#160 / Delaney Drottar: Shooting Star

Bob Dylan's "Shooting Star" almost always moves me to tears. Click here to listen to the version from Dylan's Oh Mercy album. 

Dylan's song appeals to our memory of those we have loved and lost, those left behind. It is charged with a celebration of the fleeting beauty of this life, and it is filled with both appreciation and regret. "Shooting Star" invariably makes me think about my friends and acquaintances long gone, and perhaps about my parents most of all. 

That second verse has always been the real killer verse for me:

Seen a shooting star tonight
And I thought of you
You were trying to break into another world
A world I never knew
I always kind of wondered
If you ever made it through
Seen a shooting star tonight
And I thought of you

Seen a shooting star tonight
And I thought of me
If I was still the same
If I ever became what you wanted me to be
Did I miss the mark or overstep the line
That only you could see?
Seen a shooting star tonight
And I thought of me

Listen to the engine, listen to the bell
As the last fire truck from hell
Goes rolling by
All good people are praying
It’s the last temptation, the last account
The last time you might hear the sermon on the mount
The last radio is playing

Seen a shooting star tonight
Slip away
Tomorrow will be
Another day
Guess it’s too late to say the things to you
That you needed to hear me say
Seen a shooting star tonight
Slip away

Yesterday, at the Fifth Grade graduation at the Main Street School in Soquel, I heard a completely different song, sung by the graduates, but with that same title, "Shooting Star." Here's a picture, taken at that graduation. That's my granddaughter Delaney Drottar with the mike, which was passed on down the line, so all took part!

The "Shooting Star" song sung yesterday, like Dylan's song, is a celebration of the fleeting nature of this life, and of how important each one of us is to the other persons whose lives touch ours. We are all so important to each other, though we may not really know how true that is until we find ourselves looking back. It is nice to know that they are teaching them young!

I especially like the chorus:

And I was thinking maybe somewhere later down the road
After all our stories have been told
I'll sit and think of you, the dear friend I once knew
Shot through my life like a shooting star.

I happen to remember, quite well, my Fifth Grade class: First friends, I'd call them, just like in "Bob Dylan's Dream."

How many a year has passed and gone?

Many a gamble has been lost and won

And many a road taken by many a first friend

And each one I've never seen again

Full lyrics for the Main Street School "Shooting Star" song are shown below. I am going to remember how it sounded as my granddaughter sang it. She and those other shooting stars.

For those not privileged to have been at that Fifth Grade graduation, here is how it sounded. Just like the Dylan song, it brought me to tears:

SHOOTING STAR
Please won't you catch a shooting star for me
And take it with you on your way
Though it seems that we just met, you're the one I won't forget
Hope some kind wind blows you back my way 

CHORUS:
And I was thinking maybe somewhere later down the road
After all our stories have been told
I'll sit and think of you, the dear friend I once knew
Shot through my life like a shooting star. 

Sometimes I know, that a part of you will show
Deep in my eyes or in my smile
There will always be a part of you deep inside my heart
And I'll know just when to let it show  

CHORUS:
And I was thinking maybe somewhere later down the road
After all our stories have been told
I'll sit and think of you, the dear friend I once knew
Shot through my life like a shooting star. 

You are so dear, you're my light and shining star
You brighten up my each and every day
You are so near, but soon you'll be so far
So why not just hold my hand today.  

CHORUS:
And I was thinking maybe somewhere later down the road
After all our stories have been told
I'll sit and think of you, the dear friend I once knew
Shot through my life like a shooting star.

Image Credits:

(1) - http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-03-20/shooting-star/8360820

(2) - Gary Patton personal photo

(3) - Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utk5w0sI0Zg