# Best opening lines in a song **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** music\ **Created:** [February 3, 2022, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/958866 "2022-02-03T18:45:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Wolf333](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf333/32/3460_2.png) [@Wolf333](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolf333)\ **Post date:** [February 6, 2022, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/958866/121 "2022-02-06T22:04:52Z")
I woke up this morning With a bad hangover And my penis was missing again “Detachable Penis” by King Missile ---
**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:** [February 7, 2022, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/958866/122 "2022-02-07T04:19:15Z")
> [@lost4life](#): > > Does _Kick out the jams, motherfuckers_ count? It’s almost not part of the song, but the perfect introduction to the song. Which immediately made me think of another “intro” line: _ **I am the God of Hellfire!** _ _ **And I bring you…** _ . . _ **Fire…** _ (Arthur Brown, all over the “cool” radio stations in the '60s.) ---
**Author:** ![tfhickman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7ab992/32.png) [@tfhickman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tfhickman)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2022, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/958866/123 "2022-02-07T15:23:21Z")
Joe Jackson- - Is She Really Going Out With Him? “Pretty women out walking with gorillas down my street From my window I’m staring while my coffee grows cold-” ---
**Author:** ![Made\_in\_Macau](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eada6e/32.png) [@Made\_in\_Macau](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Made_in_Macau)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2022, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/958866/124 "2022-02-07T16:50:02Z")
BBC radio had a poll on this a few years ago and the clear winner was, ‘I saw a werewolf with a chinese menu in his hand Walking through the streets of Soho in the rain.’ Warren Zevon’s Werewolves of London Earlier today i heard 'River of Orchids by XTC, which starts with - ‘I heard a dandelion roar in Piccadilly Circus’ MiM ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2022, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/958866/125 "2022-02-07T17:06:44Z")
I rather like L.I.F.E.G.O.E.S.O.N. by Noah And The Whale. > Lisa likes brandy and the way it hits her lips > She’s a rock ‘n’ roll survivor with pendulum hips > She’s got deep brown eyes > That’ve seen it all… So far as I can tell the song did nothing in the US, so here it is for the curious - spoilered for a slightly rude line. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCHzicKq3W4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mCHzicKq3W4) j ---
**Author:** ![Chez\_Guevara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/aeb1de/32.png) [@Chez\_Guevara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chez_Guevara)\ **Post date:** [February 7, 2022, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/958866/126 "2022-02-07T17:50:12Z")
‘Graceful fat Sheba, she works with a meatcleaver Sweating behind the meat counter Her skin, it leaks liquid, the odour is sickly Her features aren’t unlike a swan Her poetic, gluttonic waist is impressive She smiles as she hacks up a pig.’ Tyrannosaurus Rex, from ‘My People Were Fair and Had Sky in Their Hair… But now they’re Content to Wear Stars on Their Brows’, ---
**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:** [February 7, 2022, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/958866/127 "2022-02-07T18:15:20Z")
The more Bruce Cockburn I hear, the more I’m intrigued by his lyrics: (Sorry, I edited out a bunch, but there are lots…) . _Tokyo_ They’re getting prepared to haul a car out of the river Noise and smoke and concrete seem to be going on forever Grinding gears and drivers getting high on exhaust I’m thinking about the water down below and what got lost Pachinko jingle and space torpedo beams Comic book violence and escaping steam Grey suited business men pissing against the wall Cut to crumbling guardrail, slow motion, car fall… . _Pacing The Cage_ Sunset is an angel weeping Holding out a bloody sword No matter how I squint I cannot Make out what it’s pointing toward Sometimes you feel like you’ve lived too long Days drip slowly on the page And you catch yourself… Pacing the cage. . _Hoop Dancer (spoken)_ Tokyo. Jetlag. Evening. Walking. Out of my throat appears this chuckle, a true 20th Century sound… a little crazed and having no tonal centre. The echoes of this laugh fade for a long time Snaking among those jumbled pedestrians Following that struggling Cedric taxicab Sliding over the seeming infinity of white light and neon… . Sometimes they’re just fun: _Peggy’s Kitchen Wall_ Crashing in the kitchen, noises in the hall Roll over and go back to sleep, it’s just a dream, that’s all So how come the window’s broken? What caused the glass to fall? And who put that bullet hole in Peggy’s kitchen wall? . _You Pay Your Money And You Take Your Chance_ Woman cry, chase man down street, crying “No Chuckie, no, please don’t!” Another girl comes, they run along St. Andrew, turn south on Kensington. Meanwhile Chuckie beats it down the alley by the chicken packer’s, By the time I reach the corner they’ve all vanished. Just a deaf kid talking like Popeye to a large fleshy laughing man in a blue shirt. . _The Gift_ May you never tire of waiting, never feel that life is cheap. May your life be filled with light (except for when you’re trying to sleep). . _The Trouble With Normal (Early 80s, but still relevant)_ Strikes across the frontier and strikes for higher wage Planet lurches to the right as ideologies engage Suddenly it’s repression, moratorium on rights What did they think the politics of panic would invite? Person in the street shrugs, “Security comes first” But the trouble with normal is it always gets worse The trouble with normal is it always gets worse . And maybe his most well known: _Wondering Where The Lions Are_ **Sun’s up… uh huh, looks okay** **The world survives into another day** And I’m thinking 'bout eternity Some kinda ecstasy got a hold on me (I often say those first two lines as I walk out into the morning.) . And finally, an early, quiet song that he ends many of his concerts with: _All the Diamonds_ All the diamonds in this world That mean anything to me Are conjured up by wind and sunlight Sparkling on the sea ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2022, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/958866/128 "2022-02-08T00:33:47Z")
