Shot of Love
Encyclopedia
Shot of Love is singer-songwriter Bob Dylan
's 21st studio album
, released by Columbia Records
in August 1981.
It is generally considered to be Dylan's last of a trilogy of overtly religious, Christian
albums. Also, it was his first since becoming born-again to focus on secular themes, from straight-ahead love songs to an ode to the deceased comedian Lenny Bruce
. Arrangements are rooted more in rock'n'roll, less in gospel
than on Dylan's previous two albums.
At the time of its release, Shot of Love received mixed reviews; Paul Nelson
of Rolling Stone
in particular savaged the album, though he did single out the last track, "Every Grain Of Sand," as a stand-out. Shot of Love, while reaching UK #6, continued Dylan's US commercial decline, reaching #33 during a brief chart stay. By contrast, Bono
of Irish band U2
described Shot of Love as one of his favourites, particularly due to Dylan's singing ability.
. "Property of Jesus," "Yonder Comes Sin," and new arrangements of older material like "Ain't Gonna Go To Hell (For Anybody)" were composed during this time, but the three most important works written that summer were "Every Grain Of Sand," "Caribbean Wind," and "The Groom's Still Waiting At The Altar"; each of these marked a dramatic change in Dylan's lyrical direction, with the latter two "contrast[ing] his troubled sexual relations with the demands of a higher calling," according to author Clinton Heylin.
Then, sometime in mid-September, Dylan reassembled his standing band at Rundown Studios in Santa Monica, California
, where they recorded a number of his new songs, including "Every Grain Of Sand." (A rough recording of "Every Grain Of Sand" dating from this period was eventually released on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991.)
Dylan then embarked on another tour during the fall of 1980 before returning to his songwriting in the winter. In March 1981, Dylan held more informal sessions at both Rundown and Studio 55, rehearsing some of his new compositions while auditioning a potential producer, Jimmy Iovine
. These sessions focused on "Caribbean Wind," an ambitious work that was performed once during the fall tour. Already generating interest in the rock press, "Caribbean Wind" was seen as a potential centerpiece for his upcoming album, but it wasn't quite considered finished. Numerous attempts at recording "Caribbean Wind" during the Iovine sessions proved disappointing, with Dylan growing increasingly pessimistic about the song's prospects. Another new composition, "Angelina" was recorded with much greater success, and Dylan was satisfied enough to mark it for inclusion.
In the meantime, Dylan concluded that another producer was needed, but after relieving Iovine of his duties, Dylan struggled to find an appropriate producer, as well as an appropriate studio. Various sessions were booked across Los Angeles
, including sessions at Cream Studios and United Western Studios. None of these places provided the sound Dylan had in mind but had difficulty creating. The sessions did provide an opportunity to rehearse new compositions, including "In The Summertime," as well as experiment with new ideas.
Dylan resigned himself to Rundown, where he and his band worked through his songs over a period of several weeks. Sometime in late April, veteran producer Bumps Blackwell stopped by to see Dylan. Blackwell was best-known for producing Little Richard
's most celebrated recordings, and though the purpose of his visit remains unclear, Blackwell ultimately produced that day's session, supervising recordings of "Trouble," "Magic," and "Shot of Love" that were later selected for the album. The experience gave Dylan an enormous amount of satisfaction, as he would later reveal in subsequent interviews, but Blackwell did not return for further work, possibly because of health issues.
Chuck Plotkin
, who had experience working with Bruce Springsteen
, was eventually hired by Dylan on the suggestion of a friend, Debbie Gold. Five sessions were scheduled for Plotkin's Clover Studio, beginning on April 27 and ending on May 1, and work proceeded on songs like "Property of Jesus," "Watered-Down Love," "Heart Of Mine," "Lenny Bruce," "Dead Man, Dead Man," "In The Summertime," and "Every Grain Of Sand," all of which received usable takes that were marked for the album. An extensively rewritten and rearranged version of "Caribbean Wind" was also recorded at Clover, but once again, Dylan was disappointed with the results; it was ultimately set aside for an indefinite amount of time.
On May 12, Dylan and Plotkin sequenced a preliminary version of Shot of Love, but after listening to it the following day, Dylan decided to remove "Angelina" and "Magic" from the final sequence. The remaining nine songs were retained, but Dylan decided to re-record several of those songs. Three re-recordings were eventually used for the final sequence: "Trouble," "Dead Man, Dead Man," and "Heart Of Mine," all of which were taped two to three days after the preliminary sequence was approved.
The mixing process proved rather tense as Plotkin and Dylan had conflicting ideas on how to mix the songs. Plotkin made numerous prototype mixes, delivering each one on cassette dub over to Dylan at Rundown Studios. Most, if not all of them, were rejected. "Chuck [wanted] to get a nice mix at the end of each song," recalls Jim Keltner
, "and Bob wouldn't have any of the nice mixes. Most everything you hear on that Shot of Love album turns out to be the monitor mixes." Plotkin spent another month mixing and overdubbing over the nine songs selected for Shot of Love. Mixing was finally completed on June 7, with overdubbing continuing through June 16.
and Saved
), Shot of Love included more secular material as well as overtly religious and evangelistic songs.
The opening title track of Shot of Love either fits somewhere in between, making a few spiritual references while railing against substance abuse as a way of fulfilling or escaping life, or is squarely among his evangelistic songs. Some argue that the "love" the narrator declares he needs a shot of is "agape" and that the theme of this song is, like "Watered Down Love", centered around 1 Corinthians 13
. The 13th chapter of Corinthians is about how all of gifts of God are useless without the love of God for other people. Each verse (except the first which is the song's intro) is a restating of some New Testament verse about Love. Verse 2 ("I seen the kingdoms of the world and it's makin' me feel afraid.") restates 1 John 4:18, "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear." Verse 3 ("So don't show me no picture show/Don't give me no book to read/It don't satisfy the hurt inside or the habit that it feeds.") is from 1 Corinthians 13:2 "If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge...but have not love, it profits me nothing." Verse 4 and 5 are drawn from Matthew 5:43-44 "I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you." Verse 4 is especially seen as allegorical: Why would I want to take your life?/You've only murdered my father (New York Time famously declaring "God is Dead") /raped his wife (the Church) /Tattooed my babies with a poison pen (perhaps the hostility Dylan's songs had met among the media and in concerts) /Mocked my God/Humiliated my friends." Verse 5 ("My conscience is beginning to bother me today.") is said to riff off of 1 Peter 4:8 "Love will cover a multitude of sins".
