Master of Sparks

"Master of Sparks" is a song by American rock band ZZ Top from their 1973 album Tres Hombres.

"Master of Sparks"
Song by ZZ Top
from the album Tres Hombres
ReleasedJuly 26, 1973
RecordedBrian Studios &
Ardent Studios
Memphis, Tennessee
GenreHard rock, blues rock
Length3:33
LabelLondon
Songwriter(s)Billy Gibbons
Producer(s)Bill Ham

The song tells the true story[1] of Billy Gibbons and his friend R.K. Bullock who with a workman, welded together a steel ball cage with a seat and seatbelt fitted inside. They placed the cage into the bed of a truck and at night, after reaching a speed of 60 miles per hour (97 km/h), on Highway 6 near Houston (also known as Jack Rabbit Road), rolled the cage out the back with the hapless narrator and friend taking a ride inside. The cage generated a tail of sparks on the road but in its crushed condition stopped rolling. Still moving at high speed, the now egg shaped cage crashed into a fence. Both occupants survived relatively unscathed and were awarded the title "Master of Sparks" by the cheering crowd.[2]

From the interview in Sound magazine

In June 1976 Sound magazine published an interview with the band that covered the background to the song.[3]

Yeah, that's a true story," Billy drawls obviously relishing the opportunity to spin another well-worn time-honoured tale.

I guess it's safe to talk about it now ... A good friend and I put our heads together one day and went out of town to his folks spread where we got the help of the black foreman there to weld a bunch of sucker gauge which is the kind of pipe they use to build windmills, into a steel cage, a ball of sorts. We put a door on it, a seatbelt on a bucket seat. It even had shock absorbers to cushion the points of impact. Then we'd get drunk and roll this thing out of the back of a pick-up truck at 'bout fifty miles an hour and when it would hit the ground it'd send up a rooster tail of sparks a hundred feet in the air. Man it would tear you up to get in that thing. It was the most amazing spectacle I'd ever laid eyes on.

'Course we kept it a secret from everybody 'cause, if our folks had found out, we'd all been off to military school, but then my buddy went and printed up flyers and distributed them at school sayin' to come and see the 'master of sparks' that night on jack-rabbit road which was Highway Six, our launch pad.

Hell, sure enough, come sundown we got out there to find both sides of the road lined with cars waitin' to see this. Some guy even had the back end of his pick-up truck loaded down with ice and cold beer, he was givin' away free beer. So, after realizing what was coming down, both of us loaded ourselves in for the last ride and I guess we must of been going sixty miles an hour, drunk, laughin' like hell and, when we rolled ourselves out, we hit the ground so hard it squashed the ball out like an egg. Needless to say, it didn't roll too well and we spun off the road and hit a fence, tore bout a hundred yards of barbed wire down. I was screamin', he was bleedin', but, needless to say we were awarded the coveted title of having done the wildest thing.[3]

Personnel

References
  1. Michael Hann (8 November 2012). "Old music: ZZ Top – Master of Sparks". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  2. Dansby, Andrew (31 July 2013). "40 years after its release, the allure of 'Tres Hombres' lives on". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 5 December 2015.
  3. cite journal |last=Millican |first=Jim |title= Riding with ZeeZee |publisher=Sound magazine |date= June 1976}}
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