"Shooting Star" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career sp ...
, released in 1989 as the tenth and final track on his album '' Oh Mercy''. It was produced by
Daniel Lanois
Daniel Roland Lanois ( , ; born September 19, 1951) is a Canadian record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter.
He has produced albums by artists including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Robbie Robertson, Emmylou Harris, Willi ...
.
Composition and recording
In his memoir '' Chronicles: Volume One'', Dylan recalls writing the song after taking a long motorcycle ride with his wife,
Carolyn Dennis
Carolyn Dennis (born April 12, 1954), sometimes known professionally as Carol Dennis or Carol Dennis-Dylan, is an American singer and actress best known for her work with and marriage to Bob Dylan.
Career
Dennis has also sung back-up for Wonderlo ...
, during a break from recording his album '' Oh Mercy'' in
chromatic scale
The chromatic scale (or twelve-tone scale) is a set of twelve pitches (more completely, pitch classes) used in tonal music, with notes separated by the interval of a semitone. Chromatic instruments, such as the piano, are made to produce the ...
note by note in this bridge, only the second time in his career for him to do this (following 1967's " Too Much of Nothing"), as he sings about the apocalypse: "You can hear it by playing each note, black or white, that are next to each other on the piano. Dylan does it starting on C sharp, going down to C, B, B flat, A.
(C sharp minor) ''Listen to the engine,'' (C) ''listen to the bell''
(B) ''As the last fire truck'' (B flat) ''from hell''
(A) ''Goes rolling by''
(B) ''All good people are'' (E) ''praying''
The musical sequence is then revisited
''It’s the last temptation, the last account''
''The last time you might hear the sermon on the mount''
''The last radio is playing".''
In their book ''Bob Dylan All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track'', authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon note that, in addition to Dylan on vocals, guitar and harmonica, the song features
Daniel Lanois
Daniel Roland Lanois ( , ; born September 19, 1951) is a Canadian record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter.
He has produced albums by artists including Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Peter Gabriel, Robbie Robertson, Emmylou Harris, Willi ...
on omnichord ("a plastic instrument that sounds like an autoharp"), Brian Stoltz on guitar, Tony Hall on bass and Willie Green on drums. They also note that Dylan regretted not being able to add a brass section to the track and achieve a more orchestral sound but that his doubts were dispelled when Lanois "hyped the snare and captured the song in its essence" in the final mix.
Critical reception
''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its co ...
'' magazine included "Shooting Star" on a list of "Bob Dylan's Greatest Songs of the 1980s", noting that it "echoes some of the self-doubt and regret heard earlier on '
Most of the Time
"Most of the Time" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released as the sixth track (or the first song on Side Two of the vinyl) of his 1989 album ''Oh Mercy''. The song was written by Dylan and produced by Da ...
'" while also serving as an example of how "Dylan is very good at ending his albums on exactly the right note".
''Spectrum Culture'' included the song on a list of "Bob Dylan's 20 Best Songs of the 1980s". In an article accompanying the list, critic Justin Cober-Lake praises both the lyrics (for the way Dylan establishes "an almost-narrative and an almost-prayer while leaving any final understanding open-ended enough for the listener to glide into") and the music (for the way "Dylan develops a beautiful melody for his reflections, perfectly embraced by Lanois’ production").
Jim Esch at ''
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...
'' called it "a simple three verse plus bridge country ballad that manages to suggest the arc of an affair – balled up in the image of a shooting star" that is "remarkable for its lyrical allusiveness" and leaves "a weary sadness in its wake".
''
The Big Issue
''The Big Issue'' is a street newspaper founded by John Bird and Gordon Roddick in September 1991 and published in four continents. ''The Big Issue'' is one of the UK's leading social businesses and exists to offer homeless people, or individ ...
'' placed it at #16 on a list of the "80 Best Bob Dylan Songs - That Aren't the Greatest Hits" and characterized it as a "hymn to regret and what might have been".
Live performances
According to his official website, Dylan performed the song 126 times in concert on the Never Ending Tour between 1990 and 2013. A live performance from
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...
East Troy, Wisconsin
East Troy is a village in Walworth County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 4,687 at the 2020 census. The village is located southwest of the Town of East Troy. A small portion extends into the adjacent Town of Troy.
Geography
Eas ...
on June 9, 1990 and the last performance (to date) took place at USANA Amphitheatre in
Salt Lake City, Utah
Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...
on August 1, 2013.
In popular culture
The song is prominently featured in
Curtis Hanson
Curtis Lee Hanson (March 24, 1945 – September 20, 2016) was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. His directing work included the psychological thriller '' The Hand That Rocks the Cradle'' (1992), the neo-noir crime film '' L ...
's
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment in ...
-winning 2000 film ''Wonder Boys'' and on its accompanying soundtrack album.
Notable covers
There have been at least half a dozen studio covers of the song including David Gogo on his 2000 album ''Bare Bones'' and Lindsay Evans on her 2006 album ''Road to Damascus.''
Aaron Neville
Aaron Joseph Neville (born January 24, 1941) is a retired American R&B and soul singer. He has had four platinum albums and four Top 10 hits in the United States, including three that reached number one on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart. ...
performed the song live at a MusiCares tribute to Dylan in 2015. Dylan praised Neville's performance in an interview shortly after: “I could always hear him singing that song. He’s recorded other songs of mine, all great performances, but for some reason I kept thinking about ‘Shooting Star’, something he’s never recorded but I knew that he could. I could always hear him singing it for some reason, even when I wrote it. I mean, what can you say? He’s the most soulful of singers, maybe in all of recorded history. If angels sing, they must sing in that voice. I just think his gift is so great. The man has no flaws, never has. He’s always been one of my favorite singers right from the beginning”.