great first lines in songs

[rlouie]

Okay I'm starting a thread about great first lines in songs....only the first line......I'll start it out...I have many favorite first lines in great songs but here are a few:

she put him out....like the burnin end of a midnight cigarette.....

Whiskey Lullabye - Bill Anderson & Jon Randall later done by Brad Paisley & Alison Kraus

There's a lady who's sure all that glitters is gold
And she's buying the stairway to heaven.

Robert Plant / Led Zeppelin

A ghost of aviation
She was swallowed by the sky
Or by the sea, like me she had a dream to fly
Like icarus ascending
On beautiful foolish arms
Amelia, it was just a false alarm

okay so I broke my own rule, this is the 5th verse of Amelia by Joni Mitchel

[uncle dizzy 60]

"She was a level headed danceer on the road to alcohol
And I was just a soldier on my way to Montreal" John Prine, Spanish Pipedream circa 1968

[crowdedstr]

okay, so i did first verses, but they're shorter ones, and they're too good to cut off after the initial line or two...
(great thread!)

The screen door slams, Mary's dress sways
Like a vision she dances across the porch. As the radio plays
Roy Orbison singing for the lonely
Hey that's me and I want you only
Don't turn me home again, I just can't face myself alone again

Bruce Springsteen - Thunder Road

Say, my love, I came to you with best intentions
You laid down and gave to me just what I'm seeking
Love, you drive me to distraction

Dave Matthews - Two Step

[anthonyc007]

One of my favorites:

Early one mornin' the sun was shinin',
I was layin' in bed
Wond'rin' if she'd changed at all
If her hair was still red.

Bob Dylan - "Tangled Up in Blue"

[PeaVine]

If I had no place to fall, and I needed to,
Could I count on you
To lay me down...

TVZ

[PorkPieGuy]

Shameless self-promotion warning!!!

This is the first line of a song called "Freedom" that I wrote:

"Oppression takes it's last dying breath as you ask Him in your heart."

Listen to the preview at http://cdbaby.com/cd/MartinMoore

I'm also on iTunes!
www.myspace.com/MartinMooreMusic

My favorite first line in a song probably comes from Rich Mullins. Check out my signature!

[JohnZ]

'Hey Good Lookin'
'This Land Is Your Land'
'Stop, In The Name Of Love'

-economical, instant identity, mood, and marriage of music with lyric.

There's a lot more I'm sure.

[fitness1]

"let me tell you 'bout this girl I met just the other night,
she'd spent so much time in the mirror, boys, she could not tell left from right"

Bill Morrissey "Grizzly Bear"

[lucky]

"Sunset is an angel weeping
Holding out a bloody sword
No matter how I squint I cannot
Make out what it's pointing toward"

'Pacing the Cage'-Bruce Cockburn

"Business-men like babes lie sleeping on the lawn
Cops are standing naked, breaking into song
If I had you now, as the one for me
Could affect a change, accordingly"

'Accordingly'-Chris Whitley


lucky

[Joe F]

"It was an early mornin bar room, and the place'd just opened up..."

Harry Chapin "A Better Place To Be"

In fact several of his story-songs have great opening lines IMO.

"It was rainin hard in Frisco. I needed one more fare to make my night. A lady up ahead waved to flag me down. She got in at the light..." (Taxi)

"I come fresh from the street, fast on my feet, kinda crass and corny. Not much meat on my bones and a whole lot alone and more than a little bit horny. The old six string was all I had to keep my belly filled. And for each full hour lesson I gave I got a crisp ten dollar bill..." (I wanna learn a love song)

[rlouie]

Originally Posted by Joe F

"It was an early mornin bar room, and the place'd just opened up..."

Harry Chapin "A Better Place To Be"

In fact several of his story-songs have great opening lines IMO.

"It was rainin hard in Frisco. I needed one more fare to make my night. A lady up ahead waved to flag me down. She got in at the light..." (Taxi)

"I come fresh from the street, fast on my feet, kinda crass and corny. Not much meat on my bones and a whole lot alone and more than a little bit horny. The old six string was all I had to keep my belly filled. And for each full hour lesson I gave I got a crisp ten dollar bill..." (I wanna learn a love song)

great one Joe..................

[Casek]

"This Old Guitar taught me to sing a love song, showed me how to laugh and how to cry"

John Denver 1974

[Gilliangirl]

Okay, can I bend the rules a bit? How about the first line of the second verse?

"I can smell the bleach that they use in the hall but it can't clean the dirt off of me"

- Basement Apartment by Sarah Harmer

[Andromeda]

He was born in the summer of his twenty-seventh year, coming home to a place he'd never been before.

Rocky Mountain High ~ John Denver

[Tony]

"Sometimes I close my eyes and I still see your face
and the ghosts of our past that I can't erase..."