# Favorite Song Opening Lines **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 27, 2000, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-song-opening-lines/16509 "2000-04-27T18:44:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Crown\_Prince\_of\_Irony](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ed655f/32.png) [@Crown\_Prince\_of\_Irony](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crown_Prince_of_Irony)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2000, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-song-opening-lines/16509/41 "2000-05-03T18:35:11Z")
"I leave my oasis, and I struggle through the desert When I know there ain’t no water out there Set out from the farmland, in search of rocky soil When I know I cannot plant a flower there" From the same song as my sig line, “The King of Futility”. ---
**Author:** ![Odieman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a87d85/32.png) [@Odieman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odieman)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2000, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-song-opening-lines/16509/42 "2000-05-03T18:58:10Z")
“All the snow has turned to water, Christmas time has come and gone” Souvenirs John Prine and Steve Goodman “Big gorilla in the LA zoo snatched the glasses right off my face, stole the keys to my BMW, left me here to take his place” Warren Zevon Gorilla You’re a Desperado “I saw her standing on her front lawn, twirling her baton” Nebraska Bruce Springsteen Keith ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2000, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-song-opening-lines/16509/43 "2000-05-03T19:47:48Z")
The easily offended or humorless may want to skip to the next post … Best opening lyrics: “It was the biggest cock you’d ever seen But you’ve no idea where that cock has been” (Arab Strap, “Packs of Three”) and “Oh the snot has caked against my pants It has turned into crystal” (Love, “Live And Let Live” - I think) Both of these records are much nicer listening than these lyrics suggest 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![flup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d07c76/32.png) [@flup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flup)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2000, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-song-opening-lines/16509/44 "2000-05-03T20:07:52Z")
“Fool enough to almost be it. Cool enough to not quite see it. Doomed.” “Mayonaise” The Smashing Pumpkins ---
**Author:** ![Geobabe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/geobabe/32/3908_2.png) [@Geobabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geobabe)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2000, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-song-opening-lines/16509/45 "2000-05-03T20:20:30Z")
I love all the TMBG lines! Nobody yet has mentioned my **favorite** group, Garbage, which has some great lines: From their first album: “Queer” Hey boy, take a look at me Let me dirty up your mind “Vow” I can’t use what I can’t abuse From _Version 2.0_, which I have been listening to for the last week: “Temptation Waits” I’ll tell you something I am a wolf but I like to wear sheep’s clothing I am a bonfire I am a vampire I’m waiting for my moment “You Look So Fine” You look so fine I want to break your heart And give you mine On a side note, I’m straight, but I am **so** madly in love with Shirley Manson–I’ve seen them in concert three times, and she has got the most amazing energy. WOW. ---
**Author:** ![Nacho4Sara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Nacho4Sara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nacho4Sara)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2000, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-song-opening-lines/16509/46 "2000-05-03T20:44:19Z")
“I knew a girl named Nikki I guess you could say she was a sex fiend. Met her in a hotel lobby masturbating with a magazine.” Prince, Darling Nikki (I am torn between thinking this line is the stupidest or the coolest line ever, but it certainly grabs my attention. God I love Prince.) “World was on fire and no one could save me but you.” Chris Isaac, Wicked Game “It was a stormy night, ya know the kind where the lightning strike, and I was hanging out with some of my artsy friends, oweeoweeowww.” Erykah Badu, Apple Tree “Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup/ they slither while they pass/ they slip away across the universe.” John Lennon, Across the Universe “I was staring at the sky, just looking for a star to pray on or wish on or something like that.” Fiona Apple, Paper Bag “Well she’s walking through the clouds with a circus mind running round/ butterflies and zebras and moonbeams and fairy tales/ all she ever talks about it riding with the wind.” Jimi Hendrix (redone by Sting, my fave), Little Wing ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2000, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-song-opening-lines/16509/47 "2000-05-03T21:08:41Z")
