[2] It was released as their first single in late 1977 on Pye Records,[3] and is from their 1978 debut album, The Matchstalk Men.

[6] For the song, Michael Coleman drew on his own memories of Salford and Ancoats as well as the paintings of Lowry.

The song lyrics make reference to Lowry's painted scenes of bleak, industrial landscapes being initially unpopular, with the artist only finding fame in later life.

According to the lyrics, now that Lowry's paintings hang in galleries among the world's great art, they are so revered that "even the Mona Lisa takes a bow".

Clogs were a type of hard-wearing footwear popular in poor, industrial areas of northern England; to prevent the soles wearing out they were often fitted with iron "segs" or sometimes hob-nails, and these, when scraped along cobbled streets, would give off friction sparks.