Best opening lines.
What are some of your faves?
I like the attention-grabbing ones.
Looking up from your wayside ditch now…
“All New Low” - Hellacopters
‘Show me how you do that trick
The one that makes me scream’ she said
“Just Like Heaven” - the Cure
It’s only the end of the world again…
“Endsmouth” - Agents of Oblivion
I don’t mind you coming here, and wasting all my time
“Just What I Needed” - the Cars
August 08, 2007 in Music, Radio.blog |
Napolean wore a black hat, ate lots of chicken and conquered half Europe -
“Cynthia Mask” Robyn Hitchcock
Comment by Gilgamesh — August 8, 2007 @ 9:45 am
“There must be some kind of way out of here, said the joker to the thief.”
“Hello Darkness, my old friend.”
Comment by Tim J — August 8, 2007 @ 10:03 am
“I am a patient boy. I wait I wait I wait I wait.”
- Fugazi (the first line of the first song of their first EP. What a great introduction to the best band ever…)
Comment by Jeremy — August 8, 2007 @ 10:50 am
“This next one…… is the first song…. on our NEW ALBUM (fret slide)….. it just came out this week…. and the song is called…. Surrender!”
- Cheap Trick Live at Budokan
Comment by Geoff J — August 8, 2007 @ 11:03 am
“Dreamed about killin’ you again last night and it felt alright to me.”
Wilco—”Via Chicago”
Comment by Tom — August 8, 2007 @ 11:11 am
“Did you see the stylish kids in the riot?”
The Libertines, Time for Heroes
“The screen door slams, Mary’s dress waves…”
Bruce Springsteen, Thunder Road
Comment by Greg — August 8, 2007 @ 11:38 am
Birds fall from the windowsill above mine, then flap their wings at the last second.
-Cake, Mr. Mastadon Farm
Comment by Ben — August 8, 2007 @ 11:39 am
“Sweetness, sweetness I was only joking when I said I’d like to, smash every tooth in your head.” - Big Mouth Strikes Again (The Smiths)
“I love you from the bottom of my pencil-case” - Song for Whoever (The Beautiful South)
Comment by danithew — August 8, 2007 @ 12:05 pm
“Oh God said to Abraham, “Kill me a son”
Abe says, “Man, you must be puttin’ me on”"
Highway 61 (Dylan)
Comment by John Scherer — August 8, 2007 @ 12:39 pm
“Well, I must have been stoned when this whole thing started…”
- The Old 97’s, “Stoned”
“Well I thought about the army, dad said, ‘Son, you’re f****in’ high.”
-Ben Folds Five, “Army”
(Uh oh, I’m sensing a theme here. I guess I’ve been reading too much Chuck Klosterman lately.)
“History repeats the old conceits, the glib replies, the same defeats.”
- Elvis Costello, Beyond Belief
“Got me a movie
I want you to know
Slicing up eyeballs
I want you to know”
- The Pixies, “Debaser”
“We are the Village Green Preservation Society.
God save Donald Duck, Vaudeville and Variety.”
- The Kinks, “Village Green Preservation Society.”
“Baby says I’m tearing her down,
Shoulder to shoulder I hold her too lightly.”
- Buelah, “Landslide, Baby”
“Heard of a van that is loaded with weapons
packed up and ready to go”
- Talking Heads, “Life During Wartime”
Comment by BTD Greg — August 8, 2007 @ 12:52 pm
One more:
“Jesus died for somebody’s sins but not mine.”
Patti Smith, Gloria.
Comment by Greg — August 8, 2007 @ 1:02 pm
How about
“Call me Ishamael”
or
“Marley was Dead to begin with”
?
Wrong kind of opening lines?
Comment by Matt W. — August 8, 2007 @ 1:28 pm
“The sky was full of amethysts
And all the stars looked just like little fish”
- Hole “violet”
“All happy families are the same. Unhappy families are different in their own way.” - Tolstoy, _Anna Karenina_
“I was lying on the grass on Sunday morning of last week,
Indulging in my self defeat” - “Steal My Sunshine” Len
Some of the lines in this are far better than the opening, which I know was hte point…
“in my younger days I used to sport a shag, when i went to school I carried lunch in a bag” - Pharycide “Passing me By”.. .”I guess a twinkle in her eye is just a twinkle in her eye” haha.
