Great Opening Lines In Rock History
Well I heard they castrated Castro/ They cut off everything he had/ What a dirty, low down thing to do/ To mess him up like that–NICK LOWE
You say you want a revolution/ Well you know/ We all want to change the world–JOHN LENNON
Something’s wrong ’cause my mind is fading/ And everywhere I look there’s a dead end waiting/ Temperature’s dropping at the rotten oasis/ Stealing kisses from the leprous faces–BECK
Johnny’s in the basement mixin’ up the medicine/ I’m on the pavement thinking ’bout the government–BOB DYLAN
Mother Earth is pregnant for the third time/ For Y’all have knocked her up!–FUNKADELIC
Son, I’m 30/ I only went with your mother ‘cause she’s dirty–HAPPY MONDAYS
I hear the train a comin’/ It’s rollin’ ’round the bend/ And I ain’t seen the sunshine/
Since, I don’t know when–JOHNNY CASH
Southern man/ better keep your head/ Don’t forget/ what your good book said–NEIL YOUNG
Imagine there’s no heaven/ It’s easy if you try/ No hell below us/ Above us only sky–JOHN LENNON
Sunday afternoon there’s something special it’s just like another world/ Jogging in the park is my excuse to look at all the little girls–THE KINKS
They’re forming in straight line/ They’re going through a tight wind/ The kids are losing their minds/ The Blitzkrieg Bop–THE RAMONES
in order:
Pistols
Iggy
Johnny Cash
Beatle John
Dylan
Kinks
P-Funk
Beck
Lou Reed
Nick Lowe
Happy Mondays
Ramones
Neil Young
Beatle George
No Nazz, the songs, the songs! No bonus points for you! 🙂
ahhh jeez…
search and destroy
walk onthe wild side
god save the queen
nutted by reality
revolution
devils haircut
subterranean homesick blues
maggot brain
kinky afro
folsom prison blues
southern man
imagine
art lover (hadda google that one)
bklitzkrieg bop
I do love that Lou Reed opener.
Here’s my candidates:
Oh, I just don’t know where to begin…
(E Costello: Accidents Will Happen)
I know when to go out
I know when to stay in
And get things in…
(D Bowie: Modern Love)
Hunh? Get a job?
What for?
I’m trying to think…
(B-52s: Love Shack)
I done a lot of things I wish I hadn’t
There’s other things I never hope to do
But sliding off the map in both directions
Is the sorry mess i’ve made of knowing you…
(I. Dury, Bed O’ Rose No. 9)
My fave Kinks opener —
I am a dull and simple lad
Cannot tell water from champagne
And I have never met the Queen
And I wish I could have all that he has got
Oh, I wish I could be like David Watts…
And my Nick Lowe candidate —
With a growing sense of dread
And a hammer in my head
Fully clothed and on the bed
I wake up to the world that I’ve been living in…
(Lately I’ve Let Things Slide)
First lines on first song of first album by a band that sum them up perfectly…
Stone Roses: “I don’t have to sell my soul / He’s already in me”
Beta Band: “This is the definition of my life / Laying in bed in the sunshine / Choking on a vitamin tablet the doctor gave to save me”