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1981, music is changing, especially "old" rock seems almost suffocated by new "rock vanguards" like New Wave and Heavy Metal, at opposite ends, climbing the charts and convincing crowds of fans. Dylan, gives a final twist to his old music which had already undergone two epochal transformations, from the folk of his beginnings to the subsequent rock-blues with which he laid the foundations for a type of rock artist that many would draw inspiration from. This Shot of Love closes the "Christian" trilogy, after Slow Train Coming (1979) and Saved (1980); of the three albums, it is considered the weakest and this is precisely the point on which I think I will spark quite a bit of controversy, because, contrary to many authoritative opinions, I believe this album is the most inspired of the three. The writer considers Slow Train Coming and Saved (the first half a notch above the second) to be two excellent albums, "half-masterpieces" as a dear friend of mine used to say when he didn't want to use the (heavy) word masterpiece too lightly. One of the reasons the album was belittled is the fact that the final twist to the old music I mentioned earlier leads the artist into pop territory, after the Gospel that had seasoned the rock of the first two chapters of the Christian trilogy, now Dylan's rock "gets dirty" with pop, but still leaves the absolute beauty of the compositions contained in this work very much alive, indeed more prominent compared to the "forced" gospel of the previous works. Shot of Love opens the album and is a "perfect" song, dominated by an incredible musical balance, rock on an almost reggae rhythm with gospel choirs that recall its origin from the previous repertoire: I consider this piece a jewel of composition. It is followed by another incredibly innovative piece, Heart of Mine, after many years a love song, the last very dark ones we heard in the older (1975) Blood on the Tracks: we are in the field of the purest pop with an almost funky flavor; Dylan hosts two great musicians, friends, Ringo Starr and Ronnie Wood. Another masterpiece is Lenny Bruce, dedicated to a Jewish comedian who gained some success in America in the early '60s, but was also heavily opposed for the profanity he often used in his shows, which was very illegal at the time: the piece is a delicate blues-gospel piano piece, the result, as admitted by Dylan himself, of a fleeting sudden inspiration and recorded directly. Pure reggae and gutsy blues can be heard respectively in Dead Man, Dead Man and Trouble, two well-crafted tracks that lead to the concluding Every Grain of Sand, in my opinion one of Dylan's most beautiful songs, a liturgical hymn, a pop prayer, on whose chords many pieces have been composed in the following years.
To whom do I recommend this album? To all those who think they are great connoisseurs of Dylan, but have never heard this gem or, if they have, only gave it a superficial listen.
Tracklist Lyrics and Samples
03 Property of Jesus (04:36)
Go ahead and talk about him because he makes you doubt,
Because he has denied himself the things that you can't live without.
Laugh at him behind his back just like the others do,
Remind him of what he used to be when he comes walkin' through.
He's the property of Jesus
Resent him to the bone
You got something better
You've got a heart of stone
Stop your conversation when he passes on the street,
Hope he falls upon himself, oh, won't that be sweet
Because he can't be exploited by superstition anymore
Because he can't be bribed or bought by the things that you adore.
He's the property of Jesus
Resent him to the bone
You got something better
You've got a heart of stone
When the whip that's keeping you in line doesn't make him jump,
Say he's hard-of-hearin', say that he's a chump.
Say he's out of step with reality as you try to test his nerve
Because he doesn't pay no tribute to the king that you serve.
He's the property of Jesus
Resent him to the bone
You got something better
You've got a heart of stone
Say that he's a loser 'cause he got no common sense
Because he don't increase his worth at someone else's expense.
Because he's not afraid of trying, 'cause he don't look at you and smile,
'Cause he doesn't tell you jokes or fairy tales, say he's got no style.
He's the property of Jesus
Resent him to the bone
You got something better
You've got a heart of stone
You can laugh at salvation, you can play Olympic games,
You think that when you rest at last you'll go back from where you came.
But you've picked up quite a story and you've changed since the womb.
What happened to the real you, you've been captured but by whom?
He's the property of Jesus
Resent him to the bone
You got something better
You've got a heart of stone
04 Lenny Bruce (04:35)
Lenny Bruce is dead but his ghost lives on and on
Never did get any Golden Globe award, never made it to Synanon.
He was an outlaw, that's for sure,
More of an outlaw than you ever were.
Lenny Bruce is gone but his spirit's livin' on and on.
Maybe he had some problems, maybe some things that he couldn't work out
But he sure was funny and he sure told the truth and he knew what he was talkin'
about. Never robbed any churches nor cut off any babies' heads,
He just took the folks in high places and he shined a light in their beds.
He's on some other shore, he didn't wanna live anymore.
Lenny Bruce is dead but he didn't commit any crime
He just had the insight to rip off the lid before its time.
I rode with him in a taxi once, only for a mile and a half,
Seemed like it took a couple of months.
Lenny Bruce moved on and like the ones that killed him, gone.
They said that he was sick 'cause he didn't play by the rules
He just showed the wise men of his day to be nothing more than fools.
They stamped him and they labeled him like they do with pants and shirts,
He fought a war on a battlefield where every victory hurts.
Lenny Bruce was bad, he was the brother that you never had.
08 In the Summertime (03:36)
I was in your presence for an hour or so
Or was it a day? I truly don't know.
Where the sun never set, where the trees hung low
By that soft and shining sea.
Did you respect me for what I did
Or for what I didn't do, or for keeping it hid?
Did I lose my mind when I tried to get rid
Of everything you see?
In the summertime, ah-a in the summertime,
In the summertime when you were with me.
I got the heart and you got the blood,
We cut through iron and we cut through mud.
Then came the warnin' that was before the flood
That set everybody free.
Fools they made a mock of sin,
Our loyalty they tried to win
But you were closer to me than my next of kin
When they didn't want to know or see.
In the summertime, ah-a in the summertime,
In the summertime when you were with me.
Strangers, they meddled in our affairs,
Poverty and shame was theirs.
But all that sufferin' was not to be compared
With the glory that is to be.
And I'm still carrying the gift you gave,
It's a part of me now, it's been cherished and saved,
It'll be with me unto the grave
And then unto eternity.
In the summertime, ah-a in the summertime,
In the summertime when you were with me.
10 Every Grain of Sand (06:12)
In the time of my confession, in the hour of my deepest need
When the pool of tears beneath my feet flood every newborn seed
There's a dyin' voice within me reaching out somewhere,
Toiling in the danger and in the morals of despair.
Don't have the inclination to look back on any mistake,
Like Cain, I now behold this chain of events that I must break.
In the fury of the moment I can see the Master's hand
In every leaf that trembles, in every grain of sand.
Oh, the flowers of indulgence and the weeds of yesteryear,
Like criminals, they have choked the breath of conscience and good cheer.
The sun beat down upon the steps of time to light the way
To ease the pain of idleness and the memory of decay.
I gaze into the doorway of temptation's angry flame
And every time I pass that way I always hear my name.
Then onward in my journey I come to understand
That every hair is numbered like every grain of sand.
I have gone from rags to riches in the sorrow of the night
In the violence of a summer's dream, in the chill of a wintry light,
In the bitter dance of loneliness fading into space,
In the broken mirror of innocence on each forgotten face.
I hear the ancient footsteps like the motion of the sea
Sometimes I turn, there's someone there, other times it's only me.
I am hanging in the balance of the reality of man
Like every sparrow falling, like every grain of sand.
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Other reviews
By ilsuonatorejones
"If it weren’t for one of Dylan’s ten best songs present on this album, 'Every Grain Of Sand', there would be no reason to talk about 'Shot Of Love'."
"Pearls are lost to nothingness."
