i guess i'm thinking of this in terms of the opening lines of *albums*, like, lines that really set a tone or somehow leave you in awe from the get go.
― brimstead, Thursday, 24 April 2014 01:59 (ten years ago) link
Belligerent ghouls run Manchester schools
― flappy bird, Monday, 31 July 2017 07:06 (seven years ago) link
My first name Angelene,prettiest mess you've ever seen
― Week of Wonders (Ross), Tuesday, 1 August 2017 17:23 (seven years ago) link
All of your friends are cuntsand your mother was a ballpoint pen thief
― The Anti-Climax Blues Band (Turrican), Tuesday, 1 August 2017 17:37 (seven years ago) link
*was=is
― The Anti-Climax Blues Band (Turrican), Tuesday, 1 August 2017 17:38 (seven years ago) link
Why would you run ?I beg stars aboveA thing of such beautyMust be called love
― Ich bin kein Berliner (alex in mainhattan), Tuesday, 1 August 2017 18:21 (seven years ago) link
I am an American aquarium drinkerI assassin down the lineI'm hiding out in the big city blinkingWhat was I thinking when I let go of you?
― Ich bin kein Berliner (alex in mainhattan), Tuesday, 1 August 2017 18:30 (seven years ago) link
backwater -- we're sailing at the edges of time
― reggie (qualmsley), Tuesday, 1 August 2017 20:13 (seven years ago) link
"won't say I love you, babe"
(Won't say I need you, babeBut I'm gonna get you, babeAnd I will not do you wrong)
From "to live is to fly" by tvz
I don't get it but it's remarkable anyway.
― fuiud, mac (rip van wanko), Friday, 8 December 2017 21:35 (six years ago) link
Got a wife and kids in Baltimore, Jack I went out for a ride and I never went back
― kornrulez6969, Saturday, 9 December 2017 05:43 (six years ago) link
who is Jack?
― niels, Saturday, 9 December 2017 21:14 (six years ago) link
Jack Palance
― kornrulez6969, Monday, 11 December 2017 03:48 (six years ago) link
I was born the day they shot JFK,the way you look at me sucks me down the sidewalk,somebody please tell this machine I'm not a machine
― In a slipshod style (Ross), Monday, 11 December 2017 04:35 (six years ago) link
Ahhh....
I love the colorful clothes she wears
― never have i been a blue calm sea (collardio gelatinous), Monday, 11 December 2017 07:11 (six years ago) link
^ yup
― In a slipshod style (Ross), Monday, 11 December 2017 07:12 (six years ago) link
I always assumed Jack was shorthand for a state or smth, like Memphis, Tennessee, but I guess that doesn't make any sense, and instead the opening line is setting the scene of the song as a dialogue between narrator and interlocutor Jack?
can't help but feel this is lazy songwriting, that Jack is only there for the rhyme
the next line is all killer though
― niels, Monday, 11 December 2017 07:18 (six years ago) link
He is not your run of the mill garden variety Alabama country fare
― flappy bird, Monday, 11 December 2017 07:41 (six years ago) link
every night i tell myself i am the cosmosi am the windbut that don't get you back again
― cwkiii, Thursday, 28 May 2020 13:06 (four years ago) link
Feels like I've been through a washing machine
― frogbs, Tuesday, 18 October 2022 03:51 (one year ago) link
There were 87 Advil in the bottle now there's 30 left, I ate 47 so what happened to the other 10?
it's not music but the opening line to Forrest McNeil's Review is one of the best:
"Life...it's literally all we have. But is it any good?"
― frogbs, Tuesday, 18 October 2022 03:57 (one year ago) link
Son, I'm 30I only went with your mother 'cause she's dirty
― as a lyricist he is from hell (flamboyant goon tie included), Wednesday, 15 November 2023 22:38 (ten months ago) link
Teenage angst has paid off wellNow I'm bored and old
― alpine static, Thursday, 16 November 2023 08:28 (ten months ago) link
life's a nightmare, i can't stand it
― Fizzles, Thursday, 16 November 2023 08:55 (ten months ago) link
Jens Lekman isn't on my mind or radar all that much, but he certainly his regarding the question of best opening lines:
Yeah I got busted.So I used my one phone callto dedicatea song to you on the radio
― Valentijn, Thursday, 16 November 2023 09:47 (ten months ago) link
(he certainly is)
― Valentijn, Thursday, 16 November 2023 09:48 (ten months ago) link
I love that Jens song, but David Berman should get most of the credit there, and for the chorus too, because those lyrics are based on this bit of Berman's poem "Governors on Sominex":
P.K. was in the precinct house, using his one phone callto dedicate a song to Tammy, for she was the lightby which he traveled into this and that
iirc one of Jens's friends had included these lines (uncredited) in a letter to him, and Jens paraphrased them in the song thinking his friend had written them.
― Vaguely Threatening CAPTCHAs, Thursday, 16 November 2023 19:07 (ten months ago) link
jens has plenty of candidates for the thread to be fair
― is he disgruntled adrian? (voodoo chili), Thursday, 16 November 2023 20:05 (ten months ago) link
It has often been my dreamTo live with one who wasn't there
― Xgau Murder Spa (nikola), Saturday, 18 November 2023 03:17 (ten months ago) link
Life is dull, life is grayAt its best it's just OKBut I'm happy to report:Life is also short
― one time gaffled 'em up (one time), Saturday, 18 November 2023 03:34 (ten months ago) link
I like opening lines that set the scene.
"You opened my mail apart at the seams / Now you know I live beyond my means"
"The last time I saw Richard was Detroit in '68 and he told me / all romantics meet the same fate some day / Cynical and drink and boring someone in some dark café"
"I got a letter from the government the other day / I opened and read it / It said they were suckers / They wanted me for their army or whatever"
― Alba, Saturday, 13 April 2024 20:16 (five months ago) link
I like second lines that are critiques of opening lines, like in "Lovergirl" by Teena Marie:
Coffee, tea, or me, baby? Touché au laitMy openin' line might be a bit passé, yes
― henry s, Sunday, 14 April 2024 00:16 (five months ago) link
God knows you ain’t pretty, God knows its true
― bbq, Sunday, 14 April 2024 03:18 (five months ago) link
I think the first 5 seconds of Destroyer's Streethawk are some of the best opening seconds of any album. You could turn it off right there and have a clear idea of what the next 40 minutes are going to entail.
― H.P, Sunday, 14 April 2024 03:33 (five months ago) link
The room, it was lit upMe too, I couldn't sit up.
"Midnight Through Morning," David Blue (1966)
― clemenza, Saturday, 18 May 2024 20:35 (four months ago) link
Wayne Marshall - Orgy
"Baby, let's have an orgy"
― boxedjoy, Sunday, 19 May 2024 16:58 (four months ago) link