You can wear your new white shoes
In the muddy afternoon
Walking past the "stay-drunk-stoop"
They whistle with their hands
But I could be your catcall too
Anything you wanna do
Anything you wanna do

You can take your slide trombone
Play it in in the catacombs
Find a town that moves real slow
And turn it on its head
And I could be your Pharaoh's tomb
Anything you wanna do
Lover, anything you wanna do

If you want to be common
I can claim that I tamed you
A demigod in a bonnet
They're gonna know it ain't true

You can paint your nails lime green
Rent yourself a limousine
Kidnap the professor's niece
Just tell them that she's dead
We'll party in a hotel room
Anything you wanna do
Sister, anything you wanna do

You can get your hair all wet
Sleeping on the riverbed
Kiss a frog and then dissect
Gotta find out what's inside
But you can have my bad side too
Anything you wanna do
Sugar, anything you wanna do

And if you want to be common
I can claim that I tamed you
A demigod in a bonnet
They're gonna know it ain't true

And yes, you are king David's star
And the crescent moon, and the crescent moon
You must sweep the Bodhi tree
I sit beneath, oh I sit beneath

You can wear your new white shoes
In the dirty afternoon
Walking through the traffic fumes
A flower in your hair
And I will swing upon your moods
Anytime you want me to
Just tell me what you wanna do
Anything you wanna do
Lover, anything you wanna do
Lover, anything you wanna do


Lyrics submitted by jethrothekid, edited by minuette

White Shoes Lyrics as written by Conor M Oberst

Lyrics © Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.

Lyrics powered by LyricFind

White Shoes song meanings
Add Your Thoughts

30 Comments

sort form View by:
  • +3
    General Comment

    He had a great set-up for this song in concert...

    "I need a favor from the lighting person. I want you to make it real dark ... and I'll return the favor."

    And then the lights go red, he plays the intro, and everyone gets chills.

    Way_AEon April 30, 2009   Link

Add your thoughts

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!

More Featured Meanings

Album art
Corpse I Fell In Love With
Gadjits, The
He reuses the verse melody from the previous album's "Dirty Little Religion", the topics of the verses are all over the place, and he packs too many words into one line (goes to show...) and too few in another (it's pretty hard to find), and rhymes "Henley Regatta" with "Persona non grata", but gets away with it all as only he could.
Album art
Step
Ministry
Both as a standalone and as part of the DSOTS album, you can take this lyric as read. As a matter of public record, Jourgensen's drug intake was legendary even in the 1980s. By the late 90s, in his own words, he was grappling with massive addiction issues and had lost almost everything: friends, spouse, money and had nearly died more than once. "Dark Side of the Spoon" is a both funny & sad title for an album made by a musical genius who was losing the plot; and this song is a message to his fans & friends saying he knows it. It's painful to listen to so I'm glad the "Keith Richards of industrial metals" wised up and cleaned up. Well done sir.
Album art
The Night We Met
Lord Huron
This is a hauntingly beautiful song about introspection, specifically about looking back at a relationship that started bad and ended so poorly, that the narrator wants to go back to the very beginning and tell himself to not even travel down that road. I believe that the relationship started poorly because of the lines: "Take me back to the night we met:When the night was full of terrors: And your eyes were filled with tears: When you had not touched me yet" So, the first night was not a great start, but the narrator pursued the relationship and eventually both overcame the rough start to fall in love with each other: "I had all and then most of you" Like many relationships that turn sour, it was not a quick decline, but a gradual one where the narrator and their partner fall out of love and gradually grow apart "Some and now none of you" Losing someone who was once everything in your world, who you could confide in, tell your secrets to, share all the most intimate parts of your life, to being strangers with that person is probably one of the most painful experiences a person can go through. So Painful, the narrator wants to go back in time and tell himself to not even pursue the relationship. This was the perfect song for "13 Reasons Why"
Album art
Bron-Y-Aur Stomp
Led Zeppelin
This is about bronies. They communicate by stomping.
Album art
Mountain Song
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction vocalist Perry Farrell gives Adam Reader some heartfelt insight into Jane’s Addiction's hard rock manifesto "Mountain Song", which was the second single from their revolutionary album Nothing's Shocking. Mountain song was first recorded in 1986 and appeared on the soundtrack to the film Dudes starring Jon Cryer. The version on Nothing's Shocking was re-recorded in 1988. "'Mountain Song' was actually about... I hate to say it but... drugs. Climbing this mountain and getting as high as you can, and then coming down that mountain," reveals Farrell. "What it feels to descend from the mountain top... not easy at all. The ascension is tough but exhilarating. Getting down is... it's a real bummer. Drugs is not for everybody obviously. For me, I wanted to experience the heights, and the lows come along with it." "There's a part - 'Cash in now honey, cash in Miss Smith.' Miss Smith is my Mother; our last name was Smith. Cashing in when she cashed in her life. So... she decided that, to her... at that time, she was desperate. Life wasn't worth it for her, that was her opinion. Some people think, never take your life, and some people find that their life isn't worth living. She was in love with my Dad, and my Dad was not faithful to her, and it broke her heart. She was very desperate and she did something that I know she regrets."