We suppose that you can dredge up a few wonderful albums that contain somewhat nondescript closing songs. But it always helps an LP’s reputation when that last song sends the whole thing out on a wondrous note.
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Certainly, Bob Dylan found his recording groove once again on the 1989 album Oh Mercy. It’s a record that mesmerizes you all the way through before capping things off with the just-right closer “Shooting Star”.
‘Mercy’ in Time
Bob Dylan’s recording career was in a bad way as the 80s were coming to a close. Critics had been harsh on his studio albums for about a decade or so at the time. The last album of his that had been lauded by the consensus was Desire, released all the way back in 1976.
Granted, many of the albums in the interim had their defenders then and have been positively reassessed since. But there’s no doubting that Knocked Out Loaded in 1986 and Down In The Groove in 1988 found Dylan grasping for inspiration.
He was able to bounce back and write a stellar set of songs for his next release. But how would he record it? After false starts with Ronnie Wood helming the record, Dylan went with Daniel Lanois as producer. Lanois convinced him to record the Oh Mercy album in New Orleans.
Dylan came up with the idea for “Shooting Star” during the sessions. A motorcycle ride in New Orleans with his then-wife Carolyn Dennis inspired him. From there, Dylan, Lanois, and the session players suffused the song with the kind of delicate, mysterious melancholy that permeates that special album.
A Deep Dive Into the Lyrics of “Shooting Star”
When you see a song titled “Shooting Star”, you might worry that it will get bogged down in songwriting clichés. Dylan avoids that by equating the astral anomaly with that special love that gets away. “You were trying to break into another world,” he sings of his ex. “A world I never knew/I always kinda wondered/If you ever made it through.”
Suddenly, he’s lost in a reverie of their former love. He starts to wonder how he let her down, pondering, “If I ever became what you wanted me to be.” “Did I miss the mark or overstep the line/That only you could see?” he asks.
The middle eight provides the kind of unexpected song twist that Dylan has mastered. Instead of looking back, as he has been doing, he suddenly looks outward at a world exploding in front of him. He takes note of the final instance of several phenomena, all momentous occasions. But he ends with the melancholy observation that “The last radio is playing.”
When he looks back to the sky, the shooting star is gone. He tries to be optimistic, but ends up regretful. “Guess it’s too late to say the things to you,” he shrugs. “That you needed to hear me say.” And then, with a sigh: “Seen a shooting star tonight/Slip away.”
The song is straightforward when it wants to be and then fascinatingly cryptic out of nowhere. In other words, “Shooting Star” is classic Bob Dylan. And the perfect end to an elite LP recorded when he needed it most.
Photo by Denver Post via Getty Images
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