Re: Opening lines

Hey, shut up.


Bonnie Raitt hit a zinger with this. No other song in the world starts out that way. You gotta hand it to Bonnie Raitt. The song, we all know, is Have A Heart.

That's some left hook she got there.

"Jesus died for somebody's sins, but not mine."

"They're forming in a straight line..."

"I tried but I could not find a way...."

"This is your correspondent.."

"HOT LUUUUUHVE, IF YOU WANNIT"

"Holy cow, look what you've done" - Joe Henry, "Lock And Key"

"Holy cow, look what you've done" - Joe Henry, "Lock And Key"

"Copycats ripped off my words" - Van Morrison, "A Town Called Paradise"

I've always been partial to the opening lines of "The Seabirds" by the Triffids:

"No foreign pair of dark sunglasses will ever shield you from/the light that pierces your eyelids, the screaming of the gulls"

and

"What the hell is wrong with you tonight?" - Joe Jackson, "It's Different for Girls"

"There's a cat in my alleyway dreaming of birds that are blue" - The Go-Betweens, "Love Goes On"



Post Edited (01-09-09 08:23)

go betweens win

o except for this

I pulled into Nazareth, was feeling 'bout half past dead

"I'm going to San Bernardino, ring-a-ding-ding" ("Boom Like That," Mark Knopfler)

"Lawns grow plush in the hinterlands, the perfect little setting for the one night stand" - Sparks, "Amateur Hour"

First heard that song in 6th grade, but it's safe to say it was another 10 or 15 years before the lightbulb finally went on concerning the innuendo of that first phrase. I really do not think there is a more clever lyricist alive than Ron Mael.

The best thing about Mael is that his wordplay is every bit as clever as Costello or Dylan, but doesn't require a PhD to decipher.

you were 27 when you figured out about mowing the lawn as sex joke?

in ohio, you would have been 9. 10 tops.

when did you find about "parking the car in the garage?" last weekend?

"You're gonna eat what I fix, you plant-eating pussy!"

27? My math was bad. I meant 37.

And what is this I hear about that "I've got a brand new pair of rollerskates" song by that nice Melanie girl? Somebody told me it was kind of dirty, too.



Post Edited (01-09-09 12:26)

Oops, upon further reflection, I realize I conflated two separate Albini opening lines above:

"Why don't you snuff it, man? You plant-eating pussy."

and

"You're gonna eat what I fix. I hope you choke on it."

Ever that charmer, that one.

Neurotics - Fighting Times

S*M*A*S*H - Another Love

I don't know if it counts but I like the scream at the beginning of JSBE's Firefly Child.

brad prolly thought that was was about a kitty lost in a garden

Some faves :

"If you want, I'll sell you a life story" - The La's (Son of A Gun)

"I always flirt with death....." Only Ones (AGAP)

'Well you wish upon a star, that turns into a plane" ' Mats (Valentine)

"I Just don't know where to begin...." EC (Accidents Will Happen)

"I'd rather shoot a woman than a man" Big Star (O Dana)

That first line of "Valentine" was my high school yearbook quotation.

... And the transmogrified Albini quote is much better "conflated." I'll remember it the next time I'm asked to make Mock-Grilled-Cheese-Tofu-And-Watercress sandwiches for my vegan friends.

Destroy your safe and happy lives/ Before it is too late -- Memphis, Egypt by The Mekons

My vote for greatest opening line ever -- song or album. I think Mekons Rock and Roll is the greatest rock album of all time, though, so I'm a bit biased.

Ira, thanks for accepting the punk rock singles on Facebook. I go by David M there.

Weird. I was this close }{ to listing that line from "Memphis, Egypt" in my previous post. In fact, I was ripping the CD to dump it onto my MP3 player this very afternoon. I originally had the record on LP, so tunes like "Ring O' Roses" and "Heaven and Back" still sound all wrong to me in terms of the running order.

