meaning of low spark of high heel boys

Thanks for your comments on the music! It is pretty neat to hear the reactions of someone who has heard one of your favorites but for the first time! I really enjoy listening to most of the programs of music and about music on local NPR stations. I'm fortunate that there are several in my area, so I get a nice mix from talk, to classical, to those with regular programs from Prairie Home Companion to This American Life and American Roots.

This song is so symbolic. The undertones at the street level encompass drugs, street life and also some political innuendos. Referencing those who get rich at the expense of others, perhaps a drug dealer? Politicians? Living beyond your means? We should all understand this principle. That is what has our economy is a mess now. Keeping up with the Joneses. The end of life, a minute to live. Would you regret anything and wish to live longer to change it? Perhaps love in the final verse, if I gave you everything I owned would you do the same for me? Or would you take me for a ride?This song has such deep meaning and all one has to do really is read the lyrics.

The lyrics are great, as were lyrics a lot for groups for the time. My favorite line - If I gave you everything that I own and asked for nothing in return, would you do the same for me as I would for you, or take me for a ride and strip me of everything including my pride. But spirit is something that no one destroys. These lyrics are so apropos for what the world has become. If you take note of songs from groups in the late 1960's and the early 70's the lyrics were about social issues. Unfortunately, we've lost our conscience as proved by Wall Street with the help of politicians. They did take everything we had then tried to strip our pride but they have yet to destroy our spirit.

But one of the most satisfying elements of this song are the instrumentals, especially the piano solo.

The spark referred to, are sparks being created from the anger of the street to 25% interest rates by Wall Street and the sparks of anger against the Vietnam war. Look at the dress of the rock groups during that time, some of the fashion was high heeled platform shoes. Hippies wore long hair, bell bottom jeans and high heel shoes. Hippies the liberals were against those conservatives starting an unjustified war and taking peoples money. All the concerns of the people were expressed in their lyrics.

I don't see how anyone got a gay reference out of this.

I was told that traffic came to new haven ct. in 1970ish and the local hippies had boots that were hi- heeled and the band was inspired by them. The person who told me was one of these people and had no reason to lie. Ask steve winwood.

It's been a long time since I've seen this thread & even longer since I've listened to the song.

But I was a huge fan of Traffic, a long time ago.

Here are the lyrics & also a YouTube video clip.

Make up your own minds about the meaning. :


Low spark of high-heeled boys:

If you see something that looks like a star
And it's shooting up out of the ground
And your head is spinning from a loud guitar
And you just can't escape from the sound
Don't worry too much, it'll happen to you
We were children once, playing with toys

And the thing that you're hearing is only the sound
Of the low spark of high-heeled boys

{Refrain}
The percentage you're paying is too high-priced
While you're living beyond all your means
And the man in the suit has just bought a new car
From the profit he's made on your dreams
But today you just read that the man was shot dead
By a gun that didn't make any noise
But it wasn't the bullet that laid him to rest
Was the low spark of high-heeled boys

If you had just a minute to breathe
And they granted you one final wish
Would you ask for something like another chance
Or something similar as this
Don't worry too much, it'll happen to you
As sure as your sorrows or joys

And the thing that disturbs you is only the sound
Of the low spark of high-heeled boys

{Refrain}

High-heeled boys

If I gave you everything that I owned
And asked for nothing in return
Would you do the same for me as I would for you
Or take me for a ride
And strip me of everything, including my pride
But spirit is something that no one destroys

And the sound that I'm hearing is only the sound
Of the low spark of high-heeled boys
Heeled boys

~

Just watched the video right through.
What a blast.
What a very talented band.
That was good!
(The video didn't need all the technical "enhancements". The music was brilliant.)

It's great when an old thread comes bubbling up out of the past. Thanks fool.

A lot of rock song have what I would cal "Implied Meaning". that means that you don't realy know what it means but it "Feels" like you do. Does that make sence? LOL, Long live rock n roll

A lot of songs, especialy from that eara have what I call IMPLIED meaning. That means that it FEELS like you know what it means. Great Song- Great group.

This is a great song, one of my faves of the last 40 or is it nearly 50 years. Leaving the lyrics aside, it is perhaps one of the greatest jazz/rock riffs ever. Chris Woods was playing his sax through a synthesizer, one of the first woodwindists in any genre to do so, and then when he puts on the wah-wah pedal on sax it is a very very sweet moment. The video that someone posted is from the later edition of Traffic, with Randall Bramlett doing a brilliant job on sax, as Wood had already passed away. Winwood's work on the piano is among the best of his life.
Now to the lyrics: This is a song about freedom creativity, and how freedom is a mental attitude, but one which can be compromised by money, respectability, and even love, and how staying creative--sparked--will always be a challenge.

we all know about the gender bending that was going on at the time...NYC, Lou Reed, Mick, Bowie....not surprising that one might get cought up in "the scene"...adding to the creativity

