# Best opening lines in a song **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 9, 2018, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/824228 "2018-11-09T04:19:36Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![mako88sb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@mako88sb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mako88sb)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2018, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/824228/61 "2018-11-11T03:35:11Z")
Al Stewart “The Year of the Cat” On a morning from a Bogart movie In a country where they turn back time You go strolling through the crowd like Peter Lorre Contemplating a crime She comes out of the sun in a silk dress running Like a watercolor in the rain Don’t bother asking for explanations She’ll just tell you that she came In the year of the cat Asia “Without You” Gazing at a sunrise reflected in your clear eyes Misty morning forest, smoke fires Make our way through the broken day I couldn’t stand to stay without you ---
**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:** [November 11, 2018, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/824228/62 "2018-11-11T03:47:36Z")
I’m gonna beat **Beck** to this one: _Well, I woke up Sunday morning With no way to hold my head that didn’t hurt._ ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2018, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/824228/63 "2018-11-12T04:05:18Z")
Funny how some lyrics rise to the top due to the times, the _zeitgeist…_ Even an old Elvis Costello song I haven’t heard in years. But lately, when people ask me how I’m doing, the first thing that springs to mind is: _Well, I used to be disgusted, Now I try to be amused._ Come to think of it… _As I walk through this wicked world…_ works, too. ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2018, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/824228/64 "2018-11-12T04:17:18Z")
I wokle up this morning and my penis was missing again. This happens all the time. It’s detachable. ---
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2018, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/824228/65 "2018-11-12T04:45:25Z")
"You gotta lot of nerve to say you are my friend. When I was down, you just stood there grinning’" ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2018, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/824228/66 "2018-11-12T18:57:37Z")
Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy? Caught in a landslide, no escape from reality ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2018, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/824228/67 "2018-11-14T16:31:42Z")
Early one morning while making the rounds I took a shot of cocaine and I shot my woman down I went right home and I went to bed I stuck that lovin’ forty-four beneath my head. -Johnny Cash, the original gangster rapper. ---
**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:** [November 14, 2018, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/824228/68 "2018-11-14T17:13:35Z")
Waiting for an invitation to arrive Going to a party where no one’s still alive ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2018, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/824228/69 "2018-11-14T18:12:39Z")
And now the purple dusk of twilight time Steals across the meadows of my heart. High up in the sky the little stars climb, Always reminding me that we’re apart. (“Stardust”) ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2018, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/824228/70 "2018-11-14T20:29:21Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > Early one morning while making the rounds > I took a shot of cocaine and I shot my woman down > I went right home and I went to bed > I stuck that lovin’ forty-four beneath my head. > -Johnny Cash, the original gangster rapper. If he was the original, there were lots of pre-originals. [Here’s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DVnW6Y0xVJg)one. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2018, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/824228/71 "2018-11-14T20:31:03Z")
One more from Dylan: Ain’t it just like the night to play tricks when you’re tryin’ to be so quiet? We sit here stranded, though we’re all doin’ our best to deny it (Visions Of Johanna) ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2018, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/824228/72 "2018-11-14T20:34:46Z")
I saw a werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hand Walking through the streets of Soho in the rain He was looking for the place called Lee Ho Fook’s Gonna get a big dish of beef chow mein Dennis is a menace with his “anyone for tennis?” And beseeching me to come and keep the score And Maud saya “Oh Lord! I’m so terribly bored!” I really can’t stand it anymore ---
**Author:** ![ShadowFacts](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shadowfacts/32/2934_2.png) [@ShadowFacts](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShadowFacts)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2018, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/824228/73 "2018-11-14T21:34:05Z")
_Everybody knows the boat is sinking Everybody knows the captain lied Everybody’s got this broken feeling Like their father or their dog just died_ – Everybody Knows, Leonard Cohen _Wasted and wounded It ain’t what the moon did Got what I paid for now_ – Tom Traubert’s Blues, Tom Waits ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2018, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/824228/74 "2018-11-15T03:19:14Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > I’m gonna beat **Beck** to this one: > > _Well, I woke up Sunday morning > With no way to hold my head that didn’t hurt._ Kristofferson is one of the great lyricists in American music: _See the ruins on the hill Where the smoke is hanging still, Like the echo of an age long forgotten. There’s a story of a home, Crushed beneath those blackened bones. And a roof that fell, before the beams were rotten._ - “Darby’s Castle “ _Casey joins the hollow sound Of silent people walking down The stairway to the subway and the shadows down below. Following their footsteps through the neon-darkened corridor Of silent desperation, Never speaking to a soul._ - “Casey’s Last Ride” Ani DiFranco’s another: _Sitting in the board room, The I’m-so-bored room, Listening to the suits talk about their world. They can make straight lines Out of almost anything ‘Cept for the lines of my upper lip, When it curls._ - “Blood In The Boardroom” _I opened up a bank account when I was nine years old I closed it when I was eighteen I gave them every penny I’d earned and they gave my blood and my urine a number And now I am sitting in this waiting room, playing with the toys. I am here to exercise My freedom of choice._ - “Lost Woman Song” ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2018, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/824228/75 "2018-11-15T03:23:19Z")
Leonard Cohen. Like a bird on a wire, Like a drunk on the midnight flyer, I have tried in my way to be free. ---
**Author:** ![WreckingCrew](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wreckingcrew/32/4080_2.png) [@WreckingCrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WreckingCrew)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2018, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/824228/76 "2018-11-15T03:31:49Z")
The local rock group down the street Is trying hard to learn their song They serenade the weekend squire Who just came out to mow his lawn ---
**Author:** ![jaycat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jaycat/32/3015_2.png) [@jaycat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jaycat)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2018, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/824228/77 "2018-11-15T03:39:11Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > Leonard Cohen. > > Like a bird on a wire, > Like a drunk on the midnight flyer, > I have tried in my way to be free. Someone will be along to correct you. ---
**Author:** ![Sparky812](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb9ed0/32.png) [@Sparky812](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sparky812)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2018, 1:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/824228/78 "2018-11-15T13:06:06Z")
> [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](#): > > Leonard Cohen. > > Like a bird on a wire, > Like a drunk on the midnight flyer, > I have tried in my way to be free. > [@jaycat](#): > > Someone will be along to correct you. ☹ how to miss the entire sentiment of a song. ---
**Author:** ![Stuntman\_Mike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stuntman_mike/32/334_2.png) [@Stuntman\_Mike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stuntman_Mike)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2018, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/824228/79 "2018-11-15T15:16:19Z")
1. **Hank Williams III… "Straight To Hell"** \*Well my worn-out boots are taking me downtown and I’m looking for trouble and I wanna get loud. Serve me up a drink and I’ll shoot it right down and I’ll jump up on the bar and holler “One more round!” I’m going straight to hell\* 1. **The Hollies… "The Air that I Breathe"** _If I could make a wish I think I’d pass Can’t think of anything I need_ ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2018, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/824228/80 "2018-11-15T15:57:49Z")
I’ve always liked the lyrics of early Marillion A hand held over a candle in angst fuelled bravado A carbon trail scores a moist stretched palm The sky was Bible black in Lyon When I met the Magdalene She was paralysed in a streetlight She refused to give her name When the taxis gather in mock Solemnity Funeral hearses court the death of virginity A love song with no validity Pretend you never meant that much to me Numb, a Valium child, bored by meaningless collisions A lonely stretch of headlight, diamonds trapped in black ice A mirror cracked among the white lines I saw a war widow in a launderette Washing the memories from her husband’s clothes She had medals pinned to a threadbare greatcoat A lump in her throat with cemetery eyes [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/824228.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/824228.md?page=5)