I agree with Blasmo's assessment of "Mekons Rock N' Roll" as one of the finest albums ever made. It's got it all: Brawn, Smarts, Heart, Humor, Sass, Sadness, Beauty. It sounds like a million bucks. The guitar sound is exhilarating. Sally Timms is the secret weapon. The lyrics are ace. A few favorite snippets:

"You mustn't do what we did to you says the big, blonde teacher from overseas. All his good works and philanthropy still can't make the stupid sound clever."

"The rich rise early and the poor sleep late."

"This song promotes homosexuality. It's in a pretended family relationship with the others on this record ... and on the charts and on the jukebox ... and on the radio."

"It was a dark and stormy night."

.
.
.

Maybe their finest moment, even if itty-bitty amounts of the melody from "Ghosts Of American Astronauts" seem to be creeping into "Learning To Live On Your Own."

In all of her sleigh-ride finery, "Cocaine Lil" pops up on just about every drug-related mix CD I ever make.

Odd that having said all that, I was at a loss over "Curse of The Mekons." Aside from "Wild And Blue," I found it to be a tepid letdown. It's probably my fault.

"Mekons ... we really need to talk about the relationship. It's not you. It's me. I think I just need some space."

Another great opening line:

"When I was just seventeen / Sex no longer held a mystery"

That's funny you cited the opening line of Amateur Hour, because I have always been tickled by the LAST couplet: "It's a lot like playing the violin/You cannot start out and be Yehudi Menuihen (sp)." Years after I got the LP used, I came across a Yehudi recording of Mozart's Prague Symphony. I got it just because he was name-dropped on Kimono My House.

When I was in grade school, I was really irritated by the opening lines to "I Saw Her Standing There." Whenever I heard, "She was just seventeen, if you know what I mean," on the radio, I'd think, "Of course I know what you mean! She was 17 years old! Duhh!"

The actual meaning of that line took me a while to parse, so please don't pick on Reno. Well, not too hard.

Soporific intestine manifesting spirochetes in spleen.

- Effortless Regurgitation, from their album Effortless Regurgitation.

song called Alf's Trepination Resplendant

We're all wasted and we're wasting all your time.

Oh I used to be disgusted...now I try to be amused.

get your handful of remembrance
For you to sprinkle through your life

Please allow me to introduce myself.
I am an antichrist.

How could anyone forget this?

"Hello, you fool, I love you."

Roxette, from her masterpiece, Joyride.

"I heard they castrated Castro" - Nick Lowe, "Nutted by Reality"

Tonight I'm all alone in my room! "Astral Plane"

My make-up is dry and it cracks on my chin,
I'm drowning my sorrows in whiskey and gin."Death of a Clown"

i, too, love those death of a clown lines

i, too, love these lines, esp when rod the mod declaims:

There was a wicked messenger
From Eli he did come,
With a mind that multiplied
The smallest matter.
When questioned who had sent for him,
He answered with his thumb,
For his tongue it could not speak, but only flatter.

if i ventured in the slipstream...

Bernard Sumner is a lyrical idiot savant or somethin':

"I sit there beside myself, thinking hard about the weather..."


I'll tip my hat to Mr. Springsteen, of course:

"I got a sixty-nine Chevy with a 396,
Fuelie heads and a Hurst on the floor,
She's waiting tonight down in the parking lot,
Outside the Seven-Eleven store..."


The Hold Steady, too:

"Hold steady, Ybor City,
You're up to your neck in
The sweat and wet confetti..."

When they pulled you out of the oxygen tent you asked for the latest party.

There's a time to fuck and a time to crave but the Shah sleep's in Lee Harvey's grave.

Efficiency (and progress) is ours once more - now that we have the neutron bomb.

I'll write you a letter tomorrow - tonight I can't hold a pen
Someone's got a stamp that I can borrow?
I promise not to blow the address again


This one has always bugged the shite out of me:
There's a rich man sleeping on a golden bed
There's a skeleton choking on a crust of bread

I started out with nothing and I've still got most of it left