Best opening lyrics of all time

[Goredho 17422]

Evocative, powerful, startling, moving, whatever.  What are the best opening lyrics of a song that set the tone for everything that follows.   Here are some from the top of my head:

”Hello, Darkness, my old friend...”

”FUCK THE POLICE...”

”Mama take this badge from me, I cant use it anymore”

”I hurt myself today, to see if I still feel”

”Hey, Joe!  Where you going with that gun in your hand?”

“Old man take a look at my life, I’m a lot like you were”

”If I leave here tomorrow, would you still remember me?”

edit: tell me to fuck off if this has already been done.

 

 

Edited February 2, 2019 by Goredho

[Upgrayedd 5821]

I met a gin-soaked, bar-room queen in Memphis

[Litig8r 414]

Holly came from Miami F L A

 

 

[South Austin 52629]

Let me take you down, ‘cause I’m going too.

[noharleyyet 2852]

Well the night that was high, we got into town.......(this after that funky pulse raising mood setting LF intro)
 

Was the night that the rain, it froze on the ground
Down the street I heard such a sorrowful tune
Comin' from the place they call the Spanish Moon

Edited February 2, 2019 by noharleyyet

[ohchaucer 1443]

Alright, stop what your doin', cuz I'm about to ruin, the image and the style that you're used to....

[troph 24912]

“I’ve got these lines on my face trying to straighten out the wrinkles in my life...”

Guy Clark
Ramblin Jack and Mahan

[troph 24912]

And then shame on all of you for not leading with...

“Whiskey river, take my mind
Don't let her memory torture me
Whiskey river, don't run dry
You're all I got, take care of me”

[strangulation! 1716]

look out mama there's a white boat comin' up the river

[troph 24912]

One more ...

“Well, I wished I was in Austin, mm
In the Chili Parlor Bar
Drinkin' Mad Dog Margaritas
And not carin' where you are”

Dublin Blues
Guy Clark

[Litig8r 414]

2 hours ago, Goredho said:

Evocative, powerful, startling, moving, whatever.  What are the best opening lyrics of a song that set the tone for everything that follows.   Here are some from the top of my head:

”Hello, Darkness, my old friend...”

”FUCK THE POLICE...”

”Mama take this badge from me, I cant use it anymore”

”I hurt myself today, to see if I still feel”

”Hey, Joe!  Where you going with that gun in your hand?”

“Old man take a look at my life, I’m a lot like you were”

”If I leave here tomorrow, would you still remember me?”

edit: tell me to fuck off if this has already been done.

 

 

Correction Fuck the PO Lease

 

[mr. sunshine 2833]

Honey don’t walk out. I’m too drunk to follow 

[Hate 20146]

On the day when I was born, Daddy sat down and cried.

I had the mark just as plain as day, it could not be denied.

[Litig8r 414]

Please allow me to introduce myself

It was a clear black night, a clear white moon 

Sherry was a waitress at the only joint in town

She was a level-headed dancer on the road to alcohol

I hear the train a comin

Busted flat in Baton Rouge

Ground control to Major Tom

Smoking long black Cadillac, engine's windin down

[Bojack 2082]

Oh God said to Abraham, "Kill me a son."

Abe says, "Man, you must be puttin' me on."

Edited February 2, 2019 by Bojack

[TwiceHorn 31554]

Deborah was a Catholic girl,
She held out to the bitter end.

[strangulation! 1716]

well I woke up Sunday morning, with no way to hold my head that didn't hurt

[TexasBeta 1266]

Hello Darlin’ nice to see you ...it’s been a long time.

 

[GhostOfTomJoad 9358]

The screen door slams/Mary's dress sways/like a vision she dances across the porch as the radio plays

We were born before the wind

Your baby doesn't love you anymore

I was born in a crossfire hurricane

Fat man sitting on a little stool/takes the money from my hand while his eyes take a walk all over you

Flatter than a tabletop/makes you wonder why they stopped here

[tfoolry 8239]

I want you......to want me. 

[GhostOfTomJoad 9358]

I went home with a waitress/ like I always do

Well a person can work up a mean mean thirst/after a hard day of nothing much at all

Yeah....I can"t believe the news today/I cant close my eyes and make it go away

London calling to the faraway towns/Now war is declared and battle come down

[jimmyjazz 46225]

Every song Tom Petty ever wrote.

[Goredho 17422]

We come from the land of ice and snow, of the midnight sun where the hot springs flow

[Deej 76946]

Gold Coast slave ship bound for cotton fields, sold in the market down in New Orleans...

I was born in a cross-fire hurricane...

What a drag it is getting old..

