# Great \*opening\* lines in songs **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 18, 2004, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-opening-lines-in-songs/250983 "2004-06-18T03:44:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2004, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-opening-lines-in-songs/250983/41 "2004-06-19T16:42:30Z")
Heavy metal band Manowar recorded a song called _Guyana: Cult of the Damned_ which opened with the line: “Thank you for the Kool-Aid, Reverend Jim!” ---
**Author:** ![Finagle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@Finagle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Finagle)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2004, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-opening-lines-in-songs/250983/42 "2004-06-19T17:10:19Z")
I always liked “Year of the Cat” by 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:** ![unwashed\_brain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/a9adbd/32.png) [@unwashed\_brain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/unwashed_brain)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2004, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-opening-lines-in-songs/250983/43 "2004-06-19T18:55:01Z")
“Convalescent” by **dredg** > [@](#): > > This lonely old man had heart > Resting grey hairs on wrinkled arms > With nothing but a stool to hold up his back > Skinny legs with Japanese mileage > Crossed at the ankles > He’s unaware “intolerance” by **Tool** > [@](#): > > I don’t want to be hostile. > I don’t want to be dismal. > But I don’t want to rot in an apathetic existance either. > See I want to believe you, > and I wanted to trust you > and I want to have faith to > put away the dagger. > But you lie, cheat, and steal. > And yet I tolerate you. “4 degrees” by **Tool** > [@](#): > > Locked up inside you like > the calm beneath castles is > a cavern of treasures that > no one has been to. > Let’s go digging. > Let’s go digging. > Bring it out and > take you back in. “Ideas as Opiates” by **Tears For Fears** > [@](#): > > Say what you want > Say what you want > Say what you will > 'Cuz I find > You think what makes it easier “untitled” by **The Cure** > [@](#): > > hopelessly drift in the eyes of the ghost again > down on my knees and my hands in the air again > pushing my face in the memory of you again > but i never know if it’s real > never know how i wanted to feel ---
**Author:** ![kalex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dfb087/32.png) [@kalex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kalex)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2004, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-opening-lines-in-songs/250983/44 "2004-06-19T21:32:50Z")
“Well, I was drunk the day my mom got out of prison…” Come on, it’s the best country western song ever written! By Steve Goodman, performed by David Allen Coe. ---
**Author:** ![thwartme](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ecc23a/32.png) [@thwartme](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thwartme)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2004, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-opening-lines-in-songs/250983/45 "2004-06-19T23:24:16Z")
I’ve always liked the disarming simplicity of Peter Gabriel’s “Big Time”. It opens, even before the music starts, with an alarmingly cheerful “Hi there!” The song is, as I’m sure most of you know, about a greedy, materialistic person trying to amass as much wealth as possible. He is selfish and gluttonous and vain, and Gabriel opens it all with the hallmark of such people: a phony, insincere acknowledgment of YOU. Genius. thwartme ---
**Author:** ![Treviathan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/838e76/32.png) [@Treviathan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treviathan)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2004, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-opening-lines-in-songs/250983/46 "2004-06-19T23:31:25Z")
> [@Qwertyasdfg](#): > > Wilco - Via Chicago. “I dreamed about killing you again last night, and it felt alright to me…” Oooh, good one. How about this nugget from “Army” by **Ben Folds Five** : Well, I thought about the army, Dad said “Son, you’re fuckin’ high.” ---
**Author:** ![pepperlandgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f17d59/32.png) [@pepperlandgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pepperlandgirl)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2004, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-opening-lines-in-songs/250983/47 "2004-06-20T00:49:57Z")
Willy Nelson’s **Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground** If you had not fallen I would not have found you. Jeff Buckley **Lilac Wine** I lost myself on a cool damp night I gave myself in that misty light Was hypnotized by a strange delight Under a lilac tree. The Beatles **With A Little Help From My Friends** What would you do if I sang out of tune, Would you stand up and walk out on me? Ryan Adams **Where the Stars Go Blue** Dancing where the stars go blue, Dancing where the evening fell Dancing in your wooden shoes In a wedding gown. Wilco **How to Fight Loneliness** How to fight loneliness, Smile all the time. Elliot Smith **Say Yes** I’m in love with the world through the eyes of a girl who’s still around the morning after. REM **At My Most Beautiful** I found a way to make you, I found a way, A way to make you smile. ---
**Author:** ![stately\_plump\_buck\_mulligan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/858c86/32.png) [@stately\_plump\_buck\_mulligan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stately_plump_buck_mulligan)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2004, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-opening-lines-in-songs/250983/48 "2004-06-20T01:10:23Z")
Everything you gave me lies within a box, within a drawer. I’ve burned one hundred photographs or more. **the tear garden** , _Lament_ I met a boy wearing Vans, 501s, and a Dope Beastie tee, nipple rings, new tattoos that claimed that he was OGT from '92, the first EP. **Tool** , _Hooker with a Penis_ She’s a model and she’s looking good. I’d like to take her home, that’s understood. **Kraftwerk** , _The Model_ ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2004, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-opening-lines-in-songs/250983/49 "2004-06-20T22:00:27Z")
"Drift all you like From ocean to ocean Search the whole world But drunken confessions And hijacked affairs will Just make you more alone If you come home I’ll bake you a cake Made of all their eyes I wish you could see me Dressed for the kill What a nasty surprise You’re my man-o-war" Radiohead, _Man-O-War_ ---
