Lynn from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, says her mother used to urge the kids along with Put your shoes on, Lucy, don’t you know you’re in the city? The line comes from a popular song first copyrighted in the mid-1940s that goes in part Put your shoes on, Lucy, don’t you know you’re in the city / Put your shoes on, Lucy, it’s really such a pity / That Lucy can’t go barefoot wherever she goes / ‘Cause she loves to feel the wiggle of her toes. Robert Clary, later of Hogan’s Heroes, recorded a version and probably first made it famous, and a 16-year-old Petula Clark also made it her first recording. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “The 1940s Song “Put Your Shoes On, Lucy” and Its City Streets Reminder”
Hi.
You have A Way with Words.
Yes.
This is Lynn from Philadelphia.
Growing up, my mother would say to us, put your shoes on, Lucy.
Don’t you know you’re in the city?
I have no idea of the origin and neither does my older sister who’s 90.
Well, Lynn, what kind of situation would you be in where she would be telling you to put on your shoes and calling you Lucy?
Well, probably, I wasn’t getting dressed for wherever we were going.
Oh, ok.
Mhmm.
Yeah.
Parents will use whatever lever they can to get their kids moving.
You know what?
You you might be surprised, Lynn, to find out that this comes from a popular song from the nineteen forties, originally.
It was copyrighted in the mid nineteen forties, and then it was recorded by a ton of artists and had varying success over the years, and was kind of like a stage favorite of certain acts.
There’s a fellow by the name of Robert Clary, who later appeared on the TV show Hogan’s Heroes, who did a version of it, and he’s probably the one who first made it famous.
I don’t know if you remember that TV show.
But if you know Yeah.
British singers, the British legend, Petula Clark, it was her first recording at age 16.
So it’s got a quite a bit of history.
I think the song is kind of sacred and insipid, but the part of the lyrics that are relevant to what your mother used to say to you are, put your shoes on Lucy.
Don’t you know you’re in the city?
Put your shoes on Lucy.
Oh, it’s really such a pity.
Lucy can’t go barefoot wherever she goes.
She loves to feel the wiggle of her toes.
But it it really is just this, like, this little nothing of a song.
But I could see if you…
It’s catchy, so I could see it really sticking in the brain so that you could call it up later when needed.
Well, what was sort of ironic was we weren’t in the city, we were on a farm.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But I think the the key part here is to get your butt moving.
Yes.
That was that was really a part of it.
I was bad.
So, Lynn, did it work?
Usually, there were five of us, so you had leeway.
Yeah.
Yeah.
You can just always put somebody else in front of your pants, and they’ll get all the grief.
Well, Lynn, that’s what we know.
It’s an echo of an old song that’s been around since the forties.
My older sister said she sort of heard it as music but couldn’t remember.
So that’s the origin.
Thank you.
Go to YouTube and look for those words, put your shoes on Lucy, and you’ll find a ton of versions of it, including of the very first recordings from the nineteen forties.
Okay.
You did my work for me.
Yeah.
Lynn, you take care of yourself now.
Okay?
Alright.
Thank you very much.
Love the show.
Take care now.
Bye.
Love the show.
Yeah.
Thank you.
Alright.
Bye.
Bye, Lynn.
Bye bye.
