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Songs - Best Opening Lyrics

MyTeamIsOnTheFloor

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Saw this topic on the Twitter

Hard to choose just one

What opening lyric grabs you, makes you listen...

Heres a few, but I gotta admit the opening music plays a role too.

“Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day...”

“Busted flat in Baton Rouge, heading for the trains...”

“Well, I got to run to keep from hiding ... “

“Living on the road my friend, was gonna keep you free and clean...”

“He said ‘I’ll love you til I die.’ She told him ‘you’ll forget in time.”
 
For some reason Rolling Stones Satisfaction comes to mind. I'll have to think of others
 
'Some people ... ain't no damn good.' - Cougar

'Don't want to wait 'til you know me better' - Kiss

'Load up on guns, bring your friend.' - Nirvana
 
How many roads must a man walk down. Before they can call him a man?

There are places I remember. All my life though some have changed.

Big wheels keep on turning. Carry me home to see my kin.

Out here in the fields. I fight for my meals.

A love struck Romeo sings the streets a serenade; laying everybody low with a love song that he made.
Finds a streetlight, steps out of the shade. Says something like "You and me babe: how 'bout it?"

Nice girls, not one with a defect. Cellophane shrink-wrapped, so correct.

I can't seem to face up to the facts. I'm tense and nervous and I can't relax.

There's a lady who's sure. All that glitters is gold.

You, who are on the road. Must have a code that you can live by.
 
"I am an anti-christ, I am an anarchist."

"Hello darkness my old friend"

"I'm not aware of too many things, I know what I know if you know what I mean"

"Somethings happening here, what is is ain't exactly clear."

"Tin soldiers and Nixon coming, we're finally on our own"

"Big man, pig man, ha ha charade you are"

"The marching band came down along main street, the soldier blues fell in behind"

"Huh, yeah, woo, hey yeah, huh. Ooh yeah, uh huh, yeah, I want to dance"

"We've only just begun to live, white lace and promises"

"Trapped in a mine that had caved in and everyone knows the only ones left were Joe and me and Tim"

And just for Cap:

"Seventy-three men sailed up, from the San Francisco Bay."
 
  • Walk me out in the mornin' dew
  • Question? What is it that everybody has, And some pirates and thieves try to take?
  • Slim slow slider, Horse you ride, Is white as snow
 
Every mornin' at the mine you could see him arrive
He stood six-foot-six and weighed two-forty-five
Kinda broad at the shoulder and narrow at the hip
And everybody knew ya didn't give no lip to big John
 
Ain't it just like the night to play tricks when you're trying be so quiet,

On the turning away from the pale and downtrodden,

Virgil Caine is the name and I served on the Danville train,

Let my inspiration flow in token rhyme suggesting rhythm,


 
"Tin soldiers and Nixon coming, we're finally on our own"
That's a great first line, but the guitar intro is so awesome, I'm already hooked before the lyrics even start.

I'm trying to think of songs that either start right up with the lyrics, or have a relatively unmemorable intro that doesn't overshadow the power of the first line. That's a lot harder.
 
From the great Atlantic ocean to the wide Pacific shore
Once upon a time you dressed so fine/threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you?
I see a red door and I want it painted black
Imagine there's no heaven
Well she was just seventeen, you know what I mean
Picture yourself in a boat on a river with tangerine trees and marmalade skies.
Well I'm running down the road trying to loosen my load, I've got seven women on my mind.
Can't you see?
 
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Saw this topic on the Twitter

Hard to choose just one

What opening lyric grabs you, makes you listen...

Heres a few, but I gotta admit the opening music plays a role too.

“Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day...”

“Busted flat in Baton Rouge, heading for the trains...”

“Well, I got to run to keep from hiding ... “

“Living on the road my friend, was gonna keep you free and clean...”