"The purpose of music is to elevate and inspire the spirit," Dylan said in a 1983 interview with NME
. "To those who care where Bob Dylan is at, they should listen to "Shot of Love". It's my most perfect song. It defines where I am spiritually, musically, romantically and whatever else. It shows where my sympathies lie. It's all there in that one song." Produced by Bumps Blackwell, it's the only Blackwell production featured on Shot of Love.
The second track on Shot of Love fits, again, somewhere between in secular and religious territory. A slight but jaunty, Tex-Mex number, "Heart of Mine" is a love song, Dylan's first in several years, but it is founded on Jeremiah 17:9 ""The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?". Instead of singing to a person of interest, the narrator addresses his own 'heart,' trying to tame his own impulses and emotions in fear of getting hurt.
An earlier performance was already selected for use when Dylan decided to re-record "Heart of Mine" with Ronnie Wood and Ringo Starr
. In an interview taken in 1984, Dylan admitted that "["Heart of Mine"] was done a bunch of different ways...but I chose for some reason a particularly funky version of that - and it's really scattered. It's not as good as some of the other versions, but I chose it because Ringo and Ronnie Wood played on it, and we did it in like ten minutes." The original version of "Heart of Mine" remains available only on bootlegs
.
Continuing the evangelism of Slow Train Coming
and Saved
, the satirical "Property of Jesus" is another one of Dylan's sharp put-down songs, this time aimed at non-believers who sneer at the Christian faithful.
The fourth track, "Lenny Bruce
", is about the subversive Jewish comedian
of that name. An influential entertainer whose use of provocative language led to a famous obscenity trial, Bruce died of a drug overdose
in 1966. Despite the secular tone of the lyrics, the music is "anchored in the resolute cadences of piano gospel," according to NPR's Tim Riley. Often regarded as a bizarre tribute, the song portrays Bruce as some kind of martyr, even though its characterizations of Bruce have been described as peculiar and almost non-descript. When Dave Herman
asked why, after so many years, Dylan chose to write a song about Lenny Bruce (July 2, 1981 interview), he answered, "You know, I have no idea! I wrote that song in five minutes! I found it was a little strange after he died, that people made such a hero out of him. When he was alive he couldn't even get a break. And certainly now, comedy is rank, dirty and vulgar and very unfunny and stupid, wishy-washy and the whole thing....But he was doing this same sort of thing many years ago and maybe some people aren't realizing that there was Lenny Bruce, who did this before and that is what happened to him. So these people can *do* what they're doing now. I don't know."
The first verse might, in fact, be seen to offer a subtle cut to Bruce's imitators for whom the use of profanity is a cheap "shock" gimic, while for Bruce it was a strike for free speech: "He was an outlaw, that's for sure/More of an outlaw than you ever were."
When Shot of Love was reissued for compact disc, "The Groom's Still Waiting At The Altar" was added into the album sequence. Recorded during the Shot of Love sessions, it was originally issued as a B-side to the 45rpm release of "Heart of Mine." Throughout the song, Dylan sings of a theological schism that ultimately separates the narrator and a woman, whom he addresses as 'Claudette.' Widely praised and heavily played on progressive radio, Riley called it "a generous return to slow-burning defiance that restores not only the lust to Dylan's heart, but the power to his voice." Together with "Caribbean Wind" (an outtake discussed below), "The Groom's Still Waiting At The Altar" marked a dramatic change in lyrical direction, one Dylan would continue to follow in his next album, Infidels
.
"Watered-Down Love" is Dylan's version of 1 Corinthian's 13, describing "love that's pure", and lamenting that pure love is not what many people want.
The reggae
-tinged "Dead Man, Dead Man" is another evangelical song. As Greil Marcus
writes in Salon.com, it "is a textbook warning against the devil, if you listen as if you're reading; if you hear it, it's a poker game, and the singer's winning." But, actually, the song's theme is Romans 7:24 "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?", and "dead man" that Dylan is addressing is himself, admitting his moral fallibility and mocking his own appearance "Satan's got you by the heel/There's a bird's nest in your hair."
A song based in wistful retrospection, "In The Summertime" is perhaps the most relaxed, upbeat song on the entire album. Even Paul Nelson of Rolling Stone conceded that "'In the Summertime'...has a lovely feel to it, and Dylan's harmonica
playing hangs in the air like the scent of mimosa
."
"Trouble" is the quintessential blues song about how tribulation is intrinsic to human existence.
In recent years, some critics have grown to appreciate Shot of Love while others continue to disparage it. If there is any critical consensus, it's to be found on the closing track. Marked by an ethereal quality that isn't found elsewhere on Shot of Love, "Every Grain Of Sand" is one Dylan's most celebrated recordings. In this song, Dylan puzzles over the dilemma of whether his disappointments, temptations, failings, and triumphs were due to his actions alone or ordained by God's delivering hand ("I've gone from rags to riches in the sorrows of the night/In the violence of a summer's dream/In the chill of a winter light" and "I hear the ancient footsteps like the motion of the sea/Sometimes I turn and there's someone there, sometimes it's only me").
It's "perhaps his most sublime work to date," writes Clinton Heylin, "the summation of a number of attempts to express what the promise of redemption meant to him personally. One of his most intensely personal songs, it also remains one of his most universal. Detailing 'the time of my confession/the hour of my deepest need,' the song marks the conclusion of his evangelical period as a songwriter, something its position at the conclusion of Shot of Love tacitly acknowledges." Paul Nelson called it "the 'Chimes of Freedom' and 'Mr. Tambourine Man' of Bob Dylan's Christian period...it has surety and strength all down the line. Also vulnerability...Dylan's beautifully idiosyncratic harmonica playing has metamorphosed into an archetype that pierces the heart and moistens the eye. And, for once, the lyrics don't let you down. The artist's Christianity is both palpable and comprehensible...For a moment or two, he touches you, and the gates of heaven dissolve into a universality that has nothing to do with most of the LP."
Tim Riley described "Every Grain of Sand" as "a prayer that inhabits the same intuitive zone as "Blowin' in the Wind
" - you'd swear it was a hymn
passed down through the ages." Rock critic Milo Miles wrote, "This is the one Dylan song in ten years...in which he examines a pop-culture paradox (that legendary stars in particular have to believe in ideals greater than themselves) more eloquently than any other performer has." When Bruce Springsteen
inducted Dylan into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame on January 20, 1988, he would also cite "Every Grain Of Sand" as an example of his best work.
