most evocative opening lines of songs

"With the money from her accident, she bought herself a mobile home"

Joni

Just before our love got lost you said
I am as constant as a northern star
And I said, constant in the darkness
Wheres that at?
If you want me Ill be in the bar

Grace

One pill makes you larger
And one pill makes you small
And the ones that mother gives you
Don't do anything at all

Mary

This shirt is old and faded
All the color's washed away
I've had it now for more damn years
Than I can count anyway
I wear it beneath my jacket
With the collar turned up high
So old I should replace it
But I'm not about to try

Nigel

Unemployments rising
In the Chigley end of town.
And it's speading like pneumonia;
Doesn't look like going down.
There's trouble at the fire station;
Someone's had the sack.
And the lads are going to launch a scheme
To get rid of Captain Flack

Viv

I'm gonna get you in my tent, tent, tent tent, tent
Where we can both experiment, ment, ment, ment, ment
Yeah, yeah, it's so convinent, ent, ent, ent
Let's take a taxi to my tent
Oh yeah, my love is so insatiable
In a stoic sort of way
But my baby is as beautiful
As a tourniquet

So many really ........

Viv again with my favourite opening couplet

That boozy English day at the Brighton race courses
The wind blew your skirt up and it frightened the horses

"Taste the whiskey on your breath
It's as much as I can drink these days
And I haven't finished yet
Just keep breathing in my face"

Jerry Joseph

Bruce Springsteen Thunder Road

The screen door slams, Mary's dress waves
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
Don't run back inside, darling, you know just what I'm here for
So you're scared and you're thinking that maybe we ain't that young anymore
Show a little faith, there's magic in the night
You ain't a beauty but, hey, you're alright
Oh, and that's alright with me

quote:

Originally posted by ROTF:
Joni

Just before our love got lost you said
I am as constant as a northern star
And I said, constant in the darkness
Wheres that at?
If you want me Ill be in the bar

I've come over all goosebumpy and teary just reading it.

Schoenberg, "Moses und Arron", Act 1, Scene 1,
Moses : "Only one, infinite, thou omnipresent one, unperceived and inconceivable God!"

Speaking generally, this stands head and shoulders above most for me...

quote:

Hello darkness, my old friend,
Ive come to talk with you again,
Because a vision softly creeping,
Left its seeds while I was sleeping,
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence.

Paul Simon - Sound Of Silence

Speaking personally...

quote:

I've got memories,
I keep them away from me.
They won't behave,
Won't be what I want them to be.
I've seen it all and it's all done.
I've been with everyone and no one.
So many squandered moments,
So much wasted time,
So busy chasing dreams,
I left myself behind.

Ray LaMontagne
"Till The Sun Turns Black"
(2006)

well I looked my demons in the eyes
lay bare my chest
said do your best to destroy me

I've been to hell and back so many times
I must admit you kinda bore me

there's a lot of things that can kill a man
there's a lot of ways to die
yes, and some already did and walk beside me

there's a lot of things I don't understand
like why so many people lie
it's the hurt I hide that fuels
the fire inside me

Will I always feel this way
so empty
so estranged?

Wop bop a-loo-bop, a wop bam boom

Taumatawhakatangihangakoayauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukypokaiwhenuakitanatahu
Me Tonto Kimosabi
Me go and catchee baddy
Find him by the shady water
Deep within Apache forest
Find him, scalp him, eat him up for breakfast
Real good friend to Kimosabi

- Quantum Jump's Lone Ranger

An oldie I heard earlier this evening:

Tall and tanned and young and lovely
the girl from Ipanema goes walking
and when she passes
each one she passes
goes "Ahhh"

When she walks she's like a samba
that swings so cool and sways so gently
that when she passes
each one she passes
goes "Ahhh"

More on this great song, famously sung by Astrud and Joao Gilberto, here.

Now children you are just getting silly!