“He said ‘I’ll love you til I die.’ She told him ‘you’ll forget in time.”
She was a fast machine she kept her motor clean, she was the best da** woman that I had ever seen

Not only is the first line memorable, but so is the guitar to start the song.
 
Fu*k the police coming straight from the underground,

Some people call me the space cowboy,

She never mentions the word addiction,


 
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Saw this topic on the Twitter

Hard to choose just one

What opening lyric grabs you, makes you listen...

Heres a few, but I gotta admit the opening music plays a role too.

“Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day...”

“Busted flat in Baton Rouge, heading for the trains...”

“Well, I got to run to keep from hiding ... “

“Living on the road my friend, was gonna keep you free and clean...”

“He said ‘I’ll love you til I die.’ She told him ‘you’ll forget in time.”

"You come home late and you come home early, you come on big when you're feeling small."
 
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When I was a child my family would travel

She was standing at the load-in when the trucks rolled up

Look out Mama there's a white boat comin' up the river

Levon wears his war wound like a crown
 
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When I was a child my family would travel
I was alright fo
She was standing at the load-in when the trucks rolled up

Look out Mama there's a white boat comin' up the river

Levon wears his war wound like a crown
When I was a child my family would travel

She was standing at the load-in when the trucks rolled up

Look out Mama there's a white boat comin' up the river

Levon wears his war wound like a crown


I was allright for awhile

I could smile for awhile
 
more sublime:
Every day I love him a little bit more
A little bit more, a little bit more

There's a steel train comin' through
I would take it if I could

Early in the morning, risin' to the street
Light me up that cigarette and I strap shoes on my feet

When you grab a hold of me
Tell me that I'll never be set free

We took this trip to Garden Grove
It smelled like Lou-dog inside the van, oh yeah

She takes her time when it's time to get ready, always has her way.

By the rivers of Babylon
Where he sat down
And there he wept when he remembered Zion


...Sublime definitely had memorable intros to their music. Hooked me from opening line in many songs.
 
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In The Days Of My Youth I Was Told What It Means To Be A Man

I may not always love you, but long as there are stars above you, you never need to doubt it

God, what a mess, on the ladder of success

In school they never taught bout hamburgers or steak, Elijah Muhammed or the welfare state.
 
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That's a great first line, but the guitar intro is so awesome, I'm already hooked before the lyrics even start.

I'm trying to think of songs that either start right up with the lyrics, or have a relatively unmemorable intro that doesn't overshadow the power of the first line. That's a lot harder.

Sorta like...

"She asked him why...why, I'm a hairy guy. I'm hairy noon and nighty night night."

Like that?
 
Time for a song - a good one - with lots of good lyrics:



You get a shiver in the dark
It's raining in the park but meantime
South of the river you stop and you hold everything
A band is blowing Dixie double four time
You feel alright when you hear that music ring

Well, now you step inside but you don't see too many faces
Coming in out of the rain to hear the jazz go down
Competition in too many other places
Oh, but the horns, they're blowing that sound
Way on down south, way on down south London town

You check out Guitar George
He knows all them fancy chords
Mind it's strictly rhythm
He doesn't wanna make it cry or sing
Said his old guitar is all he can afford
When he gets up under the lights to play his thing

And Harry doesn't mind if he doesn't make that fancy scene
He's got a daytime job, he's doing quite alright
He can play the honky tonk like anything
Saving it for a Friday night
With the Sultans, with the Sultans of Swing

And see a crowd of boys, fooling around in the corner
Dressed in their baggies and their best king drawers
They don't give a damn about any trumpet-playing band
It ain't what they call "Rock 'n' Roll"
And the Sultans, oh yeah, the Sultans, they play Creole

And then the man, he steps right up to the microphone
And says at last as the time bell rings
"Goodnight, now it's time to go home."
Then he makes it fast with one more thing,
"We are the Sultans, we are the Sultans of Swing."

[turn it up]
[awesome guitar]
[piano pause]
[rebuild]
[big finish with more awesome guitar]
 
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