Comment by banane — August 8, 2007 @ 2:18 pm
“Cholly — woman with the big thighs”
Fishbone
Comment by Jacob J — August 8, 2007 @ 2:43 pm
“We can share the women, we can share the wine, we can share what we got of yours cause we done shared all of mine”
“The Queen of Light took her bow and then she turned to go.”
“We skipped the light fandango, turned cartwheels cross the floor.”
Comment by tracy m — August 8, 2007 @ 3:43 pm
An in a more literary vein:
“Where’s Pa going with that ax?”
Comment by tracy m — August 8, 2007 @ 3:48 pm
“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.”
Sunday Morning Comin’ Down
Written by Kris Kristofferson, performed by Johnny Cash
(Yes, it’s technically two lines, but the second is just as good as the first.)
Comment by Mark IV — August 8, 2007 @ 4:14 pm
“I don’t care how long this lasts
We have no future, we have no past”
Sunflower, Paul Weller
“Not everyone in new york would pay to see andrew lloyd webber”
Chocolate Cake, Crowded House
“Im really close tonight
And I feel like Im moving inside her”
Fall at Your Feet, Crowded House
“The bravest thing Ive ever done
Was to run away and hide”
Break Your Heart, Barenaked Ladies
“She told me she loved me, Which means, She must be insane”
How Could Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel, Morrissey
Hmmm. I could do this for quite awhile!
Comment by gabby — August 8, 2007 @ 4:58 pm
From the greatest pop love song of all time:
“I may not always love you…”
–Beach Boys, “God Only Knows”
Comment by Derek — August 8, 2007 @ 7:12 pm
“Said the plain-clothes cop to the beauty queen,
‘I’ve seen nothing but a spoke in a wheel’”
– Iron and Wine, “White Tooth Man”
“We laugh like the dead would laugh”
– Deadboy & the Elephantmen, “Like the Dead Would Laugh”
“I don’t buy everything I read,
I haven’t even read everything I’ve bought”
– Barenaked Ladies
BNL has some great lines.
Comment by Susan M — August 8, 2007 @ 7:38 pm
“I’ve got sunshine in my stomach, like I just rocked my baby to sleep”
Genesis - In the Cage
Comment by Gilgamesh — August 8, 2007 @ 10:15 pm
“I’ve got sunshine in my stomach, like I just rocked my baby to sleep”
Genesis - In the Cage
“I wandered happy as a cloud”
Genesis - Colony of Slippermen
Comment by Gilgamesh — August 8, 2007 @ 10:15 pm
Three favorite off the top of my head:
“I’m a street walking cheetah with a heart full of napalm.” — Stooges, “Search and Destroy”
“My name is Prince and I am funky.” — Prince, “My Name is Prince”
“G* another f* payback with a twist, the mf*s shot but the punks missed…” — Ice Cube, “When Will They Shoot”
Comment by Pris — August 9, 2007 @ 1:21 am
“You look like the perfect fit for a girl in need of a tourniquet” - Save Me, Aimee Mann
“Now that I’ve met you would you object to never seeing each other again” - Deadly, Aimee Mann
Comment by John C. — August 9, 2007 @ 8:54 am
“Do you have the time to listen to me whine about nothing and everything all at once”
Basket Case, Green Day
Comment by Last Lemming — August 9, 2007 @ 11:56 am
“I been run down, I been lied to,
I don’t know why I let that mean woman make me a fool.”
“Whipping Post” — Allman Brothers
“I’ve been really tryin’, baby
Tryin’ to hold back this feelin’ for so long”
“Let’s Get It On” — Marvin Gaye
“When a man loves a woman,
Can’t keep his mind on nothin’ else”
“When a Man Loves a Woman” — Percy Sledge
“There’s something happening here
What it is ain’t exactly clear.”
“For What It’s Worth” — Buffalo Springfield
“You got your mother in a whirl,
She’s not sure if you’re a boy or a girl.”
