"Hole in My Shoe" is a song by English rock band Traffic, released as a single in 1967, which reached number 2 in the UK Singles Chart,Traffic in the UK Charts , The Official Charts. Retrieved August 9, 2011. number 22 in the German charts, number 2 in New Zealand,https://www.flavourofnz.co.nz/index.php?qpageID=search%20listener&qsongid=1552#n_view_location search listener and number 4 in Canada. Composed by guitarist Dave Mason (the first song he ever wrote), 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.Black, Johnny (May 1997). Feature: Steve Winwood , Mojo.
The song features a spoken-word midsection by Chris Blackwell's stepdaughter, Francine Heimann, in which she tells a little story about a giant albatross. In February 2026, the song was adapted into a children's book by Mason (accomponied by a re-recording featuring John McFee of American rock band The Doobie Brothers and his wife Winifred taking Heimann's place on the spoken-word parts), shortly before his death.
Personnel Musicians Jim Capaldi – drums, backing vocals Dave Mason – lead vocals, guitar, Mellotron, sitar Steve Winwood – Hammond organ, bass guitar, piano, backing vocals Chris Wood – flute, backing vocals Francine Heimann – spoken word (uncredited)
Technical Eddie Kramer – engineer Jimmy Miller – producer
Cover version In July 1984, Nigel Planer, who played Neil in the BBC sitcom The Young Ones, recorded a cover version of the song, which reached the same number 2 peak as the original. It also peaked at number 1 in Ireland and number 29 in Australia. His version featured Barbara Gaskin on backing vocals and was produced by Dave Stewart.
References