Not quite the opening but:

"Listen to the silence, let it ring on.
Eyes, dark grey lenses frightened of the sun.
We would have a fine time living in the night,
Left to blind destruction,
Waiting for our sight."

and

"Ain't it just like the night, to play tricks when you're trying to be so quiet"

quote:

Originally posted by Chief Chirpa:
An oldie I heard earlier this evening:

Tall and tanned and young and lovely
the girl from Ipanema goes walking
and when she passes
each one she passes
goes "Ahhh"

When she walks she's like a samba
that swings so cool and sways so gently
that when she passes
each one she passes
goes "Ahhh"

More on this great song, famously sung by Astrud and Joao Gilberto, here.

yep Great

Patti

"Jesus died for somebody's sin but not mine."

quote:

Originally posted by Chief Chirpa:
Trans-Europe Express
Trans-Europe Express
Trans-Europe Express
Trans-Europe Express

Excellent, but what about

We're charging our battery
And now we're full of energy
We are the robots
We are the robots
We are the robots
We are the robots

We're functioning automatic
And we are dancing mechanic
We are the robots
We are the robots
We are the robots
We are the robots

[QUOTE]Originally posted by avole:
"I don't believe in an interventionist god"
Same about the rest of the lyrics

I'm a big fan of this song actually - I did hear it was written about one time love, Polly Harvey which only makes me love the song more, of course...

Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup,
They slither while they pass, they slip away across the universe
Pools of sorrow, waves of joy are drifting through my open mind,
Possessing and caressing me.
Jai guru de va om
Nothing's gonna change my world,
Nothing's gonna change my world.

Images of broken light which dance before me like a million eyes,
That call me on and on across the universe,
Thoughts meander like a restless wind inside a letter box they
Tumble blindly as they make their way
Across the universe
Jai guru de va om
Nothing's gonna change my world,
Nothing's gonna change my world.

Sounds of laughter shades of earth are ringing
Through my open views inviting and inciting me
Limitless undying love which shines around me like a
Million suns, it calls me on and on
Across the universe
Jai guru de va om
Nothing's gonna change my world,
Nothing's gonna change my world.

Or This One
Your day breaks, your mind aches
You find that all the words of kindness linger on
When she no longer needs you

She wakes up, she makes up
She takes her time and doesn't feel she has to hurry
She no longer needs you

And in her eyes you see nothing
No sign of love behind the tears
Cried for no one
A love that should have lasted years!

You want her, you need her
And yet you don't believe her when she said her love is dead
You think she needs you

And in her eyes you see nothing
No sign of love behind the tears
Cried for no one
A love that should have lasted years!

You stay home, she goes out
She says that long ago she knew someone but now he's gone
She doesn't need him

Your day breaks, your mind aches
There will be time when all the things she said will fil your head
you won't forget her

And in her eyes you see nothing
No sign of love behind the tears
Cried for no one
A love that should have lasted years!

Hand in glove, the sun shines out of our behinds, it's not like any other love, this one's different because it's us........

quote:

Originally posted by Voltaire:
Speaking generally, this stands head and shoulders above most for me...

quote:

Hello darkness, my old friend,
Ive come to talk with you again,
Because a vision softly creeping,
Left its seeds while I was sleeping,
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence.

Paul Simon - Sound Of Silence

Speaking personally...

quote:

I've got memories,
I keep them away from me.
They won't behave,
Won't be what I want them to be.
I've seen it all and it's all done.
I've been with everyone and no one.
So many squandered moments,
So much wasted time,
So busy chasing dreams,
I left myself behind.

Another from Paul Simon that I particularly like...

quote:

I can hear the soft breathing
Of the girl that I love,
As she lies here beside me
Asleep with the night,
And her hair, in a fine mist
Floats on my pillow,
Reflecting the glow
Of the winter moonlight.

How about
I loved you in the morning, our kisses deep and warm,
your hair upon the pillow like a sleepy golden storm,
yes, many loved before us, I know that we are not new,
in city and in forest they smiled like me and you,
but now it's come to distances and both of us must try,
your eyes are soft with sorrow,
Hey, that's no way to say goodbye.

I'm not looking for another as I wander in my time,
walk me to the corner, our steps will always rhyme
you know my love goes with you as your love stays with me,
it's just the way it changes, like the shoreline and the sea,
but let's not talk of love or chains and things we can't untie,
your eyes are soft with sorrow,
Hey, that's no way to say goodbye.

I loved you in the morning, our kisses deep and warm,
your hair upon the pillow like a sleepy golden storm,
yes many loved before us, I know that we are not new,
in city and in forest they smiled like me and you,
but let's not talk of love or chains and things we can't untie,
your eyes are soft with sorrow,
Hey, that's no way to say goodbye.



Don, dark and soulful downtown York