Hole in My Shoe
"Hole in My Shoe" is a song by English rock band Traffic featuring a spoken-word midsection by Chris Blackwell's stepdaughter, Francine Heimann, where she told a little story about a giant albatross. It was released as a single in 1967 and reached number 2 in the UK Singles Chart,[1] number 22 in the German charts,[2] and number 4 in Canada.[3] Composed by guitarist Dave Mason, it was disliked by the other three members of the group who felt that it did not represent the band's musical or lyrical style.[4]
"Hole in My Shoe" | ||||
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Single by Traffic | ||||
B-side | "Smiling Phases" (Capaldi, Winwood, Wood) | |||
Released | August 1967 | |||
Genre | Psychedelic pop, raga rock | |||
Length | 2:52 | |||
Label | Island WIP 6017 United Artists UA 50218 | |||
Songwriter(s) | Dave Mason | |||
Producer(s) | Jimmy Miller | |||
Traffic singles chronology | ||||
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Cover version
In the BBC sitcom The Young Ones, Neil, one of the principal characters, often sang a line from the song. Eventually, in July 1984, Nigel Planer, who played Neil, recorded a cover version of the song, which reached the same number 2 peak as the original.[5] It also peaked at number 29 in Australia.[6] His version featured Barbara Gaskin on backing vocals and was produced by Dave Stewart.[7]
References
- Traffic in the UK Charts Archived 2011-11-20 at the Wayback Machine, The Official Charts. Retrieved August 9, 2011.
- "Chartverfolgung / Traffic / Single". Music Line (in German). Germany: Media Control Charts. Archived from the original on 23 October 2013. Retrieved 26 October 2011.
- "RPM Top 100 Singles - November 4, 1967" (PDF).
- Black, Johnny (May 1997). Feature: Steve Winwood Archived 2011-09-28 at the Wayback Machine, Mojo.
- "UK Charts - neil". www.officialcharts.com. Retrieved 30 May 2014.
- "Top 100 End of Year AMR Charts - 1980s". australian-charts.com. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
- "Neil - Hole in my shoe". www.discogs.com. Retrieved 30 May 2014.