One song in particular was originally intended for Shot of Love, only to be dropped, then later re-instated. That song, "The Groom's Still Waiting at the Altar", was officially released as a B-side before it was added on to the CD issue of Shot of Love.
While "The Groom's Still Waiting at the Altar" had the good fortune of being added to the CD re-issue of the album, another outtake that was given B-side status did not fare so well. Dylan recorded a new version of the song "Let It Be Me" in May 1981. He had previously recorded a version for the 1970 LP Self-Portrait. This new recording was released as a B-side on the "Heart of Mine" single, and has not appeared on any mainstream Dylan release since. The single was released only in Europe and Australia, and has never appeared on a Dylan album.
In 1991, Columbia released several more outtakes on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991. One of the more notable outtakes was "Angelina", an evocative ballad that many critics have written about over the years. According to Heylin, who praised the recording for its "seductive" vocal, it was "another classic composition about a witchy woman manipulating the singer as 'marching men [are] trying to take heaven by force.'" Originally intended for Shot of Love, it was sequenced as the final track before it was omitted altogether.
Another song, "Caribbean Wind", is perhaps the most famous outtake of the Shot of Love sessions. It was first performed live on stage in San Francisco, California, at the Fox Warfield Theater on November 12, 1980. A soundboard recording of this performance eventually found its way into private circulation, where it quickly gained a reputation as one of Dylan's most promising compositions.
"Caribbean Wind" carries many similarities to "The Groom's Still Waiting at the Altar." Heylin called the songs "soul partners. If "Caribbean Wind" and "The Groom's Still Waiting At The Altar" do not deal with the same relationship, they address markedly similar ones. Both are set within an omnipresent soundscape of imminent apocalypse. In "Caribbean Wind", the backdrop is messengers 'bringing evil reports, of rioting armies and time that is short.'" The first of several songs written when Dylan began sailing the Caribbean in late 1979, "Caribbean Wind" was started in St. Vincent, where Dylan "woke up from a strange dream in the hot sun...I was thinking about living with somebody for all the wrong reasons."
"Caribbean Wind" does not seem to have received its first studio performance until March 1981. Based on a copy of an early studio performance which found its way into private circulation, Dylan had already rewritten several lines. He was never able to get a satisfactory performance of "Caribbean Wind" within the confines of a studio. Over a period of several weeks, Dylan would rewrite (and re-record) "Caribbean Wind" numerous times, often to the detriment of the composition, as Dylan himself would admit in later interviews. "He struggled with it," recalls drummer Jim Keltner
, "and I could never figure out why...It was just one of those songs - it had great potential. The song was fantastic to play, but every time you'd hear it back there was something missing." A later studio performance was issued on 1985's retrospective Biograph; the only performance of "Caribbean Wind" ever to be officially released, it was dismissed by many critics, including Paul Williams and Clinton Heylin, who were familiar with earlier recordings circulating among collectors.
Here is a track listing of known outtakes, only some of which have seen official release. Many tracks are not circulating.
In addition, there are several unidentified songs known to exist. Dylan also recorded a large number of unreleased instrumental tracks during the Shot of Love sessions.
of New Musical Express called it "Dylan's worst album to date." Despite heavy touring in Europe and North America (in which all but two songs were performed), sales of Shot of Love were below CBS's expectations. Still, in an interview taken in 1983, Dylan would describe Shot of Love as a personal favorite.
Religion still held a strong place in Dylan's work, but as 1981 came to a close, his religious songs gave way to more secular material. During concerts in the summer of 1981, he covered Dave Mason
's "We Just Disagree
" and Dion
's "Abraham, Martin & John". Some fans took the latter as a veiled ode to John Lennon
, who was shot and killed the preceding winter. Clinton Heylin notes, "Dylan was audibly coming to the end of this particular road."
1982 then began with personal tragedy when Dylan's close and longtime friend Howard Alk
was found dead at Rundown Studios on New Year's Day. His death was ruled a suicide. As Heylin reports, "recent months had seen the deaths of guitarist Michael Bloomfield
and fellow Christian musician Keith Green
," all of whom worked with Dylan, but Alk's death marked the end of an era. Dylan would soon dissolve his standing band, and he would not tour again until 1984. Sometime after June 1982, Dylan closed down Rundown Studios.
Shot of Love was the last album issued under a contract signed with CBS in 1978, but despite the decline in his commercial standing, Dylan was re-signed to another contract (a five-year, five-album deal) in July 1982.
Much of 1982 was relatively quiet in terms of musical activity. An album of duets was recorded with his lover Clydie King
at Gold Star Studios, but it would remain unreleased. At the time Dylan explained, "it doesn't fall into any category that [CBS] knows how to deal with."
However, the stage was set for his next album. Unlike his work on Shot of Love, his next batch of songs would not be auditioned on stage. As Dylan completed his new songs in private, much time would be spent in Minneapolis catching up with his eldest, 16-year-old son, Jesse
; this involved frequenting performances of New Wave
and punk
acts like The Clash
, Elvis Costello
, Squeeze, and X.
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
's 21st studio album
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
, released by Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
in August 1981.
It is generally considered to be Dylan's last of a trilogy of overtly religious, Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
albums. Also, it was his first since becoming born-again to focus on secular themes, from straight-ahead love songs to an ode to the deceased comedian Lenny Bruce
Lenny Bruce
Leonard Alfred Schneider , better known by the stage name Lenny Bruce, was a Jewish-American comedian, social critic and satirist...
. Arrangements are rooted more in rock'n'roll, less in gospel
Gospel music
Gospel music is music that is written to express either personal, spiritual or a communal belief regarding Christian life, as well as to give a Christian alternative to mainstream secular music....
than on Dylan's previous two albums.
