Will your high hopes get you there
Goal so far and yet so near
You can’t ignore the writing on the wall
Every time you rise you fall
End’s nowhere in sight at all
Why should you pick it up and try again
Chorus:
Give it up, ’cause you can’t win
Let it go while you still can
Gave it all you had, now you’re feelin’ bad
So you’re gone, ready to roam
You come on so strong with that same sad song
Wherever you go
Run along, take your ball and go home2
Promised yet another chance
Forbidden just a single glance
So much rides on what you say and do
Discarded truths and famous myths
Tales that life deceives you with
Certain things you always thought you knew
(Chorus)
Helpful hands that pull you down
Smaller minds turn you around
Friends in need are never really true3
So why should you put trust in this
The bridge above the dark abyss
You never learned you can’t make all the rules
(Chorus)
Run along, take your ball and go home
Take a hike, we ain’t got all night
Take your ball, get out my house, go home
Words by Andrew Charles
Music by Phil Lesh
The proverb from which the song takes its title is characterized as follows:
If something belongs or pertains to you, accept it. This proverb first appeared as “if the cap fits,” which may have referred to a fool’s cap. The later version has become more common and is associated with the glass slipper in the fairy tale “Cinderella.” (Hirsch)
A cliché of indeterminate origin that’s often but not always used in an athletic context.
A play on the saying “A friend in need is a friend indeed.”
No official recording.
First performance: June 9, 1994, at Cal Expo Amphitheater in Sacramento, California.
Andrew Charles is a self-taught musician born and raised on the island of Barbados, the West Indies. After moving to the Bay Area in 1993, he played with several local Caribbean bands and then expanded his musical talent to songwriting. Jill Lesh introduced Phil to Andrew. Phil listened to a few songs and asked if he could play around with “If the Shoe Fits,” which was originally titled “Give It Up.”