Yes, it’s time to find out what opening lyrics you dig! I would say “favorite,” but, dang, it’s hard to pick one favorite, ain’t it? There are soooooo many songs with cool lyrics, and I know I’m not as good remembering lyrics as I used to be, so I can’t even pick a favorite. But I can pick a few that I really like!
I’ve long said that the best opening lyric ever is “You wired me awake and hit me with a hand of broken nails,” which is how Soundgarden’s “Rusty Cage” begins. As that’s the first song on the album, it stands to reason that that’s the best opening lyric of an album, as well! (I mean, all the lyrics are great, but we’re just talking about opening lyrics, consarnit!)
If I had to choose, that would be the one. But then I remember Queensrÿche’s “I Don’t Believe in Love” and the excellent first lyrics: “I awoke on impact, under surveillance from the camera eye, searching high and low.” Also very good!
You can’t go wrong with “Don’t call it a comeback, I’ve been here for years, rockin’ my peers, puttin’ suckers in fear, makin’ the tears rain down like a monsoon, listen to the bass go boom!”
I very much love Fish’s lyrics for Marillion, but they don’t tend to start with a punch, so I don’t have any good examples from them. I’ll finish with my favorite ABBA song, “When All Is Said and Done,” which begins thusly: “Here’s to us, one more toast, and then we’ll pay the bill; deep inside, both of us can feel the autumn chill.” It’s a melancholy beginning to a melancholy yet triumphant song, and it works really well.
Ok, those are some of mine. What are some of yours? Don’t be shy!
I have bad hearing. So it takes me a while to understand what someone is singing. Even for songs in spanish, really. So instead of punchy lyrics, I really enjoy how some people interpret those lines. When you asked this question, two songs came to mind:
-Lady Stardust from David Bowie. Not my favorite song from him, but I really like those first lines:
“People stared at the makeup on his face
Laughed at his long black hair, his animal grace”
The other one is from a mexican rock band from the…90s, I think? Caifanes. It was a band that had like 3 albums, then drama and nothing else. Great songs but I really like the intro to the song called “Llorona”. There is a classic song about this urban legend, and that song is pretty good, but Caifanes have their own song about this legend, and I really like the song and how it starts:
“Desde el fondo de la tierra
Fantasmas humanos se buscan
Algunos olvidan frío
Otros nunca se encuentran”
It translates to something like:
“From the bottom of the earth
Human ghosts look for each other
Some forget cold
Others are never found/find each other”
Again, it is mostly how is delivered, but I really like those lyrics too
Those are very keen, sir!
A cheat:
“We’re not the same. I’m an American, you’re a sick asshole”
Michael Douglas – Falling Down
This comes before the song Vigilante from Front Line Assembly starts.
Does it say something about the state of America?
Definitely cheating, but still a good line!
Boy, let’s not talk about the state of ‘Murica right now — I’m trying not to get depressed!
“I hear the train a-comin’, it’s rolling ’round the bend
And I ain’t seen the sunshine since I don’t know when…”
– Folsom Prison Blues by Johnny Cash
“Look, he’s crawling up my wall
Black and hairy, very small
Now he’s up above my head
Hanging by a little thread…”
– Boris the Spider by The Who
“New cities by the sea
Skyscrapers are winking
Some hills are never seen
The universe expanding…”
– Topaz by the B-52s
Very good choices!
Pulp, “Dishes”:
“I am not Jesus though I have the same initials / I am the man who stays home and does the dishes.”
Not even the biggest fan of the song, but you gotta love Werewolves of London:
“I saw a werewolf with a Chinese menu in his hand / Walking through the streets of Soho in the rain”
Hey, I do the dishes, too!
I like Werewolves of London all right, and it does start well!
Far too many to choose, but one of my faves
Bat out Hell – Meatloaf
The sirens are screaming and the fires are howling
Way down in the valley tonight
There’s a man in the shadows with a gun in his eye
And a blade shining, oh, so bright
There’s evil in the air, there’s thunder in the sky
And a killer’s on the bloodshot streets
Those are pretty good opening lyrics, sir!
