As a take-off of Kepi’s wonderful thread, I wanna hear people’s opinions on the flat-out best opening lines to songs. I’ll start off with two of my favorites; as you’ll see, I’m a big fan of “clever” and, well, “weird.”
From Something Changed, by Pulp:
I wrote this song two hours before we met
I didn’t know your name or what you looked like yet
From Handcuffed to a Fence in Mississippi, by Jim White:
Well, I’m handcuffed to a fence in Mississippi
My girlfriend blows a boozy goodbye kiss
I see flying squirrels and nightmares of stigmata
Then awaken to find my Trans Am gone
Just the first thing that came to mind. I liked these lyrics from the very first time I put the album on.
Highway 61 Revisted from Highway 61 Revisited:
God said to Abraham, “Kill me a son”
Abe says, “Man, you must be puttin’ me on”
God say, “No.” Abe say, “What?”
God say, “You can do what you want Abe, but
next time you see me comin’ you better run”
Well Abe says, “Where do you want this killin’ done?”
God says, “Out on Highway 61.”
Well, somebody knocking on my door
Well, somebody knocking on my door
I’m so worried, don’t know where to go… Moanin’ at Midnight. A big part of this is the sound of the band and the spooky moaning before the lyrics, but the words are still powerful.
A UK magazine just did a poll on this, and the winner was Warren Zevon’s [iWerewolves of London:
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 Fooks,
Gonna get a big dish of beef chow mein.
*
I bet your eyes aren’t really that blue, I think they’ve been airbrushed in by an artist who doesn’t care.
And I bet your hair isn’t really that blonde, but isn’t it the way we wanted it to be.
–Hefner, Eloping
Sobriety breeds sincerity, and Lydia Pond she is my gravity.
I don’t know how she felt when she took that E,
But in the morning she was shaking, she was twitching, she was jerking.
Some people say it with flowers, some people say it with Lloyds
But you don’t find many trying to say it with humanoids
– Humanoid Boogie
She’s broken all the super-hearts of the super-heroes of the Galaxy,
So why does she want to mess around with me?
– Beautiful Zelda
Eleven moustachioed daughters, running in a field of fat
The moon is high, the mandrake screams,
Please come to our Sabbat.
– 11 Moustachioed Daughters
I have seen Mr. Apollo uproot trees with his bare hands.
I have seen Mr. Apollo’s body-building plan.
– Mr. Apollo
Some others:
Looking down on the Jungfrau
– Cole Porter, Wonderbar (subtle – the Jungfrau is one of the tallest peaks in the Alps. The song is parodying a certain type of operetta.)
When you attend a funeral,
It is sad to think that sooner’ll
Later those you love will do the same for you.
And you may have thought it tragic,
Not to mention other adjec-
Tives, to think of all the weeping they will do.
Make a hole with a gun perpendicular
To the name of this town in a desktop globe
Exit wound in a foreign nation
Showing the home of the one this was written for
