Songs that have great opening lines

I think that the lyrics on the new Dylan album are fantastic. Pay In Blood.

Well I’m grinding my life out, steady and sure
Nothing more wretched than what I must endure
I’m drenched in the light that shines from the sun
I could stone you to death for the wrongs that you done
Sooner or later you make a mistake,
I’ll put you in a chain that you never will break
Legs and arms and body and bone
I pay in blood, but not my own.

 

"Good evening people, welcome to the show. Got something here I want you all to know"

Aerosmith - Make It - 1973

 

Sweet Painted Lady - Elton John (OK, maybe the lyrics aren't the best ever but the way it is sung is just a naturral melding of lyric and melody for me).

 

Steely Dan's Haitian Divorce:

"Babs and Clean Willie were in love, they said
So in love, the preacher's face turned red."

Such a vivid scene evoked in two lines.

 

I spent some time thinking of some more for this thread. It's actually surprising to me how many lyrics that are great in context look rather dead on the page, but here are some that stand up:

Son, look at all the people in this restaurant ...
What do you think they weigh?"

(Ben Folds, "All U Can Eat")​

The last time I saw Richard was Detroit in '68 and he told me
"All romantics meet the same fate some day:
"Cynical and drunk, and boring someone in some dark café."

(Joni Mitchell, "The Last Time I Saw Richard")​

Tobias sleeps on a floor he made
From stealing in & out of other people's names

(Umphrey's McGee, "Walletsworth")​

Well you can buy me a drink and I'll tell you what I've seen
And I'll give you a bargain from the edge of a maniac's dream

(Tom Waits, "Potter's Field")​

Night comes in like some cool river.
How can there be another day?

(Richard Thompson, "Night Comes In")​

 

"Needle, foetal, someone's pouring warm gravy all over me.."

Blind Melon - 2x4

 

"He blew his mind out in a car"

A Day in the Life - The Beatles

"I've seen your face before, I've known you all my life"

Splash 1 - 13th Floor Elevators

"Secluded in a marker stone, not only deadlier, but smarter too"

1,000,000 - R.E.M.

 

"In your green room sit with a candle lit, on a charcoal bed of dreams"

The Day Walk - The Byrds

 

I've been in this town so long that back in the city​

I've been taken for lost and gone​

And unknown for a long long time.​

Heroes and Villains, The Beach Boys (Wilson/PARKS)​

 

You look good enough to eat
I can be sure you're my sweet
Instead of countin' sheep
I'm smellin' at you

Ooh Mama Ooh – Moby Grape

 

Broken lines broken strings
Broken threads broken springs
Broken idols broken heads
People sleeping in broken beds

The guilty undertaker sighs The lonesome organ grinder cries The silver saxophones say I should refuse you The cracked bells and washed-out horns Blow into my face with scorn But it's not that way I wasn't born to lose you​

 

It's like a jungle sometimes it makes me wonder How I keep from going under

 

Opening line?

 

'Nobody loves me but my mother, and she could be jivin' too'

B.B. King

 

When I think back on all that crap I learned in high school...

 

One day when I was eating beans (at Smokey Joe's Cafe)

 

1) I live my life like there's no tomorrow; All I've got I had to steal

2) The waiting drove me mad; You're finally here an I'm a mess

3) If heaven ain't a lot like Dixie I don't wanna go; If heaven ain't a lot like Dixie I just assume stay home

4) Hello, I'm Johnny Cash

5) If you wanna hang out you got to take her out, cocaine


And possibly the best ever opening set of lyrics:

God said to Abraham kill me son; Abe said man you must be putting me on; God say no Abe said what....

 

"In 1984 I was hospitalized for approaching perfection.
Slowly screwing my way across Europe, they had to make a correction.
Broken and smokin' where the infrared deer plunge in the digital snake.
I tell you, they make it so you can't shake hands when they make your hands shake."
- "Random Rules" by the Silver Jews

 

Let's put our heads together and start a new country up
-REM, Cuyahoga

 

Get your motor running
Head out on the highway
Looking for adventure...

Born to be Wild

 

Well It's A One For The Money Two For The Show Three To Get Ready Now Go Cat Go. Blue Suede Shoes the best little piece of Rockabilly ever recordedl Carls version not Elvis

 

Another classic from Sparks:

Turn out the light, yeah the light, and I might have a chance
I guess I look slightly worse than the Elephant Man

 

Heard it from a friend who… heard it from a friend who... heard it from another you've been messin' around. - REO Speedwagon , Take It On The Run

Well since my baby left me, I've found a new place to dwell, down at the end of Lonely Street at Heartbreak Hotel. - Elvis Presley , Heartbreak Hotel

Well I woke up Sunday morning with no way to hold my head, that didn't hurt, And the beer I had for breakfast wasn't bad, so I had one more for dessert. Then I fumbled in my closet through my clothes and found my cleanest dirty shirt. Then I washed my face and combed my hair and stumbled down the stairs to meet the day. - Kris Kristofferson , Sunday Morning Coming Down.

When I was young it seemed that life was so wonderful; A miracle, oh it was beautiful, magical; And all the birds in the trees, well they’d be singing so happily. Oh joyfully, oh playfully watching me. But then they sent me away to teach me how to be sensible, logical, oh responsible, practical; And they showed me a world where I could be so dependable. Oh clinical, oh intellectual, cynical... - Supertramp , The Logical Song

 

I've always liked Doug Sahm's spoken intro to "Mendocino".

 

I dreamed about killing you again last night, and it felt alright to me.

Wilco: Via Chicago