Shoes (Reparata song)
| "Shoes" | ||||||||||||||
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UK picture sleeve
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| Single by Reparata | ||||||||||||||
| A-side | Shoes | |||||||||||||
| B-side | A Song for All | |||||||||||||
| Released | 1975 | |||||||||||||
| Format | 7" single | |||||||||||||
| Recorded | 1975 | |||||||||||||
| Length | 3:01 | |||||||||||||
| Label | Polydor and Dart | |||||||||||||
| Writer(s) | Eric Beam | |||||||||||||
| Producer(s) | Steve and Bill Jerome, Lou Guarino for Nami Records | |||||||||||||
| Reparata singles chronology | ||||||||||||||
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"Shoes" is a 1975 single by Reparata.
The song was first recorded by Felix Harp, a band from Trafford and Level Green, Pennsylvania, with music and lyrics by bandmember Eric Beam. It was released as a single in 1973, renamed "She Didn't Forget Her Shoes (Johnny and Louise)" on Lou Guarino's NAMI label as NAMI 2011, produced by Guarino himself.
In 1974 the German group Love Generation recorded the song, retitled "Johnny and Louise (She Didn't Forget Her Shoes)", and it was released as a single in 1974. They also recorded a German-language version called "Johnny und Louise", released on United Artists as UA 35685. The Love Generation versions of the song wrongly give the songwriting credit to "Harp".
Also in 1974, the British folk group The (New) Settlers released a version on York Records as YR218 with a different title again, "She Didn't Forget Her Shoes".
In 1974 Lou Guarino produced the recording by Reparata, using a remix of the original Felix Harp backing track. The co-producers were Steve and Bill Jerome.
The personnel on the recording are
"Shoes" is described by one critic as a "bizarre wedding song". The lyrics tell the story of Johnny and Louise's wedding day, and the contributions of various relatives and friends to the wedding. The song is not about shoes, although it does include the line "Mother didn't give her abuse / she didn't forget her shoes". A family wedding is an unusual subject for a pop song, although not unique: the 10,000 Maniacs' song "My Sister Rose" on their In My Tribe album has a similar subject and similar bittersweet mood.
In its musical style, "Shoes" has what one commentator calls "a Middle Eastern feel". The recording uses an eclectic range of instruments including harpsichord, Jew's harp, bouzouki (which is namechecked in the line "Tom brings his band / bouzouki in his hand") and tambourine and adds some vocal shouts and cheers. There is also an electric guitar solo, and some children's backing vocals, which have been wrongly (and perhaps facetiously) credited to Reparata's sixth grade students (she was a schoolteacher). One blogger describes the song as "Boney M meets Dusty Springfield". Another blogger comments that "This is one weird '70s song. It sounds like “Gypsy Wine” meets “Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves” meets “Bohemian Rhapsody” meets “Hair” meets “Another Brick in the Wall” ... meets some dude playing the harmonica/harpsichord meets a bunch of frogs on helium."
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Wikipedia