**Author:** ![look\_ninjas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b2d939/32.png) [@look\_ninjas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/look_ninjas)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2004, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-opening-lines-in-songs/250983/50 "2004-06-21T01:33:09Z")
“It was Christmas Eve, babe, In the drunk tank…” - The Pogues, “Fairytale of New York” “First get down upon your knees, Fiddle with your rosaries, Bow your head with great respect, and Genuflect, genuflect, genuflect!” - Tom Lehrer, “Vatican Rag” “Is that supposed to be your poker face Or was someone run over by a train?” - Fountains of Wayne, “No Better Place” ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2004, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-opening-lines-in-songs/250983/51 "2004-06-21T02:09:01Z")
> [@BurnMeUp](#): > > I think the Ramones said it best when they said: > > “ONETWOTREEFOUR” That reminds me of Warsaw by Joy Division, sung in the same manner as that line: ThreeFiveFourOneTwoFive GO! At first blush it’s an awesome opening line, nearly marking the beginning of postpunk making fun of punk conventions. Then at some point you learn it’s also The number of people who died in the Warsaw Uprising. ---
**Author:** ![Frostillicus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Frostillicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frostillicus)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2004, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-opening-lines-in-songs/250983/52 "2004-06-21T02:50:45Z")
“One soft-infested summer, me and Terri became friends Tryin’ in vain to breathe the fire we was… born in” – Backstreets, by Bruce Springsteen PS Not gramatically correct, but absolutely beautiful. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![SlyFrog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@SlyFrog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlyFrog)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2004, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-opening-lines-in-songs/250983/53 "2004-06-21T03:46:19Z")
Oooh, ooooh! Here’s mine: "A man came up to me and said, What’s your best song opening line? I knew I had to pick something obscure, So I’d look like a deep artist type. I passed over the meaningful words, that people’d heard and knew, Grabbed a stack of shitty college dorm tunes, Picked out some melodramatic drivel!" - Doper’s Masturbation, “I’m Meaningful, Cause I Don’t Like No Popular Music” ---
**Author:** ![JackaRoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b5e925/32.png) [@JackaRoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JackaRoe)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2004, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-opening-lines-in-songs/250983/54 "2004-06-21T12:22:17Z")
Moonlight drive - Doors Let’s swim to the moon, uh huh Let’s climb through the tide Penetrate the evenin’ that the City sleeps to hide Let’s swim out tonight, love It’s our turn to try Parked beside the ocean On our moonlight drive ---
**Author:** ![spiralscratch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@spiralscratch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spiralscratch)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2004, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-opening-lines-in-songs/250983/55 "2004-06-21T19:59:02Z")
“Wise Up, Sucker!”, Pop Will Eat Itself > [@](#): > > If we stand here shaking much more > We’re gonna come apart, split in half, > You’re telling me don’t want no more > 'Cos my head’s up my ass, > I watch my world through a glass, > I’m just a crazy tired shape from your past… ---
**Author:** ![spiralscratch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dfb087/32.png) [@spiralscratch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spiralscratch)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2004, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-opening-lines-in-songs/250983/56 "2004-06-21T20:07:04Z")
Oh, just thought of another: “Pleasure Seeker”, Social Distortion > [@](#): > > Well, here I come > I’m on a run > Who wants to fight temptation, that’s no fun > C’mon and play the games > Don’t you feel no shame > That’s what Eve said to Adam > Before she came ---
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2004, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-opening-lines-in-songs/250983/57 "2004-06-21T20:34:13Z")
**Hoops** already named Warren Zevon’s “Lawyers, Guns and Money,” which are probably my favorite opening lines period. I like the opening part of Franz Ferdinand’s “Take Me Out,” though it’s kind of long: _So if you’re lonely, you know I’m here waiting for you I’m just a cross-hair, I’m just a shot away from you And if you leave here, you’ll leave me broken, shattered I lie I’m just a cross-hair I’m just a shot, then we can die_ ---
**Author:** ![Enigma42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/87869e/32.png) [@Enigma42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enigma42)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2004, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-opening-lines-in-songs/250983/58 "2004-06-21T20:52:27Z")
Another Paul Simon contribution, from _Graceland_: \*\*The Mississippi delta was shining like a National guitar. I am following the river down the highway through the cradle of the civil war. I’m going to Graceland. . .\*\* I like all the lyrics to the song (“ghosts and empty sockets. . .”), but I think that opening is pretty special. [This](http://www.nationalguitars.com/mddelx.html) is what one type of National Guitar looks like, as a reference. ---
**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 21, 2004, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-opening-lines-in-songs/250983/59 "2004-06-21T22:01:59Z")
“The sidewalk bends where your house ends like the neighborhood is on its knees…” -Stupid mouth shut, by Hem ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2004, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-opening-lines-in-songs/250983/60 "2004-06-21T22:18:46Z")
\*The screen door slams Mary’s dress waves Like a vision she dances across the porch As the radio plays Roy Orbison singin’ for the lonely Hey that’s me and I want you only Don’t turn me home again I just can’t face myself alone again\* **"Thunder Road"** - Springsteen You shake my nerves and you rattle my brain Too much love drives a man insane You broke my will –But what a thrill! Goodness gracious, great balls of fire!!! \*\* “Great Balls of Fire”\*\* - Jerry Lee Lewis [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-opening-lines-in-songs/250983.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-opening-lines-in-songs/250983.md?page=4)