At the time of its release, Shot of Love received mixed reviews; Paul Nelson
Paul Nelson (critic)
Paul Nelson was a folk and rock music critic who wrote for Sing Out! and Rolling Stone. He was instrumental in launching and supporting the careers of Bob Dylan, The New York Dolls, Elliott Murphy, Bruce Springsteen, Jackson Browne and Warren Zevon...
of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
in particular savaged the album, though he did single out the last track, "Every Grain Of Sand," as a stand-out. Shot of Love, while reaching UK #6, continued Dylan's US commercial decline, reaching #33 during a brief chart stay. By contrast, Bono
Bono
Paul David Hewson , most commonly known by his stage name Bono , is an Irish singer, musician, and humanitarian best known for being the main vocalist of the Dublin-based rock band U2. Bono was born and raised in Dublin, Ireland, and attended Mount Temple Comprehensive School where he met his...
of Irish band U2
U2
U2 are an Irish rock band from Dublin. Formed in 1976, the group consists of Bono , The Edge , Adam Clayton , and Larry Mullen, Jr. . U2's early sound was rooted in post-punk but eventually grew to incorporate influences from many genres of popular music...
described Shot of Love as one of his favourites, particularly due to Dylan's singing ability.
The recording sessions
Throughout 1980, Dylan was still focused on religious-oriented music in what was dubbed as his 'Born Again' period. This period was marked by prolific songwriting, and it continued through the summer, when Dylan began work on his follow-up album to SavedSaved (album)
Saved is singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's 20th studio album, released by Columbia Records in June 1980.Saved was the second album of Dylan's "Christian trilogy," following his conversion to born-again Christianity. It expanded on themes explored on its predecessor, Slow Train Coming, with gospel...
. "Property of Jesus," "Yonder Comes Sin," and new arrangements of older material like "Ain't Gonna Go To Hell (For Anybody)" were composed during this time, but the three most important works written that summer were "Every Grain Of Sand," "Caribbean Wind," and "The Groom's Still Waiting At The Altar"; each of these marked a dramatic change in Dylan's lyrical direction, with the latter two "contrast[ing] his troubled sexual relations with the demands of a higher calling," according to author Clinton Heylin.
Then, sometime in mid-September, Dylan reassembled his standing band at Rundown Studios in Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica, California
Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, US. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is surrounded on three sides by the city of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles on the northeast, Mar Vista on the east, and...
, where they recorded a number of his new songs, including "Every Grain Of Sand." (A rough recording of "Every Grain Of Sand" dating from this period was eventually released on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991.)
Dylan then embarked on another tour during the fall of 1980 before returning to his songwriting in the winter. In March 1981, Dylan held more informal sessions at both Rundown and Studio 55, rehearsing some of his new compositions while auditioning a potential producer, Jimmy Iovine
Jimmy Iovine
James "Jimmy" Iovine is an American music producer, entrepreneur and chairman of Interscope-Geffen-A&M.-Biography:...
. These sessions focused on "Caribbean Wind," an ambitious work that was performed once during the fall tour. Already generating interest in the rock press, "Caribbean Wind" was seen as a potential centerpiece for his upcoming album, but it wasn't quite considered finished. Numerous attempts at recording "Caribbean Wind" during the Iovine sessions proved disappointing, with Dylan growing increasingly pessimistic about the song's prospects. Another new composition, "Angelina" was recorded with much greater success, and Dylan was satisfied enough to mark it for inclusion.
In the meantime, Dylan concluded that another producer was needed, but after relieving Iovine of his duties, Dylan struggled to find an appropriate producer, as well as an appropriate studio. Various sessions were booked across Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, including sessions at Cream Studios and United Western Studios. None of these places provided the sound Dylan had in mind but had difficulty creating. The sessions did provide an opportunity to rehearse new compositions, including "In The Summertime," as well as experiment with new ideas.
Dylan resigned himself to Rundown, where he and his band worked through his songs over a period of several weeks. Sometime in late April, veteran producer Bumps Blackwell stopped by to see Dylan. Blackwell was best-known for producing Little Richard
Little Richard
Richard Wayne Penniman , known by the stage name Little Richard, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist, and actor, considered key in the transition from rhythm and blues to rock and roll in the 1950s. He was also the first artist to put the funk in the rock and roll beat and...
's most celebrated recordings, and though the purpose of his visit remains unclear, Blackwell ultimately produced that day's session, supervising recordings of "Trouble," "Magic," and "Shot of Love" that were later selected for the album. The experience gave Dylan an enormous amount of satisfaction, as he would later reveal in subsequent interviews, but Blackwell did not return for further work, possibly because of health issues.
Chuck Plotkin
Chuck Plotkin
Chuck Plotkin is a recording engineer and producer, best known for his work with Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan.-Recording engineer:Plotkin has recorded, engineered, mastered and produced albums by Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, and many other artists, starting with The Floating House Band in 1972...
, who had experience working with Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
, was eventually hired by Dylan on the suggestion of a friend, Debbie Gold. Five sessions were scheduled for Plotkin's Clover Studio, beginning on April 27 and ending on May 1, and work proceeded on songs like "Property of Jesus," "Watered-Down Love," "Heart Of Mine," "Lenny Bruce," "Dead Man, Dead Man," "In The Summertime," and "Every Grain Of Sand," all of which received usable takes that were marked for the album. An extensively rewritten and rearranged version of "Caribbean Wind" was also recorded at Clover, but once again, Dylan was disappointed with the results; it was ultimately set aside for an indefinite amount of time.
On May 12, Dylan and Plotkin sequenced a preliminary version of Shot of Love, but after listening to it the following day, Dylan decided to remove "Angelina" and "Magic" from the final sequence. The remaining nine songs were retained, but Dylan decided to re-record several of those songs. Three re-recordings were eventually used for the final sequence: "Trouble," "Dead Man, Dead Man," and "Heart Of Mine," all of which were taped two to three days after the preliminary sequence was approved.
The mixing process proved rather tense as Plotkin and Dylan had conflicting ideas on how to mix the songs. Plotkin made numerous prototype mixes, delivering each one on cassette dub over to Dylan at Rundown Studios. Most, if not all of them, were rejected. "Chuck [wanted] to get a nice mix at the end of each song," recalls Jim Keltner
Jim Keltner
James Lee "Jim" Keltner is an American drummer known primarily for his session work. He has contributed to the work of many well-known artists...
, "and Bob wouldn't have any of the nice mixes. Most everything you hear on that Shot of Love album turns out to be the monitor mixes." Plotkin spent another month mixing and overdubbing over the nine songs selected for Shot of Love. Mixing was finally completed on June 7, with overdubbing continuing through June 16.
