice—later became a point of regret for Bush, who felt it lent the songs a cold, “hard-edged” quality. She revisited several tracks, including “The Red Shoes,” for her 2011 “Director’s Cut album”, recording them anew with warmer analog equipment.