"Shimmer" is Fuel

Fuel (band)

Fuel is an American rock band formed by guitarist/songwriter Carl Bell and bassist Jeff Abercrombie in 1989. Originally known as Small the Joy, they changed the group's name to Fuel sometime in 1994...

's first single from their album Sunburn. It was released on August 25, 1998.

Written by guitarist/songwriter Carl Bell

Carl Bell (musician)

Carl Bell is an American musician and producer born January 9, 1967 in Kenton, Tennessee. He founded the hard rock band Fuel with long-time friend and band member Jeff Abercrombie. Bell was the principal songwriter and lyricist for the band and performed guitar and backing vocals from the band's...

, the single peaked at #42 on the Billboard Hot 100

Billboard Hot 100

The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...

.

Lyrical meaning

The lyrics of this song talk about Carl Bell's ex-girlfriend who is suffering from a bad marriage that she can't get out of.

Lyrical Structure

This song is known for having a couple of verses each followed by a short chorus for the first minute and 30 seconds, then leading into a series of six verses sung "It's too far away for me to hold, too far away" with a short instrumental break coming in between the second and third of these "Too far away" verses. The last line in the song is then sung "Guess I'll let it go".

Music video

The music video has the band performing the song (mostly centered on singer Brett Scallions

Brett Scallions

Brett Allen Scallions is an American musician. He is currently the lead vocalist for current lineup of Fuel after being the vocalist for the original incarnation of the band from 1993 to 2006. During that time, the band released multiple albums including the double platinum Something Like Human...

) and has short flashes to things like a mother and infant child and a dog.

Track listing

All songs written by Carl Bell

Carl Bell (musician)

Carl Bell is an American musician and producer born January 9, 1967 in Kenton, Tennessee. He founded the hard rock band Fuel with long-time friend and band member Jeff Abercrombie. Bell was the principal songwriter and lyricist for the band and performed guitar and backing vocals from the band's...

.

1. "Shimmer" - 3:31
2. "Walk the Sky" - 3:19
3. "Sunday Girl" - 3:41

Critical response

Billboard

Billboard (magazine)

Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...

said that "the best thing about 'Shimmer' is that it doesn't wallow in angst melodrama or reek of kiddie-pop sugar," and called it "vibrant, aggressive rock' n'roll for adults."