# Best first line (music) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 24, 2009, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-first-line-music/500826 "2009-06-24T13:54:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-first-line-music/500826/21 "2009-06-24T20:00:21Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > Oh, good _call_. Gotta concur. Another favorite is Elvis Costello’s “Tokyo Storm Warning”: “The sky fell over cheap Korean monster-movie scenery And spilled into the mezzanine of the crushed-capsule hotel” ---
**Author:** ![thwartme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@thwartme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thwartme)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-first-line-music/500826/22 "2009-06-24T20:04:19Z")
First line, first song, first album: “_Madman drummers bummers and Indians in the summer with a teenage diplomat/In the dumps with the mumps as the adolescent pumps his way into his hat_” - Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band, Greetings From Asbury Park, “Blinded By The Light” I’ve always thought that it took some serious guts to kick things off with that song. thwartme ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-first-line-music/500826/23 "2009-06-24T20:31:28Z")
"Please allow me to introduce myself . . . . " ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-first-line-music/500826/24 "2009-06-24T20:36:50Z")
Hey hey mama said the way you move Gonna make you sweat, gonna make you groove ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-first-line-music/500826/25 "2009-06-24T20:43:16Z")
> [@Voyager](#): > > Two from Dylan: > > I ran out most hurriedly, and joined the John Birch Society > > and > > God said to Abraham, kill me a son Johnny’s in the basement Mixing up the medicine I’m on the pavement Thinking about the government… Dylan - Subterranean Homesick Blues ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-first-line-music/500826/26 "2009-06-24T20:43:53Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > "Please allow me to introduce myself . . . . " +1 ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-first-line-music/500826/27 "2009-06-24T21:06:27Z")
Guys, please remember the OP asked for 1st lines of 1st songs on 1st albums. (Yeah, I know JJ was in the Runaways…) ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2009, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-first-line-music/500826/28 "2009-06-24T22:22:19Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Guys, please remember the OP asked for 1st lines of 1st songs on 1st albums. Nope. The OP discussed the first line of the first song of a first album and then asked for the best first lines which is, at best, ambiguous. And seriously, who even knows what position a song was on an album any more. I’m willing to participate in a Cafe Society thread, but I’ll be darned if I’ll do \* research \* for one. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-first-line-music/500826/29 "2009-06-25T00:56:54Z")
Well, if we count the US version of the album, here’s a first line of a first album: “I tripped the light fandango.” ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-first-line-music/500826/30 "2009-06-25T01:38:15Z")
> [@labtrash](#): > > “I saw a werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hand, walking through the streets of Soho in the rain.” > > Werewolves of London - Warren Zevon Play It All Night Long-Zevon “Grandpa pissed his pants again He don’t give a damn Brother Billy has both guns drawn He ain’t been right since Viet Nam” ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-first-line-music/500826/31 "2009-06-25T01:41:17Z")
Why don’t we do it in the road? ---
**Author:** ![ArizonaTeach](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/45deac/32.png) [@ArizonaTeach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ArizonaTeach)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-first-line-music/500826/32 "2009-06-25T01:44:26Z")
> [@labtrash](#): > > “I saw a werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hand, walking through the streets of Soho in the rain.” > > Werewolves of London - Warren Zevon [Yep. This is the winner (literally).](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3684055.stm) ---
**Author:** ![MadTheSwine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MadTheSwine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MadTheSwine)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-first-line-music/500826/33 "2009-06-25T01:48:56Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Why don’t we do it in the road? That’s the 4th line, silly. ---
**Author:** ![Ferd\_Burfel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@Ferd\_Burfel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferd_Burfel)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-first-line-music/500826/34 "2009-06-25T02:13:37Z")
“Welcome back my friends To the show that never ends.” **Karn Evil #9** , Emerson, Lake & Palmer ---
**Author:** ![infinitii](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e8c25b/32.png) [@infinitii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/infinitii)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-first-line-music/500826/35 "2009-06-25T02:54:26Z")
“Never was a Navy brat But my father was yeah He warned me not to make Friends with weather” Meg & Dia, “One Sail” ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-first-line-music/500826/36 "2009-06-25T03:28:54Z")
“One soft infested summer me and Terri became friends Trying in vain to breathe the fire we was born in” **Bruce - Backstreets** ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Ed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Just\_Ed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Ed)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-first-line-music/500826/37 "2009-06-25T03:42:04Z")
**Led Zeppelin** - _Good Times, Bad Times_: > [@](#): > > In the days of my youth, I was told what it means to be a man > Now I’ve reached that age I’ve tried to do all those things the best I can **The Doors** - _Break on Through_ > [@](#): > > You know the day destroys the night > Night divides the day I love the bravado of **Jet** - _Last chance_: > [@](#): > > You ain’t nothing to me if you got nothing to say > I don’t know what you got that I can use anyway ---
**Author:** ![Idlewild](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8491ac/32.png) [@Idlewild](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Idlewild)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-first-line-music/500826/38 "2009-06-25T04:14:29Z")
I am fond of _Fake Palindromes_ by Andrew Bird, which opens with: “my dewy-eyed Disney bride what has tried swapping your blood with formaldehyde? Monsters?” Andrew Bird’s lyrics tend to be deliciously wordy in general. For sheer impact, Regina Spektor belting out: “I kissed your lips and I tasted blood” at the start of _Your Honor_ works for me. Um. I guess those are the ones that stick out to me from my recent playlists. I don’t know about best. ---
**Author:** ![cactus\_waltz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@cactus\_waltz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cactus_waltz)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-first-line-music/500826/39 "2009-06-25T04:57:06Z")
_It was Christas eve, babe In the drunk tank_ - the Pogues, Fairy tale of New York - I’ve been waiting for a guide to come and take me by the hand\* - Joy Division, Disorder (first line, first album to boot) ---
**Author:** ![furt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/439d5e/32.png) [@furt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furt)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-first-line-music/500826/40 "2009-06-25T05:11:28Z")
Got a wife and kids in Baltimore, Jack I went out for a ride and I never went back [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-first-line-music/500826.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-first-line-music/500826.md?page=3)