“Rebel, Rebel” — David Bowie
“War! Huh! What is it good for? Yeah! Absolutely nothin’”
“War” — Edwin Starr
“Whoa! I feel good!
I knew that I would!”
“I Got You” — James Brown
Comment by kuri — August 9, 2007 @ 7:11 pm
“You are now about to witness the strength of street knowledge.”
NWA, “Straight Outta Compton”
Comment by Greg — August 9, 2007 @ 10:14 pm
“I can’t believe the news today”
-U2, Sunday Bloody Sunday
“I close my eyes and I see a freak, I think it’s me and I’m afraid to speak”
-Third Eye Blind, Crystal Baller
“I’m only pretty sure that I can’t take anymore,
before you take a swing”
-Third Eye Blind, How’s It Going To Be
“My love she throws me
Like a rubber ball”
-U2, The Sweetest Thing
“I’ve done myself an impossible crime”
-The Shins, Split Needles
“I think i’ll go home and mull this over
Before i cram it down my throat”
-The Shins, Caring is Creepy
“Lock your lips with eastern time,
Lead my heart, and leave in mind.”
-The Damnwells, I Am a Leaver
“Why do you kiss goodbye every night
Giving me every reason to lie?”
-The Damnwells, Kiss Catastrophe
Comment by MCQ — August 9, 2007 @ 11:30 pm
“You cannot quit me so quickly”
-Dave Mathews, The Space Between
“Well they say your life was marked
And you were wondering if it would ever start”
-Better Than Ezra, Hollow
“I sit at my table and wage war on myself”
REM, World Leader Pretend
“Birdie in the hand for life’s rich demand
The insurgency began and you missed it”
REM, Begin the Begin
“That’s great, it starts with an earthquake, birds and snakes, an aeroplane and Lenny Bruce is not afraid”
-REM, It’s the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)
“Take a look at my girlfriend
She’s the only one I got
Not much of a girlfriend
Never seem to get a lot”
-Supertramp, Breakfast in America
“Funny how I find myself in love with you”
-Talk Talk, It’s My Life
“I am an arms dealer
Fitting you with weapons in the form of words”
-Fall Out Boy, This Aint a Scene
“Last year’s wishes
Are this year’s apologies”
-Fall Out Boy, I’m Like A Lawyer With The Way I’m Always Trying To Get You Off
“Am I more than you bargained for yet?
I’ve been dying to tell you anything you want to hear, cause that’s just who I am this week”
-Fall Out Boy, Sugar We’re Goin’ Down
Comment by MCQ — August 10, 2007 @ 12:15 am
These aren’t really my all-time faves, just a couple off the top of my head:
Two-headed dog, two-headed dog, I’ve been working in the Kremlin with a two-headed dog.
-Roky Erickson, Two-Headed Dog (Red Temple Prayer)
Bedouin tribes ascending from the egg into the flower.
-13th Floor Elevators, Slip Inside This House
I guess I should’ve known by the way you parked your car sideways that it wouldn’t last.
-Prince, Little Red Corvette
Black out the windows, it’s party time.
-Twilight Singers, Martin Eden
Comment by Brian V — August 10, 2007 @ 4:30 am
How many times have I heard that Prince lyric and it never registered? That’s really funny.
That Twilight Singers line is so awesome because it just sets such a tone for the entire song.
Comment by Susan M — August 10, 2007 @ 10:05 am
Wild thing
You make my heart sing
( You will now have this song in your head for at least 2 hours).
What can happen when you sing a first line… Karaoke Singer Attacked After Starting Song
Comment by anna — August 10, 2007 @ 5:03 pm
Susan,
I’m a bit late on this one, but I had to add my favorite:
“Generals gathered in their masses,
Just like witches at black masses.
Evil minds that plot destruction,
Sorcerers of deaths construction.
In the fields the bodies burning,
As the war machine keeps turning.
Death and hatred to mankind,
Poisoning their brainwashed minds, oh lord yeah!”
-”War Pigs,” opening track to Black Sabbath’s Paranoid
Comment by David J — August 26, 2007 @ 10:52 am
Good one!
Comment by Susan M — August 27, 2007 @ 8:07 am