The Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys (Edited To Under 8 Min's) by levipatrick

levipatrick - The Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys (Edited To Under 8 Min's)

levipatrick

Dec 21, 2023 01:18pm

"The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys" is the title track from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Low_Spark_of_High_Heeled_Boys" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">1971 album</a> by British rock band <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_(band)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Traffic</a>, written by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Capaldi" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Jim Capaldi</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Winwood" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Steve Winwood</a>. Despite never being released as a single due to its long duration, it became a staple of North American <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Album-oriented_rock" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">AOR</a>-format <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FM_radio" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">FM radio</a> stations in the 1970s and still receives <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airplay" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">airplay</a> on <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classic_rock" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">classic rock</a> radio today.<h2>Lyrics and composition</h2>The title refers to an inscription written by diminutive American actor <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_J._Pollard" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Michael J. Pollard</a> in Jim Capaldi's notebook while they were both in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morocco" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Morocco</a>.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Low_Spark_of_High_Heeled_Boys_(song)#cite_note-2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">[2]</a> 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 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Dylan" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Bob Dylan</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Band" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">The Band</a>, 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 <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lowrider#Lowrider_culture" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">low rider</a>. The 'Low Spark' meaning that strong undercurrent at the street level.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Low_Spark_of_High_Heeled_Boys_(song)#cite_note-3" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">[3]</a>At 11 minutes and 44 seconds, it is the longest track on the album. The song (and the album) received wide praise, both in print and on broadcasts.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Low_Spark_of_High_Heeled_Boys_(song)#cite_note-ss-4" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">[4]</a> It begins with a gradual <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fade_(audio_engineering)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">fade-in</a> and ends with a slow fade-out. The signature two-chord<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Low_Spark_of_High_Heeled_Boys_(song)#cite_note-5" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">[a]</a> piano <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vamp_(music)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">vamp</a> enters after the fade-in, cued by the dry rattle of a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vibraslap" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">vibraslap</a>. <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Song_structure_(popular_music)#Verse" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">Verses</a> are sparsely arranged with a slow deliberate pace in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D_minor" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">D minor</a>, contrasting with double-time densely-layered pop <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verse-chorus_form" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">choruses</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modulation_(music)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">modulating</a> to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D_major" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">D major</a>. The tune fades out with a dissonant, reverberating final chord sustained over the vamp.Capaldi had originally written only two verses of lyrics. He quickly wrote the third verse while Winwood was recording the song's vocal and slipped it in front of him in time for him to sing it.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Low_Spark_of_High_Heeled_Boys_(song)#cite_note-6" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="color: rgb(51, 102, 204);">[5]</a><h2> </h2>