Favorite Opening Line From A Song

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--Tom Waits, "Christmas Card to a Hooker in Minneapolis"

Erm. FROM. Not TO. I haven't slept.

― Jody Beth Rosen, Monday, 30 September 2002 10:14 (twenty-one years ago) link

Pretty sure, Stew, as he repeats the signature gimmick on later albums like EXTREMIEITES (on "Money is Not Our God"). Could be Youth, I suppose, but I'd always assumed it was Jaz.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Monday, 30 September 2002 13:45 (twenty-one years ago) link

My favourites are where the opening line falls in about halfway through a conversation - two particular examples are 'Burning airlines...' by Eno ("When I got back home I found a message on the door") and 'A new kind of water' by This Heat ("I don't know either, what is the answer?"). They just plunge you straight into the song's world and there's no escape, and I love it.

― Rob M, Tuesday, 1 October 2002 12:05 (twenty-one years ago) link

"you're gonna give me immunity"

another devoto line, this time give me everything

― george gosset (gegoss), Tuesday, 1 October 2002 14:59 (twenty-one years ago) link

Wopbopalubopawopbamboom!

― James Blount (James Blount), Tuesday, 1 October 2002 18:04 (twenty-one years ago) link

Dig if you will the picture, of you and I engaged in a kiss

U don't have 2 be beautiful 2 turn me on

I was dreamin' when I wrote this, forgive me if it goes astray

In France a skinny man. Died of a big disease with a little name

― ono, Tuesday, 1 October 2002 18:20 (twenty-one years ago) link

"I FEEL UPTIGHT ON A SATURDAY NIGHT....."

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 1 October 2002 18:24 (twenty-one years ago) link

"Got me a movie, slicin' up eyeballs"

"He was lying banged and battered, skewered and bleeding, talking crippled on the cross"

― dave225 (Dave225), Tuesday, 1 October 2002 18:32 (twenty-one years ago) link

"Oh, the snot has caked against my pants/it has turned to crystal."

"Get off! And get your grandma outta here!"

"Rip them down hold them up tell them that I'm your gun pull my trigger I am bigger thaaaaaaannnnnnnnnn..."

― Arthur (Arthur), Tuesday, 1 October 2002 23:19 (twenty-one years ago) link

"I GOT SOMETHING TO SAAA-AAAAAAY, I KILLED YOUR BABY TODAAAY......"

Oh, bless you little Glen!

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Tuesday, 1 October 2002 23:21 (twenty-one years ago) link

". . . . . . . "

". . . . . . . . . . . . .. ..."

". . . . . . . . . . ... . . . . . . . . .. . . .*CLICK*"

". . . . . ... . *pufffffffffff*"

". . . sssilence is _sexxy_"

(einsturzende neubauten)

― mistersquiggle (mistersquiggle), Thursday, 3 October 2002 00:55 (twenty-one years ago) link

Ubu has gotta be up there with Prince:

The girls won't touch me cause I got a misdirection,
and livin at night isn't helpin my complexion...

Or:

I've got these arms & legs that flipflop
flip flop

― Smith, Thursday, 3 October 2002 01:45 (twenty-one years ago) link

four weeks pass...

Either...

"Mother Earth is pregnant again, for y'all have knocked her up for the third time..."

Or...

"Don't everybody like the smell of gasoline
well burn motherfucker burn American dream..."

― Nickalicious, Friday, 1 November 2002 21:06 (twenty-one years ago) link

straight outta compton

― dyson (dyson), Friday, 1 November 2002 21:38 (twenty-one years ago) link

"IIIIIII WANT YOUR SOUL"

― Curtis Stephens, Friday, 1 November 2002 21:48 (twenty-one years ago) link

nice,

also, the beasties: "i looked out the window and seen his bald head, i ran to the fridge and pulled out an egg."

and frank black: "waaaaiiiiiit, isn't it so great, since you learned karate chop chop chop chop"

― dyson (dyson), Friday, 1 November 2002 22:35 (twenty-one years ago) link

a propos of dyson's bald head quote:

"Are you with me on this, people?
Sam with the showing scalp-top..."

Donnie Vliet

― Dougie (citzfan), Saturday, 2 November 2002 00:41 (twenty-one years ago) link

"can I have a taste of yr ice cream?/Can I lick the crumbs from yr table/can I interfere w/yr crisis ? NO Mind your Own Business!!" - Delta 5 (or the Chicks on Speed cover I first heard..)

― daria g, Saturday, 2 November 2002 01:56 (twenty-one years ago) link

I've always been partial to "What's with these homies dissin' my girl/Why do they gotta front?"

― Ally (mlescaut), Saturday, 2 November 2002 03:36 (twenty-one years ago) link

"Wish everybody would leave me alone..."
-Roxy Music, "Street Life"

― Joe (Joe), Saturday, 2 November 2002 04:48 (twenty-one years ago) link

"Y'all act like you've never seen a white person before." Eminem "The Real Slim Shady".
"Basically, I'm the worst nightmare you ever had." Pharoahe Monch "Fuck You".

― Nick H, Saturday, 2 November 2002 16:16 (twenty-one years ago) link

"In my dreams I'm dying all the time" - "Porcelain" by Moby

― Curtis Stephens, Saturday, 2 November 2002 17:06 (twenty-one years ago) link

Nice to see Devoto well represented here. I think I'll add to his laurels with:

'Your clean-living, clear-eyed, clever, level-headed brother
Says he'll put all the screws upon your newest lover'

(Magazine, 'Philadelphia')

― Momus (Momus), Saturday, 2 November 2002 17:08 (twenty-one years ago) link

'you give me my number i call you up

you acting like your pussy's on interrupt'
(ODB - 'Got ya money)

'When i say bust that assss

you say bust that ass!

we gonna bust that ass! (we gonna bust that ass!)'
(Tha Onyx - 'Bust That Ass')

― s magnet, Saturday, 2 November 2002 19:24 (twenty-one years ago) link

"LET ME TELL YOU 'BOUT THE FUCKIN' BITCH DEAN-O!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
Ween - "Common Bitch"

NOTE: Thanks to Rich Bunnell for inspiration.

