# Songs that have long musical intros **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 5, 2005, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-long-musical-intros/324931 "2005-10-05T18:45:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-long-musical-intros/324931/21 "2005-10-05T22:03:12Z")
“Walk Right In” by the Rooftop Singers. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-long-musical-intros/324931/22 "2005-10-05T22:36:45Z")
“Gimme Three Steps” – Lynyrd Skynyrd “I need a Lover Who Won’t Drive me Crazy” – John Mellencamp ---
**Author:** ![interface2x](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/c0e974/32.png) [@interface2x](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/interface2x)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-long-musical-intros/324931/23 "2005-10-05T22:56:03Z")
Tool has a million of these. “Third Eye” has a reeeaaaaaally long intro. ---
**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-long-musical-intros/324931/24 "2005-10-05T23:14:30Z")
Dire Straits: Tunnel of Love, and Telegraph Road. Pretty much the entire repertoire of Dream Theater, and half of Rush and Yes. ---
**Author:** ![xizor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xizor/32/102_2.png) [@xizor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xizor)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2005, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-long-musical-intros/324931/25 "2005-10-05T23:50:30Z")
“Rock Me” by _Great White_ ---
**Author:** ![John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-long-musical-intros/324931/26 "2005-10-06T00:37:12Z")
“Hotel California” by The Eagles. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-long-musical-intros/324931/27 "2005-10-06T00:45:00Z")
This one is cheating, technically, but what the hell. On Elton John’s album _Goodbye Yellow Brick Road_, the song “Love Lies Bleeding” is preceded by “Funeral for a Friend,” an instrumental. Because the one cut flows seamlessly into the next, I always regarded “Funeral for a Friend” as an _extremely_ long intro to “Love Lies Bleeding.” My experience is based on the vinyl album; I never owned the CD, and I do not know whether a break was interposed between the two songs upon remastering. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-long-musical-intros/324931/28 "2005-10-06T00:47:15Z")
The Who and Pete Townshend are perhaps the biggest contributors (or should one say offenders?) to this style of songwriting. Off the top of my head: “Baba O’Riley” “Won’t Get Fooled Again” “Who Are You” “Eminence Front” “A Little is Enough” “Face the Face” “Come to Mama” “Let My Love Open the Door” and at least a few others have lengthy, sometimes synthesizer-only intros that run for a minute or more. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-long-musical-intros/324931/29 "2005-10-06T01:04:37Z")
Sweet Jane by Lou Reed Van Halen’s cover of Pretty Woman ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-long-musical-intros/324931/30 "2005-10-06T01:05:57Z")
And Big Ol’ Jet Airliner (or whatever it’s called) by the Steve Miller Band. And that one by Boston…you know which one I’m talking about, right? ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-long-musical-intros/324931/31 "2005-10-06T01:10:02Z")
Some really old ones: “I Can’t Get Started” by Bunny Berigan “Kaye’s Melody” by Sammy Kaye “When Did You Leave Heaven?” By Guy & Carmen Lombardo A newer one: “Black Magic Woman” by Santana There’s an unusual NON-music intro, which has no perceptible connection with the rest of the song:“Mr. Bojangles” by The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. In the spoken prologue, an old man tells about his old dog “Teddy,” who can, supposedly, sing “Old Rugged Cross.” ---
**Author:** ![AuntPam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9fc348/32.png) [@AuntPam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntPam)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-long-musical-intros/324931/32 "2005-10-06T01:14:26Z")
Pinball Wizard has a fairly long intro that’s all on the right channel of your stereo system, until the SCHHWONNNG! suddenly blows your left speaker off the wall. Remember this. It’s a good way to check if you hooked up your speakers correctly. I know because when our college radio station converted to stereo FM, for a while we only had a left channel VU meter. So the disk jockey would keep desperately raising the level of the intro (none of which was IN the left channel, to start) until the Moment of Truth when you could see lightining bolts erupting from the transmitter on Hungarford Hill. Extra points if you can identify the station from the transmitter location. ---
**Author:** ![Flipstrip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f6c823/32.png) [@Flipstrip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flipstrip)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-long-musical-intros/324931/33 "2005-10-06T04:27:26Z")
“I’d Do Anything For Love” by Meatloaf. ---
**Author:** ![RobuSensei](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/919ad9/32.png) [@RobuSensei](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RobuSensei)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 5:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-long-musical-intros/324931/34 "2005-10-06T05:38:41Z")
“Firth of Fifth,” by Genesis (in their early, Peter Gabriel days) ---
**Author:** ![KGS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/90ced4/32.png) [@KGS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KGS)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-long-musical-intros/324931/35 "2005-10-06T06:18:03Z")
A lot of 80’s thrash metal songs have really long intros. Examples include “Sight of the Wise” by Sacrilege, “Death Camps” by Sacred Reich, and “Pleasures of the Flesh” by Exodus. Another song that’s recently been getting lots of airplay on VH1 Classic is “Honey Bucket” by the Melvins. The intro lasts for over 1½ minutes but the entire song is barely three minutes long! ---
**Author:** ![MysteryFellow63427](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e4f/32.png) [@MysteryFellow63427](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MysteryFellow63427)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-long-musical-intros/324931/36 "2005-10-06T06:40:20Z")
Just as a side note, it seems that long musical intros that were much more common in the 1970s have gone the way of the dodo in contemporary rock songs. ---
**Author:** ![ouryL](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ouryl/32/6067_2.png) [@ouryL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ouryL)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-long-musical-intros/324931/37 "2005-10-06T06:59:36Z")
The beginning of “Stairway To Heaven” is heavenly. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-long-musical-intros/324931/38 "2005-10-06T07:46:10Z")
> [@soulmurk](#): > > _To Live is to Die_ by Metallica. Also “One”, IMO the best rock intro ever…even better than “Stairway” ---
**Author:** ![dougie\_monty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/439d5e/32.png) [@dougie\_monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dougie_monty)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-long-musical-intros/324931/39 "2005-10-06T14:26:58Z")
…and don’t forget Isaac Hayes’ “Shaft,” which is almost entirely musical intro… ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2005, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-long-musical-intros/324931/40 "2005-10-06T14:30:56Z")
I wanna be adored - The Stone Roses [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-long-musical-intros/324931.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/songs-that-have-long-musical-intros/324931.md?page=3)