Greatest opening lines to a song

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thedaddyman

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Listening to some Tom Waites yesterday and one of his songs, Mr Siegal, came on. It got me thinking, what are the greatest opening lines to a song?. In this case it opens with this
I spent all my money in a mexican whorehouse,
Across the street from a catholic church

Can anyone beat that?
 
Marky got with Sharon
Sharon got Cherese
She was sharing Sharon's outlook
On the topic of disease
Mikey had a facial scar
And Bobby was a racist
They were all in love with dyin'
They were doing it in Texas

Pepper
B*tthole Surfers

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Lawyers, Guns and Money by Warren Zevon

I went home with a waitress - the way I always do.
How was I to know - she was with the russians, too?
I was gambling in Havana, I took a little risk.
Send lawyers, guns, and money.

 
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Born down in a dead mans town
The first kick I took was when I hit the ground

I don't have to tell you who that's from.
 
Then there's Led Zeppelin's Whole lot of love. Probably the only song written about a male appendage and it's usage and shared enjoyment.

You need cooling
Baby, I'm not fooling
I'm gonna send you back to schooling
Way down inside
Honey, you need it
I'm gonna give you my love
I'm gonna give you my love, oh

We won't mention the later verse when good old Robert opines that his companion should "Shake for me, girl" and that "I wanna be your backdoor man"
 
There are so many...but I heard this again yesterday and it still resonates. (Those 1970s singer-songwriters that I absorbed as a teenager - Waits, Zevon, Newman, Browne, Springsteen, Lightfoot etc really came up with timeless lyrics.)

Running on Empty - Jackson Browne:

Lookin' out at the road rushin' under my wheels
Lookin' back at the years gone by like so many summer fields
In '65 I was seventeen and runnin' up 101
I don't know where I'm runnin' now, I'm just runnin' on
 
Howth Head said:
There are so many...but I heard this again yesterday and it still resonates. (Those 1970s singer-songwriters that I absorbed as a teenager - Waits, Zevon, Newman, Browne, Springsteen, Lightfoot etc really came up with timeless lyrics.)

Running on Empty - Jackson Browne:

Lookin' out at the road rushin' under my wheels
Lookin' back at the years gone by like so many summer fields
In '65 I was seventeen and runnin' up 101
I don't know where I'm runnin' now, I'm just runnin' on
Click to expand...
I went to see Jackson Browne in the National Stadium about 30 years ago. Paul Brady was in the audience and got up on stage and did a few songs with him. He came across as an extremely nice and down to earth guy.
 
Warren Zevon was a brilliant zany lyricist and musician and knew his way around a bar in his day playing in the Dubliner pub in Sitges
“ I saw a werewolf with a chinese menu in his hand
walking throughout the streets of Soho in the rain .
He was looking for the place called Lee Ho Fooks
going to get a big dish of beef chow mein “
 
How could I forget to include Richard Thompson - another big favourite of mine over the years. Brilliantly acerbic lyrics and a great guitar player to boot.

I feel so good I'm going to break somebody's heart tonight
I feel so good I'm going to take someone apart tonight
 
Nice girls, not one with a defect
Cellophane shrink-wrapped, so correct
Red dogs under illegal legs
She looks so good that he gets down and begs

Watching the Detectives
Elvis Costello
 
McCormack and Richard Tauber are singing by the bed.
There's a glass of punch below your feet and an angel at your head
There's devils on each side of you with bottles in their hands
You need one more drop of poison and you'll dream of foreign lands.

The Sick Bed of Cuchulainn
The Pogues
 
We could probably have a thread just for Jackson Browne...

Well, just look at that girl with the lights coming up in her eyes,
She's got to be somebody's baby,
She must be somebody's baby.

Not an opening line, but bonus points for him getting a mention in Lisdoonvarna:

A 747 for Jackson Browne,
They had to build a special runway just to get him down.
 
Deiseblue said:
Warren Zevon was a brilliant zany lyricist and musician and knew his way around a bar in his day playing in the Dubliner pub in Sitges
“ I saw a werewolf with a chinese menu in his hand
walking throughout the streets of Soho in the rain .
He was looking for the place called Lee Ho Fooks
going to get a big dish of beef chow mein “
Click to expand...
Sadly Lee ho Fooks closed in the noughties but I do recall being in there a few times in the 90s, it was ok if not the most original Chinese restaurant in Chinatown in London
 
A cheesy ode to rock and roll... Summer of 69 Bryan Adams.

I got my first real six-string.
Bought it at the five-and-dime.
Played it till my fingers bled.
Was the summer of ′69

The ridiculous... She's Electric by Oasis

She's electric
She's in a family full of eccentrics
 
odyssey06 said:
We could probably have a thread just for Jackson Browne...

Well, just look at that girl with the lights coming up in her eyes,
She's got to be somebody's baby,
She must be somebody's baby.

Not an opening line, but bonus points for him getting a mention in Lisdoonvarna:

A 747 for Jackson Browne,
They had to build a special runway just to get him down.
Click to expand...

I was at his Lisdoonvarna appearance in 1982 - brilliant performance with the likes of Danny Kortchmar and Russ Kunkel in his band. Pretty sure he did 'Somebody's Baby' which had just come out as a single from the soundtrack of Fast Times at Ridgmont High.

Rocky DeValera and the Rhythm Kings performed after him (around midnight) and I can remember watching Browne's crew dismantling the equipment while dancing around to Ferdia and the boys, who must've seemed alien to their American sensibilities. (RIP Richie "Milkboy" Taylor.)
 
You're so vain, you probably think this song is about you
Carly Simon
Imagine there's no heaven, it's easy if you try
John Lennon
I don't like Mondays
Bob Geldoff
Stand by your man, for after all he's just a man
Tammy Winnette
Yet 'twas not her beauty alone that won me, oh no 'twas the truth in her eyes
John McCormack, The Rose of Tralee
Her mission was to rid the world of physical repression, then we had a session
The Saw Doctors, I Useta Lover
 
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