The songs
Unlike Dylan's two previous studio albums (Slow Train ComingSlow Train Coming
Slow Train Coming is singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's 19th studio album, released by Columbia Records in August 1979.It was the artist's first effort since becoming a born-again Christian, and all of the songs either express his strong personal faith, or stress the importance of Christian teachings...
and Saved
Saved (album)
Saved is singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's 20th studio album, released by Columbia Records in June 1980.Saved was the second album of Dylan's "Christian trilogy," following his conversion to born-again Christianity. It expanded on themes explored on its predecessor, Slow Train Coming, with gospel...
), Shot of Love included more secular material as well as overtly religious and evangelistic songs.
The opening title track of Shot of Love either fits somewhere in between, making a few spiritual references while railing against substance abuse as a way of fulfilling or escaping life, or is squarely among his evangelistic songs. Some argue that the "love" the narrator declares he needs a shot of is "agape" and that the theme of this song is, like "Watered Down Love", centered around 1 Corinthians 13
1 Corinthians 13
Chapter 13 of the First Epistle to the Corinthians, written by Paul the apostle covers the subject of love, principally the love that Christians should have for everyone. In the original Greek, the word αγαπη agape is used throughout...
. The 13th chapter of Corinthians is about how all of gifts of God are useless without the love of God for other people. Each verse (except the first which is the song's intro) is a restating of some New Testament verse about Love. Verse 2 ("I seen the kingdoms of the world and it's makin' me feel afraid.") restates 1 John 4:18, "There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear." Verse 3 ("So don't show me no picture show/Don't give me no book to read/It don't satisfy the hurt inside or the habit that it feeds.") is from 1 Corinthians 13:2 "If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge...but have not love, it profits me nothing." Verse 4 and 5 are drawn from Matthew 5:43-44 "I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you." Verse 4 is especially seen as allegorical: Why would I want to take your life?/You've only murdered my father (New York Time famously declaring "God is Dead") /raped his wife (the Church) /Tattooed my babies with a poison pen (perhaps the hostility Dylan's songs had met among the media and in concerts) /Mocked my God/Humiliated my friends." Verse 5 ("My conscience is beginning to bother me today.") is said to riff off of 1 Peter 4:8 "Love will cover a multitude of sins".
"The purpose of music is to elevate and inspire the spirit," Dylan said in a 1983 interview with NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
. "To those who care where Bob Dylan is at, they should listen to "Shot of Love". It's my most perfect song. It defines where I am spiritually, musically, romantically and whatever else. It shows where my sympathies lie. It's all there in that one song." Produced by Bumps Blackwell, it's the only Blackwell production featured on Shot of Love.
The second track on Shot of Love fits, again, somewhere between in secular and religious territory. A slight but jaunty, Tex-Mex number, "Heart of Mine" is a love song, Dylan's first in several years, but it is founded on Jeremiah 17:9 ""The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?". Instead of singing to a person of interest, the narrator addresses his own 'heart,' trying to tame his own impulses and emotions in fear of getting hurt.
An earlier performance was already selected for use when Dylan decided to re-record "Heart of Mine" with Ronnie Wood and Ringo Starr
Ringo Starr
Richard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
. In an interview taken in 1984, Dylan admitted that "["Heart of Mine"] was done a bunch of different ways...but I chose for some reason a particularly funky version of that - and it's really scattered. It's not as good as some of the other versions, but I chose it because Ringo and Ronnie Wood played on it, and we did it in like ten minutes." The original version of "Heart of Mine" remains available only on bootlegs
Bootleg recording
A bootleg recording is an audio or video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority. The process of making and distributing such recordings is known as bootlegging...
.
Continuing the evangelism of Slow Train Coming
Slow Train Coming
Slow Train Coming is singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's 19th studio album, released by Columbia Records in August 1979.It was the artist's first effort since becoming a born-again Christian, and all of the songs either express his strong personal faith, or stress the importance of Christian teachings...
and Saved
Saved (album)
Saved is singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's 20th studio album, released by Columbia Records in June 1980.Saved was the second album of Dylan's "Christian trilogy," following his conversion to born-again Christianity. It expanded on themes explored on its predecessor, Slow Train Coming, with gospel...
, the satirical "Property of Jesus" is another one of Dylan's sharp put-down songs, this time aimed at non-believers who sneer at the Christian faithful.
The fourth track, "Lenny Bruce
Lenny Bruce
Leonard Alfred Schneider , better known by the stage name Lenny Bruce, was a Jewish-American comedian, social critic and satirist...
", is about the subversive Jewish comedian
Comedian
A comedian or comic is a person who seeks to entertain an audience, primarily by making them laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting a fool, as in slapstick, or employing prop comedy...
of that name. An influential entertainer whose use of provocative language led to a famous obscenity trial, Bruce died of a drug overdose
Drug overdose
The term drug overdose describes the ingestion or application of a drug or other substance in quantities greater than are recommended or generally practiced...
in 1966. Despite the secular tone of the lyrics, the music is "anchored in the resolute cadences of piano gospel," according to NPR's Tim Riley. Often regarded as a bizarre tribute, the song portrays Bruce as some kind of martyr, even though its characterizations of Bruce have been described as peculiar and almost non-descript. When Dave Herman
Dave Herman
Dave Herman is a former American collegiate and professional football offensive tackle. He played collegiately for Michigan State University and began his professional career with the American Football League's New York Jets, for whom he played from 1964 through 1969 and for the same team in the...
asked why, after so many years, Dylan chose to write a song about Lenny Bruce (July 2, 1981 interview), he answered, "You know, I have no idea! I wrote that song in five minutes! I found it was a little strange after he died, that people made such a hero out of him. When he was alive he couldn't even get a break. And certainly now, comedy is rank, dirty and vulgar and very unfunny and stupid, wishy-washy and the whole thing....But he was doing this same sort of thing many years ago and maybe some people aren't realizing that there was Lenny Bruce, who did this before and that is what happened to him. So these people can *do* what they're doing now. I don't know."
The first verse might, in fact, be seen to offer a subtle cut to Bruce's imitators for whom the use of profanity is a cheap "shock" gimic, while for Bruce it was a strike for free speech: "He was an outlaw, that's for sure/More of an outlaw than you ever were."
