The Epic Track: “The Low Spark of High-Heeled Boys”

Editor’s Note: There are certain tracks that are, well, “epic” — memorable, larger than life, carved into music history. In this series, we look at one of them.

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Twelve minutes of stellar progressive rock, fused with jazz and a smattering of boogie-woogie. A hypnotic rumination on drug addiction, loss of innocence (“We were children once, playing with toys”), corruption of the soul, and belief in the transcendence of spirit. How’s that for an ambitious piece?

Traffic’s “The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys,” a track from their 1971 album of the same name, is a masterpiece of musicianship and mystery. It displays stunning saxophone riffs by Chris Wood and Steve Winwood’s fuzzbox-filtered Hammond organ.

Winwood delivers his signature soulful delivery. A dreamy fade-in and fade-out frames the track. Despite its considerable length, it was (and remains) in frequent radio rotation.

“The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys” was written by Winwood and Traffic’s drummer Jim Capaldi, who’d been jotting lyrics for a movie called Nevertheless, that never came to fruition.

Who authored that intriguing title? Not a band member, but character actor Michael J. Pollard (Bonnie and Clyde). He and Capaldi bonded over their shared love of music and counterculture ideology. Pollard was a good representation of the quirky mindset prevalent at the top of the 1970s. Pollard wrote the intriguing phrase in Capaldi’s notebook, and it became his inspiration.

According to Capaldi: “For me, it summed him [Pollard] 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…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.”

While “Low Spark” is open to interpretation, it’s generally perceived as a rumination on the drug culture at the time (“low spark” and “high-heeled boys” were speedball references). It deals with a fatal overdose and the reality of drug peddlers being sad bringers of death and destruction.

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.

There are alternate interpretations of the lyrics; musicians were typically taken advantage of, and exploitative musical executives come under fire here as well.

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.

Mixed with the melancholy is the spellbinding instrumentation. Towards the end, Winwood brings a specter of hope when he sings, “Spirit is something that no one destroys.”

Traffic’s “The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys” is a stunning work by young performers whose musical expertise and philosophies exhibit real maturity and chops.

Though it was never intended to be released as a single, “Low Spark of High Heeled Boys” sold a million copies at the time of its release in the U.S. (fewer in their native U.K.). The lyrics are mysterious and profound, the keyboard, brass, and percussion pack the proverbial wallop, and Steve Winwood delivers a powerful message with a smooth groove.

-Ellen Fagan

Photo: Traffic (Getty)