Shooting Star - Bad Company (cover-live by Bill Sharkey)

Shooting Star (Bad Company, 1975). Live cover performance by Bill Sharkey, Home Studio, Hawaii Kai, HI. 2023-12-28 "Keeping the Oldies & Classics Alive"

"Shooting Star," written by Paul Rodgers, was released on Bad Company's sophomore album in 1975, "Straight Shooter," and became a staple of FM rock stations (allmusic, 2023; wikipedia, 2023). Rodgers "wrote 'Shooting Star' as a cautionary tale inspired by the untimely deaths of rock legends" (L. Tanos, grunge, May 14, 2021). In an interview with Redbeard, Rogers explained the spark for the song: "I had seen the way certain people had gone, and it seemed a shame to me that . . . it had to be ah it shouldn't have to be that way . . . It shouldn't have to be in order to be a successful and happy musician you had to burn yourself out to do so. It didn't seem that ah, it seemed ashamed that Hendrix and Janis Joplin and even Paul Kossoff, yeah, it just went through my mind and I just started to sing 'Johnny was a schoolboy' and the whole thing just laid itself out for me; almost wrote itself actually" (Redbeard, inthestudio, 2015). Drummer Simon Kirke added "It was a sort of homage to the pitfalls of being in the rock world. You can let the success go to your head and you can get strung out and you can die. It's very, very simple. And, unfortunately, it's happening with alarming frequency to this day. Addiction will always be with us. But 'Shooting Star' was based on a composite of musicians" (songfacts, 2023).

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Lyrics:

Johnny was a school boy when he heard his first Beatles song
Love Me Do, I think it was and from there it didn't take him long
Got himself a guitar, used to play every night
Now he's in a rock & roll outfit, and everything's all right
Don't you know?

Johnny told his Momma, Hey Momma I'm goin' away
I'm gonna hit the big time, gonna be a big star someday
Momma came to the door with a tear drop in her eye
Johnny said, Don't cry Momma smile & wave goodbye

Don't you know, yeah, yeah
Don't you know that you are a shooting star
Don't you know, don't you know
Don't you know that you are a shooting star
And all the world will love you just as long
As long as you are

Johnny made a record, went straight up to number one
Suddenly everyone loved to hear him sing the song
Watching the world go by, surprisin' it goes so fast
Johnny looked around him and said
Well, I made the big time at last
Don't you know, don't you know

Don't you know that you are a shooting star
Don't you know, woah yeah
Don't you know that you are a shooting star, yeah
And all the world will love you just as long
As long as you are, a shooting star

Don't you know that you are a shooting star
Don't you know, ahhh
Don't you know that you are a shooting star
And all the world will love you just as long
As long as you are

Johnny died one night, died in his bed
Bottle of whiskey, sleepin' tablets by his head
Johnny's life passed him by like a warm summer day
If you listen to the wind, you can still hear him play
Woah...

Don't you know that you are a shooting star
Don't you know, don't you know
Don't you know that you are a shooting star
Don't you know

Don't you know that you are a shooting star
Don't you, don't you, don't you, don't you, don't you know
Don't you know you are a shooting star