When Shot of Love was reissued for compact disc, "The Groom's Still Waiting At The Altar" was added into the album sequence. Recorded during the Shot of Love sessions, it was originally issued as a B-side to the 45rpm release of "Heart of Mine." Throughout the song, Dylan sings of a theological schism that ultimately separates the narrator and a woman, whom he addresses as 'Claudette.' Widely praised and heavily played on progressive radio, Riley called it "a generous return to slow-burning defiance that restores not only the lust to Dylan's heart, but the power to his voice." Together with "Caribbean Wind" (an outtake discussed below), "The Groom's Still Waiting At The Altar" marked a dramatic change in lyrical direction, one Dylan would continue to follow in his next album, Infidels
Infidels
Infidels is singer-songwriter Bob Dylan's 22nd studio album, released by Columbia Records in October 1983.Produced by Mark Knopfler and Dylan himself, Infidels is seen as his return to secular music, following a conversion to Christianity and three evangelical, gospel records...
.
"Watered-Down Love" is Dylan's version of 1 Corinthian's 13, describing "love that's pure", and lamenting that pure love is not what many people want.
The reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
-tinged "Dead Man, Dead Man" is another evangelical song. As Greil Marcus
Greil Marcus
Greil Marcus is an American author, music journalist and cultural critic. He is notable for producing scholarly and literary essays that place rock music in a much broader framework of culture and politics than is customary in pop music journalism.-Life and career:Marcus was born in San Francisco...
writes in Salon.com, it "is a textbook warning against the devil, if you listen as if you're reading; if you hear it, it's a poker game, and the singer's winning." But, actually, the song's theme is Romans 7:24 "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?", and "dead man" that Dylan is addressing is himself, admitting his moral fallibility and mocking his own appearance "Satan's got you by the heel/There's a bird's nest in your hair."
A song based in wistful retrospection, "In The Summertime" is perhaps the most relaxed, upbeat song on the entire album. Even Paul Nelson of Rolling Stone conceded that "'In the Summertime'...has a lovely feel to it, and Dylan's harmonica
Harmonica
The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
playing hangs in the air like the scent of mimosa
Mimosa
Mimosa is a genus of about 400 species of herbs and shrubs, in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the legume family Fabaceae. The generic name is derived from the Greek word μιμος , meaning "mimic."...
."
"Trouble" is the quintessential blues song about how tribulation is intrinsic to human existence.
In recent years, some critics have grown to appreciate Shot of Love while others continue to disparage it. If there is any critical consensus, it's to be found on the closing track. Marked by an ethereal quality that isn't found elsewhere on Shot of Love, "Every Grain Of Sand" is one Dylan's most celebrated recordings. In this song, Dylan puzzles over the dilemma of whether his disappointments, temptations, failings, and triumphs were due to his actions alone or ordained by God's delivering hand ("I've gone from rags to riches in the sorrows of the night/In the violence of a summer's dream/In the chill of a winter light" and "I hear the ancient footsteps like the motion of the sea/Sometimes I turn and there's someone there, sometimes it's only me").
It's "perhaps his most sublime work to date," writes Clinton Heylin, "the summation of a number of attempts to express what the promise of redemption meant to him personally. One of his most intensely personal songs, it also remains one of his most universal. Detailing 'the time of my confession/the hour of my deepest need,' the song marks the conclusion of his evangelical period as a songwriter, something its position at the conclusion of Shot of Love tacitly acknowledges." Paul Nelson called it "the 'Chimes of Freedom' and 'Mr. Tambourine Man' of Bob Dylan's Christian period...it has surety and strength all down the line. Also vulnerability...Dylan's beautifully idiosyncratic harmonica playing has metamorphosed into an archetype that pierces the heart and moistens the eye. And, for once, the lyrics don't let you down. The artist's Christianity is both palpable and comprehensible...For a moment or two, he touches you, and the gates of heaven dissolve into a universality that has nothing to do with most of the LP."
Tim Riley described "Every Grain of Sand" as "a prayer that inhabits the same intuitive zone as "Blowin' in the Wind
Blowin' in the Wind
"Blowin' in the Wind" is a song written by Bob Dylan and released on his album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan in 1963. Although it has been described as a protest song, it poses a series of questions about peace, war and freedom...
" - you'd swear it was a hymn
Hymn
A hymn is a type of song, usually religious, specifically written for the purpose of praise, adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification...
passed down through the ages." Rock critic Milo Miles wrote, "This is the one Dylan song in ten years...in which he examines a pop-culture paradox (that legendary stars in particular have to believe in ideals greater than themselves) more eloquently than any other performer has." When Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
inducted Dylan into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame on January 20, 1988, he would also cite "Every Grain Of Sand" as an example of his best work.
Outtakes
A very large number of songs recorded during the Shot of Love sessions were ultimately omitted from the final album, but several outtakes later found their way into private circulation.One song in particular was originally intended for Shot of Love, only to be dropped, then later re-instated. That song, "The Groom's Still Waiting at the Altar", was officially released as a B-side before it was added on to the CD issue of Shot of Love.
While "The Groom's Still Waiting at the Altar" had the good fortune of being added to the CD re-issue of the album, another outtake that was given B-side status did not fare so well. Dylan recorded a new version of the song "Let It Be Me" in May 1981. He had previously recorded a version for the 1970 LP Self-Portrait. This new recording was released as a B-side on the "Heart of Mine" single, and has not appeared on any mainstream Dylan release since. The single was released only in Europe and Australia, and has never appeared on a Dylan album.
In 1991, Columbia released several more outtakes on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991. One of the more notable outtakes was "Angelina", an evocative ballad that many critics have written about over the years. According to Heylin, who praised the recording for its "seductive" vocal, it was "another classic composition about a witchy woman manipulating the singer as 'marching men [are] trying to take heaven by force.'" Originally intended for Shot of Love, it was sequenced as the final track before it was omitted altogether.
Another song, "Caribbean Wind", is perhaps the most famous outtake of the Shot of Love sessions. It was first performed live on stage in San Francisco, California, at the Fox Warfield Theater on November 12, 1980. A soundboard recording of this performance eventually found its way into private circulation, where it quickly gained a reputation as one of Dylan's most promising compositions.
"Caribbean Wind" carries many similarities to "The Groom's Still Waiting at the Altar." Heylin called the songs "soul partners. If "Caribbean Wind" and "The Groom's Still Waiting At The Altar" do not deal with the same relationship, they address markedly similar ones. Both are set within an omnipresent soundscape of imminent apocalypse. In "Caribbean Wind", the backdrop is messengers 'bringing evil reports, of rioting armies and time that is short.'" The first of several songs written when Dylan began sailing the Caribbean in late 1979, "Caribbean Wind" was started in St. Vincent, where Dylan "woke up from a strange dream in the hot sun...I was thinking about living with somebody for all the wrong reasons."