Edited February 2, 2019 by Deej

[Underdog 28785]

Got a wife and kid in Baltimore Jack, I went out for a ride and I never went back. 

We met as soulmates on Paris Island, we left as inmates, from an asylum. 

It’s Nine O’Clock on a Saturday, the regular crowd shuffles in

It’s a little bit funny, this feeling inside. 

I’m a running down the road trying to loosen my load, got seven women on my mind. 

On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair, one smell of colitas rising up through the air

I can feel it coming in the air tonight..  oh lord.

[Deej 76946]

"Oh, let the sun beat down upon my face..."

Just perfect to me with the slow, driving rhythm.

[retread 2951]

I remember standin on the corner at midnight / Tryin to get my courage up

I was a little too tall / Could've used a few pounds / Tight pants points hardly reknown

[Underdog 28785]

^ Beat me to the Seger lyrics. 

[Ths71 472]

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

This is the day of the expanding man

In the mornin' you go gunnin'
For the man who stole your water

In the corner of my eye
I saw you in Rudy's
You were very high

Your everlasting summer
You can see it fading fast

Lost in the Barrio I walk like an Injun
So Carlo won't suspect something's wrong here
 

[South Austin 52629]

I read the news today, oh boy . . . .

[noharleyyet 2852]

Got out of town on a boat goin' to Southern Islands
Sailing a reach before a followin' sea
She was makin' for the trades on the outside
And the downhill run to Papeete

 

Off the wind on this heading lie the Marquesas
We got eighty feet of the waterline nicely making way
In a noisy bar in Avalon I tried to call you
But on a midnight watch I realized why twice you ran away

Edited February 2, 2019 by noharleyyet

[Underdog 28785]

Living on the road my friend, is going to keep you free and clean, now you wear your skin like iron, your breath is hard as kerosene. 

I grew up a-dreamin' of bein' a cowboy
And lovin' the cowboy ways
Pursuin' the life of my high ridin' heroes
I burned up my childhood days

 

Well, I've got to run to keep from hiding
And I'm bound to keep on riding
And I've got one more silver dollar
But I'm not gonna let them catch me, no
Not gonna let 'em catch the midnight rider

[troph 24912]

 Flatter than a tabletop/makes you wonder why they stopped here

 

 

 

 

Levelland is such a great song.

 

[52-80 19263]

I ain't got no motherfucking friends....that's why I fucked your bitch you fat motherfucker

[noharleyyet 2852]

"Ain't it just like the night to play tricks when you're tryin' to be so quiet."

 

"It's nine o'clock on a Saturday, the regular crowd shuffles in"

[GhostOfTomJoad 9358]

^ Beat me to the Seger lyrics. 

I was a little too tall/could've used a few pounds

[GhostOfTomJoad 9358]

Brother's running powder money/daddy's somewhere on a drunk/in the hours after washing/I do my dreaming with a gun

If that turns one person on to Chris Whitley's Living With the Law my job is done.

[Gil Bang 26048]

if we make it thru december

everything's gonna be alright I know

[noharleyyet 2852]

"Strap them kids in..."

..and every line thereafter

[GhostOfTomJoad 9358]

My name's John Lee Pettimore/Same as my daddy and his daddy before

Once upon a time you dressed so fine, threw the bums a dime in your prime...didn't you?

If I ventured in the slipstream/between the viaducts of your dream/where immobile steel rims crack/and the ditch in the backroads stop/would you fine me?would you kiss-a my eye

[South Austin 52629]

1 hour ago, 52-80 said:

I ain't got no motherfucking friends....that's why I fucked your bitch you fat motherfucker

Everly Brothers?

[RexWilson 1348]

The only two things in life that make it worth livin'
Is guitars that tune good and firm feelin' women

[ztejas 43546]

Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to celebrate this thing called life...

Next thread.

[Goredho 17422]

Sittin’ in the morning sun, I’ll be sittin’ when the evenin’ comes

[ztejas 43546]

2 minutes ago, Goredho said:

Sittin’ in the morning sun, I’ll be sittin’ when the evenin’ comes

Fun fact: the "whistling" part of that song was because Redding either forgot the next verse or didn't have one. They recorded it as such and it stuck.

[dday 2]

This is the end/ beautiful friend/this is the end /my only friend/The End

[Jive Turkey 12648]

All my daydreams are disasters

[Grandioso 2592]

Some great rap ones:

It was all a dream....

All of my heroes did dope...

Picture bloodbaths and elevator shafts...

[TwiceHorn 31554]

P-people try to put us d-down.

[C-Man 27285]

Well I woke up Sunday morning,
With no way to hold my head that didn’t hurt