**Geobabe** , you forgot my all-time favorite TMBG song! The opening line, and only line: “Minimum waaaaaage! Hyah!” ---
**Author:** ![Geobabe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/geobabe/32/3908_2.png) [@Geobabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Geobabe)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2000, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-song-opening-lines/16509/48 "2000-05-03T21:50:53Z")
**Beadalin** said: “Geobabe, you forgot my all-time favorite TMBG song!” Umm, I didn’t quote _any_ TMBG songs…I was just seconding the ones that had already been cited. I was putting in a plug for **Garbage**. Just wanted to clear that up, 'cuz I just hate getting blamed for something I didn’t do! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![jayron\_32](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/41988e/32.png) [@jayron\_32](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayron_32)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2000, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-song-opening-lines/16509/49 "2000-05-03T21:55:48Z")
Bruce has some of the best opening lines around. Surprised no one has mentioned the classic: In the days we’d sweat it out on the streets of a run-away american dream At night we’d ride to mansions of glory in suicide machines – Bruce Springsteen “Born to Run” Here’s another: I’m packed and I’m holding, I’m smiling, I’m leaving She goes then she leaves for me, say’s she leaves for me elation whoa motivation she comes round and she goes down on me. – Third Eye Blind “Semi-Charmed Life” I sit around and watch the phone but no ones calling. Call me pathetic call me what you will – Greenday “Longview” I can’t stand it, I know you planned it. I’m gonna set it straight, this Watergate. You can’t see nothing when your in here, guess your crystal ball ain’t so crystal clear I just sit back and wonder why I’ve got this f\*\*\*ing thorn in my side – Beastie Boys “Sabotage” You say you’ve got a revolution, well you know we’re all trying to change the world. – Beatles “Revolution” ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2000, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-song-opening-lines/16509/50 "2000-05-03T22:13:16Z")
Clearly my brain is on vacation today. I meant to write Democritus, and then scanned to make sure no one else had named Minimum Wage. Geobabe’s name was the last one I saw with TMBG by it, so I wrote that. That’s what I get for posting too quickly. Sorry. Also I have thought of a few more: “I change my clothes ten times Before I take you on a date I’m in a cold sweat, my panic it makes me late I know you never asked for this I know My shots will always miss” –The Police “Aisha, we’ve only just met, and I think you oughta know I’m a murderer” –Death in Vegas ---
**Author:** ![robbaba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a4c791/32.png) [@robbaba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robbaba)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2000, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-song-opening-lines/16509/51 "2000-05-03T22:28:44Z")
Nobody has mentioned the Replacements yet? C’mon you guys! If it’s a temporary lull Why am I bored right out of my skull And I’m dressin sharp and feelin dull A dream too tired to come true Like a rebel without a clue And I’m looking for something to do -The Replacements “I’ll be you” ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2000, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-song-opening-lines/16509/52 "2000-05-03T22:36:25Z")
Ladies let me tell you about myself I’ve got a dick for a brain and my brain is going to sell my ass to you. -Be Sweet, Afghan Whigs. Lost my shape, trying to act casual can’t stop, I might end up in the hospital -Crosseyed and Painless, Talking Heads What does friend mean to you? A word so wrongfully abused. Are you like me, confused? -Frogs, Alice in Chains ---
**Author:** ![brittainy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a88e4f/32.png) [@brittainy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brittainy)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2000, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-song-opening-lines/16509/53 "2000-05-03T22:40:02Z")
“What is it that makes me just a little bit queasy?” Pajamas in the daytime!!! Afternoons and Coffeespoons—Crash Test Dummies ---
**Author:** ![Odieman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a87d85/32.png) [@Odieman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odieman)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2000, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-song-opening-lines/16509/54 "2000-05-03T22:43:19Z")
OK Robbabba “God what a mess on the ladder of success” Bastards of Young. "You Don’t wear no suit, you don’t wear no tie.Waitress in the Sky, both by the Replacements Keith ---