"Caribbean Wind" does not seem to have received its first studio performance until March 1981. Based on a copy of an early studio performance which found its way into private circulation, Dylan had already rewritten several lines. He was never able to get a satisfactory performance of "Caribbean Wind" within the confines of a studio. Over a period of several weeks, Dylan would rewrite (and re-record) "Caribbean Wind" numerous times, often to the detriment of the composition, as Dylan himself would admit in later interviews. "He struggled with it," recalls drummer Jim Keltner
Jim Keltner
James Lee "Jim" Keltner is an American drummer known primarily for his session work. He has contributed to the work of many well-known artists...
, "and I could never figure out why...It was just one of those songs - it had great potential. The song was fantastic to play, but every time you'd hear it back there was something missing." A later studio performance was issued on 1985's retrospective Biograph; the only performance of "Caribbean Wind" ever to be officially released, it was dismissed by many critics, including Paul Williams and Clinton Heylin, who were familiar with earlier recordings circulating among collectors.
Here is a track listing of known outtakes, only some of which have seen official release. Many tracks are not circulating.
- "Ah, Ah, Ah"
- "All The Way Down (never commercially released, circulating)
- "Almost Persuaded"
- "Angelina" (4 May 1981) released on The Bootleg Series 1-3.
- "The Ballad of Ira Hayes"
- "Be Careful"
- "Blue T/L"
- "Bolero"
- "Don't Ever Take Yourself Away" (released on Hawaii Five-O - Original Songs From The Television Series, 2011)
- "Don't Let Her Know"
- "Caribbean Wind", released on Biograph
- "Caribbean Wind" (alternate version, circulating)
- "Cold, Cold Heart" (Hank Williams)
- "Every Grain of Sand", (23 September 1980) Publishing demo for Special Rider Music, released on The Bootleg Series 1-3.
- "Fur Slippers"
- "The Girl from Louisville"
- "Gonna Love You Anyway"
- "Half as Much" (Hank Williams)
- "Heart Of Mine" (alternate version) (never commercially released, circulating)
- "High Away" (never commercially released, circulating)
- "I Want You To Know I Love You" (never commercially released, circulating)
- "I Wish It Would Rain"
- "In a Battle"
- "Instrumental Jam 1"
- "Instrumental Jam 2"
- "Instrumental Calypso"
- "Is It Worth It" (never commercially released, circulating)
- "It's All Dangerous To Me
- "The King is on the Throne
- "Let It Be Me" B-side to Europe/Australia single, NOT the Self-Portrait version.
- "Let Me See"
- "Magic" (never commercially released, circulating)
- "Minute by Minute"
- "More To This Than Meets the Eye"
- "Movin' (On The Water)" (never commercially released, circulating)
- "My Girl (It’s Growing) " (Instrumental)
- "My Oriental Home" (Instrumental) (never commercially released, circulating)
- "Mystery TrainMystery Train"Mystery Train" is a song written by Junior Parker and Sam Phillips. It was first recorded in Phillip's Memphis Recording Service and Sun Records at 706 Union Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee in 1953. Raymond Hill plays tenor sax and Matt Murphy plays lead guitar with Bill Johnson on piano, Pat Hare on...
" (Sam PhillipsSam PhillipsSamuel Cornelius Phillips , better known as Sam Phillips, was an American businessman, record executive, record producer and DJ who played an important role in the emergence of rock and roll as the major form of popular music in the 1950s...
, Junior ParkerJunior ParkerJunior Parker was an American Memphis blues singer and musician. He is best remembered for his unique voice which has been described as "honeyed," and "velvet-smooth"...
) (never commercially released, circulating) - "Need a Woman" (4 May 1981) released on The Bootleg Series 1-3
- "On A Rockin' Boat" (never commercially released, circulating)
- "Reach Out"
- "Singing This Song For You"
- "Shot Of Love" (alternate version) (never commercially released, circulating)
- "Straw Hat"
- "Walking on Eggs"
- "Watered Down Love" (alternate version) (never commercially released, circulating)
- "Well Water"
- "We're (Living) On Borrowed Time" (never commercially released)
- "Wild Mountain Thyme"
- "Wind Blows On The Water" (never commercially released, circulating)
- "Yes Sir, No Sir (Hallelujah)" (never commercially released, circulating)
- "Yonder Comes Sin" (never commercially released, circulating)
- "You Changed My Life" (23 April 1981) released on The Bootleg Series 1-3
- "You're Still A Child To Me" (never commercially released, circulating)
In addition, there are several unidentified songs known to exist. Dylan also recorded a large number of unreleased instrumental tracks during the Shot of Love sessions.
Aftermath
A number of critics had already turned on Dylan for the evangelism of his last two albums, but the reception for Shot of Love was particularly harsh. Despite lavish praise of "Every Grain Of Sand," Paul Nelson of Rolling Stone savaged the rest of the album. Nick KentNick Kent
Nick Kent is a British rock critic and musician.-Career:Along with writers including Paul Morley, Charles Shaar Murray and Danny Baker, Nick Kent is seen as one of the most important and influential UK music journalists of the 1970s. He wrote for the British music publication New Musical Express,...
of New Musical Express called it "Dylan's worst album to date." Despite heavy touring in Europe and North America (in which all but two songs were performed), sales of Shot of Love were below CBS's expectations. Still, in an interview taken in 1983, Dylan would describe Shot of Love as a personal favorite.
Religion still held a strong place in Dylan's work, but as 1981 came to a close, his religious songs gave way to more secular material. During concerts in the summer of 1981, he covered Dave Mason
Dave Mason
David Thomas "Dave" Mason is an English singer, songwriter, and guitarist from Worcester, who first found fame with the rock band Traffic...
's "We Just Disagree
We Just Disagree
"We Just Disagree" is a song by English singer-guitarist Dave Mason, written by Jim Krueger.-Dave Mason version:Released in August 1977 as the second single from the album Let It Flow, the ballad about no-fault divorce featured Krueger's 12-string guitar prominently; the author also sang the...
