I was 11 months old, I was just startin' 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 5 days   And she said I, that fifth night   I had a great big knot that 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 overhalls      The knots kept getting bigger and bigger   And 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 them, told Mommy   That I would that I was going to die   And that happened like four times   So I didn?t walk till I was almost 5   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 that was      If they couldn?t do something, but they wouldn?t keep me   Because Mommy and Daddy didn?t have no money   They just tell ?em to take me home and let me die, you know   Because 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 5 and 10   And they?re still there in Paintsville, Kentucky      And I think that they told Mommy   That they wasn?t in business to give shoes away   Mommy told daddy, says, ?Carry Loretta on down a little farther?   Said, ?And 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 was      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 t?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 going to 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 ?em to get to be dirty