| "The Christmas Shoes" | |
|---|---|
| Song by NewSong from the album Sheltering Tree | |
| Released | 2000 |
| Recorded | 1999 - 2000 |
| Genre | Contemporary Christian, Christmas music |
| Length | 4:50 |
| Label | Benson |
"The Christmas Shoes" is a Christmas-themed song by the Christian vocal group NewSong. The song was released through Benson Records as a bonus track on their 2000 album Sheltering Tree, [1] and it reached No. 31 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.[2] "The Christmas Shoes" spent one week at No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart and No. 42 on the Hot 100 chart.[3] It was written by Eddie Carswell and Leonard Ahlstromy.[1]
Contents |
The narrator is standing in a checkoutline with some last-minute shopping on Christmas Eve, but is not feeling the holiday spirit. The customer in front of him is a little boy dressed in wornout clothes whose only item is a pair of women's shoes. The boy tells the cashier that he wishes to buy the shoes for his ill mother so that she may look her best if she meets Jesus later that night, as she is dying of cancer. The cashier informs the boy that he does not have enough money to buy the shoes, which prompts the boy to ask the narrator for help saying that although his family is poor, his mother always did her best to make Christmas special for her family. The narrator pays for the shoes, and as the boy thanks him and walks away, the narrator realizes that the little boy helped him understand the true meaning of Christmas.
A year after NewSong's version, country music girl group 3 of Hearts released their own version, which peaked at No. 39 on the country chart.[4]
In 2002, Donna VanLiere took the story and the theme of the song and produced a novelization which was published in 2002 by St. Martin's Press. The book became a made-for-TV movie released in December 2002.
In 2011, the song was named "The Worst Christmas Song Ever" by Gawker.com, following a weeks-long survey of commenter votes.[5]