" and Dion
Dion DiMucci
Dion Francis DiMucci , better known as Dion, is an American singer-songwriter whose work has incorporated elements of doo-wop, pop oldies music, rock and R&B styles....
's "Abraham, Martin & John". Some fans took the latter as a veiled ode to John Lennon
John Lennon
John Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
, who was shot and killed the preceding winter. Clinton Heylin notes, "Dylan was audibly coming to the end of this particular road."
1982 then began with personal tragedy when Dylan's close and longtime friend Howard Alk
Howard Alk
-Career:Alk enrolled in the University of Chicago at the age of 14. He was a member of the Compass Players cabaret troupe and one of the founders of The Second City. Alk had previously worked with Sills at the Gate of Horn. According to Sahlins, Alk coined the group's name...
was found dead at Rundown Studios on New Year's Day. His death was ruled a suicide. As Heylin reports, "recent months had seen the deaths of guitarist Michael Bloomfield
Mike Bloomfield
Michael Bernard "Mike" Bloomfield was an American musician, guitarist, and composer, born in Chicago, Illinois, who became one of the first popular music superstars of the 1960s to earn his reputation almost entirely on his instrumental prowess, since he rarely sang before 1969–70...
and fellow Christian musician Keith Green
Keith Green
Keith Gordon Green was an American gospel singer, songwriter, musician, and Contemporary Christian Music artist originally from Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, New York. Beyond his music, Green is best known for his strong devotion to Christian evangelism and challenging others to the same...
," all of whom worked with Dylan, but Alk's death marked the end of an era. Dylan would soon dissolve his standing band, and he would not tour again until 1984. Sometime after June 1982, Dylan closed down Rundown Studios.
Shot of Love was the last album issued under a contract signed with CBS in 1978, but despite the decline in his commercial standing, Dylan was re-signed to another contract (a five-year, five-album deal) in July 1982.
Much of 1982 was relatively quiet in terms of musical activity. An album of duets was recorded with his lover Clydie King
Clydie King
Clydie Crittendon is an American singer, best known for her session work as a backing vocalist....
at Gold Star Studios, but it would remain unreleased. At the time Dylan explained, "it doesn't fall into any category that [CBS] knows how to deal with."
However, the stage was set for his next album. Unlike his work on Shot of Love, his next batch of songs would not be auditioned on stage. As Dylan completed his new songs in private, much time would be spent in Minneapolis catching up with his eldest, 16-year-old son, Jesse
Jesse Dylan
Jesse Dylan is an American film director, and the founder, CEO and creative director of the media production company Wondros.-Personal Life:...
; this involved frequenting performances of New Wave
New Wave music
New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...
and punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
acts like The Clash
The Clash
The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
, Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
, Squeeze, and X.
Track listing
All songs by Bob Dylan.- "Shot of Love" – 4:18
- "Heart of Mine" – 4:29
- "Property of Jesus" – 4:33
- "Lenny Bruce" – 4:32
- "Watered-Down Love" – 4:10
- "Dead Man, Dead Man" – 3:58
- "In the Summertime" – 3:34
- "Trouble" – 4:32
- "Every Grain of SandEvery Grain of SandEvery Grain of Sand is a song written by Bob Dylan and originally released on his 1981 album Shot of Love. It was subsequently included on the compilation Biograph. An alternate take of this song was released in The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 1961-1991...
" – 6:12
- "The Groom's Still Waiting at the Altar", originally the B-side to "Heart of Mine" and included only on cassette release, was added to Shot of Love as track 6 in 1985 (song one on side two of the vinyl LP), and has been present in all subsequent pressings.
Personnel
- Bumps Blackwell – producer
- Carolyn DennisCarolyn DennisCarolyn Dennis , sometimes known professionally as Carol Dennis or Carol Dennis-Dylan, is an American singer and actor best known for her work with and marriage to Bob Dylan.-Early life:...
– vocals, background vocals - Steve DouglasSteve Douglas (saxophonist)Steven Douglas Kreisman , better known as Steve Douglas, was an American saxophonist, flautist and clarinetist. Douglas is best known as a Los Angeles session musician, a member of The Wrecking Crew, who worked with Phil Spector, Brian Wilson and The Beach Boys...
– saxophone - Tim DrummondTim DrummondTim Drummond is an American bass guitarist who has toured and recorded with many notable artists including Conway Twitty, Bob Dylan, James Brown, Eric Clapton, Neil Young, Crosby, Stills, & Nash, Ry Cooder, J. J. Cale, Lonnie Mack, Miles Davis, B.B...
– bass - Donald "Duck" Dunn – bass
- Bob Dylan – guitar, harmonica, percussion, piano, keyboards, vocals, producer
- Jim KeltnerJim KeltnerJames Lee "Jim" Keltner is an American drummer known primarily for his session work. He has contributed to the work of many well-known artists...
– drums - Clydie KingClydie KingClydie Crittendon is an American singer, best known for her session work as a backing vocalist....
– vocals, background vocals - Danny "Kootch" Kortchmar – guitar, electric guitar
- Regina McCrory – vocals, background vocals
- Ken Perry – original LP mastering
- Vic Anesini – CD mastering
- Carl Pickhardt – piano
- Chuck PlotkinChuck PlotkinChuck Plotkin is a recording engineer and producer, best known for his work with Bruce Springsteen and Bob Dylan.-Recording engineer:Plotkin has recorded, engineered, mastered and produced albums by Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, and many other artists, starting with The Floating House Band in 1972...
– producer - Madelyn Quebec – vocals, background vocals
- Steve RipleySteve RipleySteve Ripley is a recording artist, songwriter, studio engineer, guitarist, and inventor. He has been active in the music business since 1977...
– guitar - Toby Scott – engineer
- Dana Bisbee - assistant engineer
- William D. "Smitty" Smith – organ
- Ringo StarrRingo StarrRichard Starkey, MBE better known by his stage name Ringo Starr, is an English musician and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for The Beatles. When the band formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool band, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. He became The Beatles' drummer in...
– drums, tom-tom - Fred TackettFred TackettFred Tackett, an American native of Arkansas, is an accomplished songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Originally a session player on guitar, mandolin, and trumpet, he is best known for his longevity as a member of the band Little Feat....
– guitar - Benmont TenchBenmont TenchBenjamin Montmorency Tench, III is an American keyboardist best known as a founding member of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.-Early years:...
– keyboards - Ronnie Wood – guitar
- Monalisa Young – vocals