― Evan, Saturday, 2 November 2002 19:31 (twenty-one years ago) link

four months pass...

okay not *the favourite*, but "my wife's tired of fucking me" from nas's otherwise overy maudlin "drunk by myself" is quite affecting.

― mitch lastnamewithheld (mitchlnw), Wednesday, 26 March 2003 19:37 (twenty-one years ago) link

"They got AIDS infectin the globe/laser weapons and clones..."

(at least that's how I think it goes)

Non-Phixion's "Futurama"

― nickalicious (nickalicious), Wednesday, 26 March 2003 19:50 (twenty-one years ago) link

Kinky Afro so OTM I must weep now

― Aaron A., Wednesday, 26 March 2003 20:16 (twenty-one years ago) link

"Pick a card, any card...... WRONG!"

-Jacket Hangs, Blue Aeroplanes

― dave225 (Dave225), Wednesday, 26 March 2003 20:18 (twenty-one years ago) link

hee hee overy maudline = overly maudlin

― mitch lastnamewithheld (mitchlnw), Wednesday, 26 March 2003 20:29 (twenty-one years ago) link

"from the goddamn first thing i do in the morning to the goddamn last thing i do at night..."

― your null fame (yournullfame), Wednesday, 26 March 2003 22:36 (twenty-one years ago) link

Early one morning while makin' the rounds
I took a shot of cocaine and I shot my woman down

you are hardcore
you make me hard

― lolita corpus (lolitacorpus), Wednesday, 26 March 2003 23:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

"i was raised like a muslim" - think i've seen this before on the gang starr s/d thread... and of course

"white man came / across the sea"...

― kieron, Wednesday, 26 March 2003 23:08 (twenty-one years ago) link

Total cliche, but "It doesn't matter if we all die".

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 26 March 2003 23:18 (twenty-one years ago) link

Instead of all-time faves, here's a recent entry:

"Fire in the disco / fire in the Taco Bell" is a line I've never heard without smiling. If you ask me in six months, I might be over it, but for now, it's the Electric Six all the way.

― Erick H (Erick H), Wednesday, 26 March 2003 23:34 (twenty-one years ago) link

"may i make my fond excuses/ for the lateness of the hour"

― t\'\'t (t\'\'t), Wednesday, 26 March 2003 23:37 (twenty-one years ago) link

Met Jesus up on a hill
He confessed I was dressed to kill

Echo & the Bunnymen, King of Kings

― Tijn, Wednesday, 26 March 2003 23:56 (twenty-one years ago) link

My recent entry (and it's the opening line of the album, to boot):

"I was born as a sacrifice
To build a black man's hell
and a white man's paradise"
--Gregory Isaacs, "Sacrifice"

― oops (Oops), Thursday, 27 March 2003 00:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

"how could one ever / think / anything's permanent..."

― roger adultery (roger adultery), Thursday, 27 March 2003 00:09 (twenty-one years ago) link

FUUCCKYOOOUU!! You call this a Hamburger- Killdozer -Hamburger Martyr

― brg30 (brg30), Thursday, 27 March 2003 00:19 (twenty-one years ago) link

You are 18 year old girl
Who live in small city of Japan

― Alexis (Alexis), Thursday, 27 March 2003 00:26 (twenty-one years ago) link

"Your butt is mine." -- Michael Jackson, "Bad"

― Eric H. (Eric H.), Thursday, 27 March 2003 01:57 (twenty-one years ago) link

For pure melodrama, Dolly Parton singing "In this mental institution" at the start of "Daddy come get me".

For filth, "Darling come here, fuck me up the rear" by the Lords of Acid.

All time fave:
"Finished with my woman cos she couldn't help me with my mind" from "Paranoid".

― Tag (Tag), Thursday, 27 March 2003 12:19 (twenty-one years ago) link

never seen you looking so fine my funky one~pretzel logic

― thomas de'aguirre (biteylove), Thursday, 27 March 2003 16:48 (twenty-one years ago) link

"I am a patient boy. IwaitIwaitIwaitIwaitIwait.'

Sorry if that's a retread.

― Kate Silver (Kate Silver), Thursday, 27 March 2003 17:15 (twenty-one years ago) link

Josie's on a vacation far away...

― Chris V. (Chris V), Thursday, 27 March 2003 17:19 (twenty-one years ago) link

"I feel so extraordinary..." - New Order 'True Faith'
"Whose sticky hands are these?" - Alison Moyet 'This House'

― russ t, Thursday, 27 March 2003 17:30 (twenty-one years ago) link

"This world is big and wild and half insane!"
-Kinks "Animal Farm"

― Kate Silver (Kate Silver), Thursday, 27 March 2003 17:44 (twenty-one years ago) link

two years pass...

"Something about the way you taste makes me want to clear my throat"

- Devo "Gut Feeling"

― Elvis Telecom (Chris Barrus), Wednesday, 16 November 2005 21:05 (eighteen years ago) link

one month passes...

"I know you want to leave me, but I refuse to let you go."

-"Ain't Too Proud To Beg," Temptations

It's not as much the line itself as the way it's sung. Honestly, if hearing it doesn't get you jazzed you need to check your pulse.

― musically (musically), Friday, 16 December 2005 23:38 (eighteen years ago) link

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