Flaubert went full hippie from 1969 on, after seeing the Who play Tommy live at the Staatsoper in Hamburg, Germany. This song, psychically prescient in its anticipation of future globalization and proletarian—if not to say vulgar— shopping trends, was a traditional blues piece from late 1969, when the band had a more acoustic format. Like many Fleabiters, as they are affectionately known to fans, this song is (unusually for any era) driven by a low-slung mandocello riff.
In an unpublished interview, Flaubie attributed the lyrics to a bad LSD trip in December 1969 in which he hallucinated that everything in the world was made in China. The band and his manager suspected a psychotic break, but they reluctantly recorded the piece for him.
Up until this song, people had suspected Flaubie and the Fleabites could not play blues, but after the song was released they were certain of it. Nonetheless, it’s rumored Dylan contacted him after hearing it to ask him to write songs for him.
Like almost all of his records it began as a belly flop into a pool of dog poop. Only later was it recognized and celebrated for its Cassandra-like foresight.
Hightop Sneaker Blues
I went down to the devil
And I asked him for a little more time
He said your time is done
There ain’t no more fun
And son your soul is mine.
I went back to Jesus
And said maybe I made a mistake
Can you deal with this here devil dude
While I fill out the form for a retake?
I need three more weeks
Just to set the record straight
If you hold him off that long
It would be really great
Well the train was leaving the station
When I hopped right off of the back
Of those screaming rails to hell
And the Devil said “hold it, Jack!”
He said "I got a proposition
You can’t really refuse
Get back on the train
Or I’ll take your shoes."
My sneakers are the weakest point
In the fortress of my soul
And if you take my sneakers away
Well you might as well take it all
So I said to the devil
Gotta make another deal
And turned back to Jesus
With a second appeal
If I let the devil
Take my sneakers away
Can I come up to heaven with you
And will you let me stay
And Jesus looked at me funny
Like I lost my mind
And he said if you talkin bout sneakers boy
Better tell me what kind
If you ain’t got high tops on
Made in the USA
I can take you to heaven
But you be won’t able to stay
You can’t be wearing’ sneakers made
In Bangkok or Vietnam
They gotta be made in the USA
By a real American Mom
Eating’ apple pie and hot dogs
And driving a Chevrolet
If you got any other kind of sneakers on
You can't stay
Well, sneakers are the deepest part
In the footprint of my soul
If the devil takes my sneakers
Won’t have shoes at all
Will ya let me into heaven barefoot?
Or do I really need a pair
Of good old American high top sneakers
To get me into there?
The devil came up behind me
Said "boy don’t break the rules
The kinda sneakers you got on
Are the type that’s worn by fools
Get back on the train
Gonna make you ride those rails
You need better sneakers
When you walk on nails."
Jesus shrugged his shoulders
What could I say?
No one makes sneakers anymore
In the USA.
That’s the reason that hell is full
Everybody’s wearing’ shoes
Made in Vietnam and China
With endangered animal glue
And we walk on nails
That go right through our souls
Singin’ the high top blues
In the endless shopping malls. 
Hightop Sneaker Blues