“Hello Darkness, my old friend
I’ve come to talk with you again”
runners-up
They Might be Giants – Someone Keeps Moving my Chair
“Mr. Horrible, Mr. Horrible
Telephone call for Mr. Horrible
But before he can talk to the ugliness men
There’s some horrible business left for him to attend to”
Electric Light Orchestra – Four Little Diamonds
“I used to think she was the greatest thing
I really cared, gave her a diamond ring
She said she’d rather die than ever leave me
Well I never saw her face since then”
I think I like the ELO lyrics the best, although “Someone Keeps Moving My Chair” is a pretty darned good song!
“25 years and my life is still
Tryin’ to get up that great big hill of hope
For a destination
I realized quickly when I knew I should
That this world was made up of this brotherhood of Man
For whatever that means….”
-4 Non-Blondes, “What’s Going on?”
“You see me now, a veteran
Of a thousand psychic wars
I’ve been living on the edge so long
Where the winds of limbo roar
And I’m young enough to look at
And far too old to see
All the scars are on the inside
I’m not sure that there’s anything left of me”
-Veteran of the Psychic Wars, Blue Oyster Cult, lyrics by Michael Moorcock
I like those Blue Oyster Cult lyrics — did they adapt something by Moorcock, or did Moorcock write the words for the song?
In addition to his books, Michael Moorcock is a musician and songwriter – mostly associated with Hawkwind (who he has been on stage with) though has also worked with the Blue Oyster Cult and other groups. He once had his own group the Deep Fix.
Some of his song writing seems to be linked to his novels (e.g. the Hawkwind song the Black Corridor includes quotes from his book of that name)
Interesting. I did not know that! 🙂
Moorcock collaborated on the songs “Black Blade,”, form the album Cultosaurus Erectus, which is about Elric and Stormbringer; and, “Veteran of the Psychic Wars,” from Fire of Unknown Origin, the follow up album. Fire of Unknown Origin features a couple of songs written for the Heavy Metal movie soundtrack, including “Veteran”, which appears in the sequence where the Lochnar is unearthed. They also wrote “Heavy Metal: The Black and Silver” and “Vengeance (The Pact).” The latter two were not used in the film. “Veteran of The Psychic Wars” is about The Eternal Champion, Moorcock’s hero who takes on different names, across space, time and dimension.
BOC were big fans, especially Eric Bloom and fantasy writings have factored into their work, for years.
Probably trite to even mention “Stairway to Heaven,” but even though it’s overplayed, it’s still great, and those opening lines!
“There’s a lady who’s sure
All that glitters is gold
And she’s buying a stairway to heaven.”
And how about Bruce Springsteen’s “Atlantic City”?
“Well they blew up the chicken man in Philly last night
now they blew up his house too
Down on the boardwalk they’re gettin’ ready for a fight
Gonna see what them racket boys can do”
I mean, it’s a great song, so I don’t think it’s trite at all.
I’ve never been the biggest Springsteen fan, but he can write some good lyrics!
“I am angry, I am ill and I’m as ugly as sin, my irritability keeps me alive and kicking
“I know the meaning of life, it doesn’t help me a bit
“I know beauty and I know a good thing when I see it.” A Song From Under The Floorboards by Magazine. Typically provocative and self-loathing stuff from the great Howard Devoto!
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“The problem of leisure, what to do for pleasure.” Natural’s Not In It by Gang of Four. Lyrics by vocalist Jon King?
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“Echoes of the Broadway Everglades
“With their mythical madonnas
“Still walking in their shades.” Broadway Melody of 1974 by Genesis. I could’ve picked half a dozen lyric openers from the fantastic The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway album. Highly recommended, both lyrically and musically. Peter Gabriel goes proto-punk!