**Author:** ![KP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a9adbd/32.png) [@KP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KP)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2000, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-song-opening-lines/16509/55 "2000-05-04T00:27:50Z")
Wow, really great lines here. Enough to send me down to the CD store. Here are some classics, IMHO The instant image at the start of King of Pain (Sting) “There’s a little black spot on the sun today…” The way Steely Dan ‘Deacon Blues’ sets the stage: “This is the day of the expanding man, That shape is my shade, there where I used to stand,” “Man in the mirror” (Michael Jackson) picks me right up (It was on my 5-song morning wakey-wakey tape throughout med school) “I’m gonna make a change, For once in my life, It’s gonna feel real good, Gonna make a difference, Gonna make it right.” For me, one of the most gut wrenching ‘Hey man, I been there’ first lines for me was “At this Moment” (Billy Vera and the Beaters) “What did you think I would do at this moment When you’re standing before me With tears in your eyes…” And for some reason, “Lives in the balance” (Jackson Brown), a song that just flew past me for a decade, now hits me like a rock - very moving (But, I hope, not prophetic) I’ve been waiting for something to happen For a week or a month or a year With the blood in the ink of the headlines And the sound of the crowd in my ear You might ask what it takes to remember When you know that you’ve seen it before Where a government lies to a people And a country is drifting to war ---
**Author:** ![KP](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a9adbd/32.png) [@KP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KP)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2000, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-song-opening-lines/16509/56 "2000-05-04T00:29:21Z")
These three song, whose opening lines say it all,were the trilogy of my entry into the world of dating in at the teen transition (12-15). Looking back, I was a bit precocious -and darn lucky!- but at the time I considered my romantic life a constant slo-mo meltdown [I must be getting old and nostalgic] Sister Golden Hair (America) pretty much summed up half my life… “Well I tried to make it Sunday, But I got so damned depressed That I set my sights on monday, and i got myself undressed…” “That it Easy” (Eagles or Jackson Brown, whichever version you prefer) summed up the other half: “Running down the road trying to loosen my load I’ve got seven women on my mind Four that want to stone me, Two that want to own me, One says she’s a friend of mine” (Take it easy Eagles or Jackson Browne; Whichever version you prefered) Which summed up the other half… Put the two moods together, and you get “Part of the plan” (Dan Fogelberg) I have these moments All steady and strong I’m feeling so holy and humble; The next thing I know I’m all worried and weak And I feel myself Starting to crumble. The meanings get lost And the teachings get tossed And you don’t know what you’re Going to do next. You wait for the sun But it never quite comes, Then some kind of message Comes through to you, Some kind of message shoots through… ---
**Author:** ![Nacho4Sara](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Nacho4Sara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nacho4Sara)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2000, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-song-opening-lines/16509/57 "2000-05-04T03:49:01Z")
Found some more: “MMMMM, my lips hurt…MMMM…Tie me up, tie me up.” ~ Janet Jackson, Rope Burn (So that’s why they call her Miss. Nasty) “I’m so tired of playing, playing with this bow and arrow.” ~ Portishead, Glory Box. (If you hear the actual song, the intro is enthralling.) “You look like the perfect thing for the girl in need of a tourniquet.” ~Aimee Mann, Save Me (I think that’s what she is saying. Makes sense to me.) ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2000, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-song-opening-lines/16509/58 "2000-05-04T06:25:55Z")
“Grandpa pissed his pants again, He don’t give a damn. Brother Billy’s got both guns drawn, He ain’t been right since Vietnam.” - “Play it All Night Long” - Warren Zevon ---
**Author:** ![hawthorne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@hawthorne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawthorne)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2000, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-song-opening-lines/16509/59 "2000-05-04T07:10:50Z")
This is turning into a Zevon fest. The 'phone don’t ring, no And the sun refused to shine Never thought I’d have to pay so dearly For what was already mine Accidentally Like a Martyr ---
**Author:** ![chief](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df788c/32.png) [@chief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chief)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2000, 10:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-song-opening-lines/16509/60 "2000-05-04T10:53:55Z")
Welcome To The Jungle (Guns N’ Roses) Appetite For Destruction Welcome to the jungle We’ve got fun ‘n’ games We got everything you want Honey, we know the names We are the people that can find Whatever you may need If you got the money, honey We got your disease In the jungle Welcome to the jungle Watch it bring you to your knees, knees I wanna watch you bleed and, Sympathy For The Devil (Jagger/Richards) Please allow me to introduce myself I’m a man of wealth and taste I’ve been around for a long long year stolen many man’s soul and faith I was around when Jesus Christ had His moment of doubt and pain Made damn sure that Pilate washed his hands and sealed His fate Pleased to meet you hope you guess my name But what’s puzzling you is the nature of my game when i think of more i will post them [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-song-opening-lines/16509.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-song-opening-lines/16509.md?page=4)