"Hole in My Shoe" is a song by English rock band Traffic featuring a spoken-word midsection by Chris Blackwell's stepdaughter, Francine Heimann, in which she tells a little story about a giant albatross. It was released as a single in 1967 and reached number 2 in the UK Singles Chart,^[3] number 22 in the German charts,^[4] and number 4 in Canada.^[5] Composed by guitarist Dave Mason, 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.^[6]

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.^[7] It also peaked at number 29 in Australia.^[8] His version featured Barbara Gaskin on backing vocals and was produced by Dave Stewart.^[9]