...seems very simple (but I could be wrong):
The boys grew up and became musicians and are
doing very well, but 'the life' comes with risks and
indiscretions, but it is what it is; just a career
choice, hence the Low Spark. High-Heeled may
refer to some of the costume of the musicians'
roles, and is probably a little play on 'well-heeled.'
[email protected]

The story behind Low Sparks Of High Heeled Boys is real simple and this is the truth..I promise. Just before the release of this album Steve was in some bitter nasty negotiation with his music label. The high heeled, long hair, screaming guitar, bands had come on the scene and Steve's label want him to conform to this for his last album that he was under contract to do. Well Steve would not compromise himself or his music so a few music executives could get rich. There was a long and bloody legal battle, not sure, but I was told Steve gave up a lot to not do the album they wanted him to do ...I mean paid dearly, and not just in money, but that part I'm not sure of, but it sounds right. Steve left that label and recorded Low Sparks Of High Heeled Boys on this album as a testament to what he had gone through. The lyrics really say just that to me, so funny how we see and read into things just what we want to. Looks like a star..shooting out of ground...loud guitar..children playing with toys...Steve felt a lot of the bands coming up at this time were not as serious or concerned about making good music and lyrics, like they were putting on a stage play, and not that good at it, it was all about the fame not the craft,...low sparks...percentage paying too high priced, Steve saw these bands giving up everything to theses music executives in order to succeed, their music, values,families, passions, and more...profit he's made on your dreams...living beyond your means..wasn't the bullet that laid him to rest (Steve) how Steve described what the label did to him or try do...kill him (his music) by trying to silence him since he wouldn't do what they wanted, sort of like since you feel this way, you wont do any music, any more, any place,tried to kill his career, and didn't use a gun or bullets...they used the low sparks...meaning mediocre or average , of the high heeled boys. ...the next few verses explain how the music business can be..sorrows..joy...give everything owned...nothing in return...do the same..take me for ride..strip me..but the spirit is something that no one destroys!! Steve has kept true to himself, his music, and his fans, and I'm glad he did. And to top it off he was right on the money with that one. True artist to me, it isn't all about the fame and fortune for him...it's the musoc.

that's plausible

Well, remembering when this song was the first big hit when pop music switched from AM's 3-min format to FM's much more open-length format (KPCC in LA and KMPX in San Francisco): I always thought it was about the singer, as an established rock star, starting in the first lines talking about how younger folks ("we were children once") were coming up as new acts ("shooting up out of the ground") perhaps annoyingly ("head is spinning from a loud guitar"), having brief success (one-hit wonders?), and these new pop stars get flattered with lots of $$ and they spend a bunch. They buy sparkly clothes and high-heel shoes. They play the role.

And they get ripped off by the corporations, promoters, under-assistant west-coast promo men, and others. The percentage they are paying is too high. They get the new car....

But the man they signed on with made a bad bet or two, and he's down in flames, bankrupt. He wasn't legit. What killed his business was that he was a sucker for the flash-in-the pan acts: The Low Spark of High Heel Boys.

If you've followed this far, I think you can listen to the song again and follow the last two stanzas yourself. As I listen to it, it's a pretty serious commentary about the music business.

In the 60's-70's everyone had boots with at least 1" heel and horseshoe clets where popular to safe wear and tear on the heels. They made noise and sparks.

Jeez people. In 2004, the answer to the meaning was provided on the first or second page of this thread.:

I'll repost it here again. Good old Gus gave the answer to this way back then and the answer is in Wiki, as well:

"'The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys' is a song by the band Traffic from their 1971 album of the same name. The song was written by Jim Capaldi and Steve Winwood.

The title refers to an inscription written by actor Michael J. Pollard in Jim Capaldi's book while they were both in Morocco. Capaldi and Pollard were planning to work on a movie that was never filmed. Capaldi said:
Pollard and I would sit around writing lyrics all day, talking about Bob Dylan and the Band, thinking up ridiculous plots for the movie. Before I left Morocco, Pollard wrote in my book 'The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys.' For me, it summed him up. He had this tremendous rebel attitude. He walked around in his cowboy boots, his leather jacket. At the time he was a heavy little dude. It seemed to sum up all the people of that generation who were just rebels. The 'Low Spark,' for me, was the spirit, high-spirited. You know, standing on a street corner. The low rider. The 'Low Spark' meaning that strong undercurrent at the street level."

I am a HUGE Traffic fan but, frankly, I find the lyrics to this song quite idiotic! (What? A gay English schoolboy in drag with a sparkler on Guy Fawkes Day?) The music, though, is absolutely outstanding! Some of Steve's best-ever keyboard work! (Miles Davis would have loved the electronic dissonance!)

Right you are.
And welcome to a2k.

It's called Bonfire Night. Some people burn a guy, (not always an effigy of Mr. Fawkes) but he doesn't have a day after him. Naming a day after the most notorious terrorist in English history would be like referring to 9/11 as Bin Laden Day.