Traffic – Hole In My Shoe

In the year 1967, all kinds of experimentation was going on in music. Sitars, spacey lyrics,  and phased guitars were the order of the day. Personally, I like the abstract lyrics and sound…artists were branching out as far as they could.

This song was written by guitarist Dave Mason and it was his first song. It was their follow-up to their first hit single Paper Sun. Despite the lyrics, Mason has said that this song was written before he tried LSD. He said that his bandmates didn’t think this represented their sound.

The brief monologue in the middle was spoken by a girl named Francine Heimann who was Chris Blackwell’s stepdaughter. Chris Blackwell was the founder of Island Records and a prominent producer. Jimmy Miller produced this song and their album Mr Fantasy.

Hole In My Shoe and Paper Sun were singles only and not included on an album. Back in that time, singles and albums were treated differently by artists than they would be in the 70s and 80s. Those two singles would be included on the 2000 CD re-release of Mr Fantasy.

Dave Mason left the band after their debut album but rejoined during the sessions of their second album in 1968 and then left again in 1969.

The song peaked at #2 in the UK and #4 in Canada in 1967.

Dave Mason:  “That’s the first song I ever wrote. It was my first attempt at songwriting. I mean, that stuff I did back then, when I listen to it, I cringe and realize I need to work on writing. But writing comes out of living. You have to have something.”

Steve Winwood: “We never wanted to be a pop band but we had a hit with ‘Shoe,’ which was Dave’s song. Dave had his own idea about the band, the rest of us had another one – a not-quite-as-sensible one, really, because it wasn’t half as commercial.”

Hole In My Shoe

I looked to the sky
With an elephant’s eye
Was looking at me
From a bubblegum tree
And all that I knew was
The hole in my shoe which
Was letting in water (letting in water)

I walked through a field
That just wasn’t real
With a hundred tin soldiers
Would shoot at my shoulder
And all that I knew
The hole in my shoe which
Was letting in water (letting in water)

(I climbed on the back of a giant albatross
Which flew through a crack in the cloud
To a place where happiness reigned all year round
And music played ever so loudly)

I started to fall
And suddenly woke
And the dew on the grass
Had soaked through my coat
And all that I knew
The hole in my shoe which
Was letting in water (letting in water)

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

42 thoughts on “Traffic – Hole In My Shoe”

  1. Pingback: Traffic – Hole In My Shoe – Government of India

  5. At the time, Mason & Winwood both would have been about 18 or 19, pretty impressive for that age even though like Mason seemed to suggest, both would get a bit better yet. Doesn’t sound like a hit single to me, but 1967 was different!

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    1. I was surprised the other members of the band counted this as a pop single…and didn’t care as much for it…but I love it. The music and lyrics are so different.

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    1. I wanted a sitar so bad when I was younger…but it’s not something you can just pick up anywhere. I still want one and hopefully one day I’ll get one….sorry for the sidetrack story! Yes I totally agree…so different sounding.

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      2. Yes!….to play it properly…I would never get there…but in pop/rock music you use it to color the song…not to lead it so most could do that.

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      5. Oh I’ve seen one of those and played one. I wanted it but it was so expensive because it was from the sixties. Any guitar from that era…a cheap at the time or not… is usually at a crazy price.
        I would like to have one…You can get a cheap real sitar for an ok price.

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    1. Oh…Dear Mr. Fantasy? That is the song that turned me on to them. I grew up thinking it was really popular but maybe I just caught it at the right time on radio.

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      1. I know both those songs & have for years, but they’re akin to Cream to me…hugely respected and bands I know maybe 3 or 4 songs by and like, but beyond that don’t know. And with Cream, to me at least, Clapton went on to do greater & Winwood did after Traffic. But maybe if I’d be born a decade sooner, I would be all turned around on that.

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      2. Dave Mason had some stuff you liked…those are the two probably most remembered from Traffic I think.
        I always thought Dear Mr Fantasy was up there with the greats of the 60s rock hits.

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      1. I mean the Beatles song. The sound effects sound very similar. The idea of using it on soldiers chills my blood. I’ve had many relatives who were soldiers, and the idea of them becoming lab rats for the military makes my blood boil.

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      2. Oh sorry lol:.. lsd on the brain.
        The song is similar…
        Yea there are films on YouTube of the experiment. They were lab rats.

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  14. Pingback: Traffic – Hole In My Shoe – MobsterTiger

  16. Loved this one as a kid – still do – and all us ex-kids were amused in 1984 when TV hippie neil (from The Young Ones sitcom) had a number 2 with a comedy version of it – actor Nigel Planer as is now. Joni Mitchell is a big fan of the show, true fact. It was a groundbreaking comedy show, drawing a dividing line between the new wave of comedians and the old more showbiz style comedy.

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