# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-first-line-music/500826/41 "2009-06-25T08:42:53Z")
_Left his great job behind…_ Jayhawks Has special meaning for me, as does most of the rest of the song. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-first-line-music/500826/42 "2009-06-25T09:22:22Z")
I met a gin soaked barroom queen in Memphis -Stones Well I was rolling down the road in some cold blue steel I had a bluesman in the back and a beautician at the wheel -ZZ Top ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 10:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-first-line-music/500826/43 "2009-06-25T10:01:54Z")
_I am he as you are he as you are me as we are all together_ - The Beatles - In the day we sweat it out in the streets of a runaway American dream At night we ride through mansions of glory in suicide machines\* - Bruce Springsteen ---
**Author:** ![GargoyleWB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gargoylewb/32/199_2.png) [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-first-line-music/500826/44 "2009-06-25T15:00:26Z")
“Mother do you think they’ll drop the bomb” - Pink Floyd. It really stands out when listening to the album through as a whole, coming after a quiet fade out interlude. “It’s been 7 hours and 15 days” - Sinead O’Conner (props to Prince for writing, he’s great at first lines) ---
**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 25, 2009, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-first-line-music/500826/45 "2009-06-25T16:00:45Z")
> [@cactus\_waltz](#): > > _It was Christas eve, babe > In the drunk tank_ > > - the Pogues, Fairy tale of New York Hell yeah. ---
**Author:** ![Emily\_Litella](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emily_litella/32/3370_2.png) [@Emily\_Litella](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emily_Litella)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-first-line-music/500826/46 "2009-06-25T17:33:03Z")
I’m in the phone booth it’s the one across the hall If you don’t answer I’ll just ring it off the wall… Blondie’s Hanging on the Telephone ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-first-line-music/500826/47 "2009-06-25T17:42:56Z")
“I’m alone” _The Metro_, Berlin ---
**Author:** ![GrandWino](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grandwino/32/67_2.png) [@GrandWino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GrandWino)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-first-line-music/500826/48 "2009-06-25T17:45:49Z")
I offer up two from Wilco: “The ashtray says, we were up all night.” -_Shot in the Arm_ and “I dreamed about killing you again last night, and it felt alright to me.” -_Via Chicago_ ---
**Author:** ![filling\_pages](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9bd4f/32.png) [@filling\_pages](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/filling_pages)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-first-line-music/500826/49 "2009-06-25T18:25:44Z")
I’ve been saying let me out of here before I was even born… (“Blank Generation”, Richard Hell and the Voidoids) She was a fast machine, she kept her motor clean, she was the best damn woman that I ever seen… (“You Shook Me All Night Long”, ACmuthafuckinDC) ---
**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 25, 2009, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-first-line-music/500826/50 "2009-06-25T18:34:58Z")
> [@Emily\_Litella](#): > > I’m in the phone booth it’s the one across the hall > If you don’t answer I’ll just ring it off the wall… > > Blondie’s Hanging on the Telephone To be fair, that was actually written and originally performed by The Nerves. ---
**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 25, 2009, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-first-line-music/500826/51 "2009-06-25T18:36:09Z")
> [@filling\_pages](#): > > I’ve been saying let me out of here before I was even born… > (“Blank Generation”, Richard Hell and the Voidoids) “…it’s such a gamble when you get a face” is a great follow-up line as well. ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-first-line-music/500826/52 "2009-06-25T19:39:11Z")
Aisha, we’ve only just met and I think you ought to know, I’m a murderer . **Aisha** - by _Death in Vegas_ ---
**Author:** ![Drain\_Bead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e47774/32.png) [@Drain\_Bead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drain_Bead)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2009, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-first-line-music/500826/53 "2009-06-25T19:51:40Z")
What a drag it is, gettin’ old… ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-first-line-music/500826/54 "2009-06-26T03:02:46Z")
“He was born a little baby on the Appalachian Trial At six months old he’d done three months in jail” **Bruce - Outlaw Pete** ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-first-line-music/500826/55 "2009-06-26T03:36:30Z")
“Wake up, Maggie, I think I’ve got something to say to you It’s late September and I really should be back at school” (Maggie May, Rod Stewart) Sets up the whole song, tells you everything you need to know about the \*backstory \* and the characters in just two lines, and does so without being at all heavy-handed or awkward. ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-first-line-music/500826/56 "2009-06-26T03:45:42Z")
> [@WordMan](#): > > > [@](#): > > > > She was just seventeen - you know what I mean Yep, that’s awesome as well. Trivia: McCartney had the opening lines as “She was just seventeen / never been a beauty queen.” Lennon effected the change to the more ambiguous, streetwise, and, well, \*Lennonian \*lyric in the finished product. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 4:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-first-line-music/500826/57 "2009-06-26T04:55:26Z")
> [@](#): > > I walk 47 miles of barbed wire, > I use a cobra-snake for a necktie, > I got a brand new house on the roadside, > Made from rattlesnake hide. Bo Diddley, “Who Do You Love?” > [@](#): > > I got on a city bus and found a vacant seat, > I thought i saw my future bride walking up the street. Chuck Berry, “Nadine” > [@](#): > > I met her in a club down in North Soho > Where you drink champagne and it tastes just like Coca Cola, > C-O-L-A Cola. The Kinks, “Lola” ---
**Author:** ![GESancMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gesancman/32/2923_2.png) [@GESancMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GESancMan)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-first-line-music/500826/58 "2009-06-26T08:42:12Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Guys, please remember the OP asked for 1st lines of 1st songs on 1st albums. Here’s a couple: **Marillion** , debut album _Script for a Jester’s Tear_, first song (title track): So here I am once more, in the playground of the broken hearts One more experience, one more entry in a diary self-penned Yet another emotional suicide, overdosed on sentiment and pride **IQ** , debut album _Seven Stories Into Eight_, first song “Capital Letters (in Surgical Spirit Land)”: If only I were a snake I would fly from tree to tree And eat the coconuts from their holes Ha ha ha (that’s actually the entire lyric) ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-first-line-music/500826/59 "2009-06-26T10:04:18Z")
With no genetic code, so pathetic am I Don’t have the luxury of knowing someday I’ll die ([The song](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxWSxdNUG60) is from the point of view of a sentient computer abandoned on a deserted space station.) ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2009, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-first-line-music/500826/60 "2009-06-26T11:18:09Z")
_“I left by the back door With my wife’s lover’s smoking gun”_ – Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, _We Came Along this Road_ Tells you the whole story right there. > [@cactus\_waltz](#): > > _It was Christas eve, babe > In the drunk tank_ > > - the Pogues, Fairy tale of New York Oh yes, great call! Gets you right in the guts, that one. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-first-line-music/500826.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-first-line-music/500826.md?page=4)