Too much Elvis is barely enough: _It’s at times such as this, she’d be tempted to spit_ _If she wasn’t so ladylike_ _She imagines how she might have lived_ _Back when legends and history collide_ _So she looks to her prince finding he’s so charmingly_ _Slumped at her side_ _Those days are recalled on the gallery wall_ _And she’s waiting for passion or humour to strike_ _[Chorus]_ _What shall we do, what shall we do_ _With all this useless beauty?_ _All this useless beauty_ ---
**Author:** ![rocking\_chair](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocking_chair/32/2918_2.png) [@rocking\_chair](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rocking_chair)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2022, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/958866/129 "2022-02-08T01:55:53Z")
My child arrived just the other day… Harry Chaplin ---
**Author:** ![ZonexandScout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zonexandscout/32/544_2.png) [@ZonexandScout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZonexandScout)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2022, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/958866/130 "2022-02-08T12:34:53Z")
Something about the way you taste Makes me want to clear my throat. There’s a message to your movements That really gets my goat. -DEVO, _Gut Feeling_ ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2022, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/958866/131 "2022-02-08T13:46:54Z")
_Here come old flat top_ _He come grooving up slowly_ _He got joo joo eyeball_ _He one holy roller_ _He got hair down to his knee_ _Got to be a joker he just do what he please_ ---
**Author:** ![Crane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crane/32/3495_2.png) [@Crane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crane)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2022, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/958866/132 "2022-02-08T14:27:16Z")
I touch your lips, that’s when the trouble starts a-brewin’ I can’t resist the brand of ‘bacca you are chewin’ **LI’L OLE KISS OF FIRE** (Lester Allen / Robert Hill) **Homer** & **Jethro** - 1952 ---
**Author:** ![Sitnam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Sitnam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sitnam)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2022, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/958866/133 "2022-02-08T15:14:34Z")
Shot through the heart And you’re to blame Darlin’, you give love a bad name _THEN_ the music starts. Epic. ---
**Author:** ![xenophon41](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xenophon41/32/253_2.png) [@xenophon41](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xenophon41)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2022, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/958866/134 "2022-02-08T22:59:22Z")
Some good ones already mentioned from Warren Zevon, who was incapable of writing poor lyrics I think. Here’s a couple of my favorites: _I was sitting in the Hollywood Hawaiian Hotel_ _I was staring in my empty coffee cup_ _I was thinking that the gypsy wasn’t lyin’_ _All the salty margaritas in Los Angeles_ _I’m gonna drink 'em up_ _And if California slides into the ocean_ _Like the mystics and statistics say it will_ _I predict this motel will be standing until I pay my bill_ Desperadoes Under the Eaves The phone don’t ring And the sun refuse to shine Never thought I’d have to pay so dearly For what was already mine For such a long, long time Accidentally Like A Martyr Most any random line in a Zevon song is a “best line” contender. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2022, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/958866/135 "2022-02-08T23:27:13Z")
Al Stewart ‘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” ---
**Author:** ![bleach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bleach/32/3106_2.png) [@bleach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bleach)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2022, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/958866/136 "2022-02-08T23:28:03Z")
Put down that chainsaw and listen to me. _Dare to be Stupid_, “Weird” Al Yankovic I’m a street walking cheetah with a heart full of napalm. _Search and Destroy_, Iggy Pop and the Stooges I am woman, hear me roar. _I Am Woman_, Helen Reddy Oh. My. God. Debbie, look at her butt. _Baby Got Back_, Sir Mix-A-Lot ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2022, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/958866/137 "2022-02-08T23:28:14Z")
I had a dream decades ago about a choir singing “Desperados Under the Eves”, and still remember it vividly. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2022, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/958866/138 "2022-02-08T23:30:09Z")
> [@P-man](#): > > “Desperados Under the Eves” Was that intentional? ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2022, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/958866/139 "2022-02-08T23:41:05Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > Al Stewart ‘Year of the Cat’ +1 🙃 > [@Best opening lines in a song](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/958866/50): > > Year of the Cat - Al Stewart "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" ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2022, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/958866/140 "2022-02-08T23:43:31Z")
> [@penultima\_thule](#): > > +1 🙃 That’s just how good that line is! 😉 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/958866.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-opening-lines-in-a-song/958866.md?page=8)