Let’s play a game!
When I’m writin’ I’m trapped in between the lines
I was having a typically music-nerdy exchange elsewhere today on the Internets, and it gave me an idea for a fun game to play while the others are away.
I don’t know how common this is, but my personal favorite moments from my most treasured records tend to come at the very beginning. Hearing the first few seconds of a new album is always fraught with the most delicious kind of expectation — with an old-fashioned LP, the ritual is particularly solemn. You withdraw this shiny, alien object from its sleeve, place it delicately on the turntable, and then, once the needle touches down, you wait for a signal, any kind of sign of what’s in store. Whatever comes out first usually receives the sort of heightened attention reserved for precious few life experiences.
For this reason, the opening lines from my favorite albums tend to have particular resonance for me, and I thought it might diverting/worthwhile to submit our personal best opening lines on a record ever. I’ll start! Here are some obvious-er ones:
She said always remember never to trust me/She said that the first night she met me”
“Stuck a pin in your backbone, spoke it down from there/All I ever wanted was to be your spine”
Your turn!
“let me tell you how it will be, there’s one for you, 19 for me” (perfect for this time of year)
“dueling cyclones, jackknife, they’ve got eyes for you wife and the blood that lives in her heart”
“there’s a cat in my alley way, dreaming of birds that are blue, sometimes girl when I’m lonely this is how i think about you”
“Þú ert að fjúka langt ? í loft
Þú regnhlíf snúa á hvolf alltof oft
Ó nei, ég sé ?”
“there’s a cat in my alley way, dreaming of birds that are blue, sometimes girl when I’m lonely this is how i think about you”
Joe Keyes sends his love from afar for including this, I assure you. Good one…..
Well then…
Listen to my voice / Something has occured / It’s the trembling world / Keeping you behind
http://www.emusic.com/album/Troy-Best-Music-for-Sex-6-MP3-Download/11384637.html
When the night in closing / Eyes are running wild / Then I hear you humming all night long
http://www.emusic.com/album/Peter-Murphy-Love-Hysteria-MP3-Download/10766765.html
But then again a groovy groov like this one from today’s new will also do:
http://www.emusic.com/album/BYU-Vocal-Point-Nonstop-MP3-Download/11387629.html
Just off the top of my head:
“Now that your picture’s in the paper being rhythmically admired/And you can have anyone that you have ever desired”
And from his next album:
“I don’t want to kiss you, I don’t want to touch you/I don’t want to see you ’cause I don’t miss you that much”
And this:
“You fucked it up/You should’ve quit”
(Any guesses on that last one?)
Really a whole verse, but:
If I ventured in the slipstream/Between the viaducts of your dreams/Where immobile steel rims crack/And the ditch in the back roads stop/Would you find me, would you kiss-a my eyes/And lay me down in silence easy to be born again?
Also, not their best album, but such a great opening:
“In my waxed-up hair and my painted shoes/I got an offer that you might refuse”
And let’s not forget:
“Wasted and wounded/Ain’t what the moon did/Got what I paid for now”.
Finally:
“In the next world war/Jackknifed juggernaut/I am born again”
Andy:
Great call on “Welcome to the Working Week.” Def a classic, and a perfect example of what I’m talking about.
FearfulJesuit: <3 <3 <3 on the Tom Waits.
Some more that occurred to me:
“I’m a streetwalkin cheetah with a heart full of napalm”
“Jesus died for somebody’s sins but not mine.”
A personal fave:
“Every thousand years/this metal sphere/ten times the size of Jupiter/floats just a few miles past the Earth….”
Andy, no idea on the “I fucked up” line, haha.
HEH HEH @Andy No one will get that
(neither did I, I cheated Go Internets)
this is the first day of my last days/i built it up now i take it apart climbed up real high now fall down real far/no need for me to stay the last thing left i just threw it away/i put my faith in god and my trust in you/now there’s nothing more fucked up i could do
Rappers I monkey-flip em with the funky rhythm I be kicking/Musician inflicting composition/of pain, I’m like Scarface sniffin cocaine with an M-16/see with the pen I’m extreme.
It’s just evidence how amazing those opening lines are that I spent a minute thinking about how Nas raps them and STILL had no idea where “bar lines” might go.
“I’ve been waiting all night long,/I’ve been waiting to sing your song,/Tonight, if you help me,/Just help me find your key.”
“All I can see is black and white/And white and pink and blades of blue/That lay between the words I think/On a page I was meaning to send her”
“Make a new cult every day to suit your affairs/Kissing girls in English, at the back of the stairs/You’re a honey, with a following of innocent boys”
“Pushing thru the market square, so many mothers sighing/News had just come over, we had five years left to cry in”
“I checked into a bargain priced room on La Cienaga,/Gazed out through the curtains of the parking lot./Walked down to the corner store just before nightfall in my bare feet.”
“This is a song for Carol/Your into Japanese fastfood/And I drop you off with your Japanese lover/And you’re going to the beach all day/You’re so pretty when you’re unfaithful to me/You’re so pretty when you’re unfaithful to me”
What a great game….I could pretty much go on forever so I’ll stop now…
“Juliet, I get on my knees/Speaking in tongues of washed out sun and perfect clarity.”
Okay, peeps, it’s “Long Shot” from Aimee Mann’s I’m With Stupid.
My favorite opening lines: “A cripple walks amongst you, all you tired human beings / He’s got all the things a cripple has not–two working arms and legs / And vital parts fall from his system and dissolve in Scottish rain / Vitally he doesn’t miss them and he’s too fucked up to care.” It sets the stage perfectly for the entire album.
“I’m a streetwalkin cheetah with a heart full of napalm”
“Jesus died for somebody’s sins but not mine.”
Great ones. Serious favorite albums.
Guess I might as well go on the record with these obvious faves:
“Please allow me to introduce myself/I’m a man of wealth and taste”
“Once upon a time, you looked so fine/Threw the bums a dime in your prime”
The thing for me is it has to be the lyric that grabs you first, and that doesn’t often happen, even with great album openers. Sometimes it’s something purely musical that’s distinctive, like the fade-in drumbeat of Bowie’s “Five Years.”
There can only be one.
“In 1984 I was hospitalised for approaching perfection”
Random Rules by Silver Jews
Or maybe two.
“No matter how many / records I buy / I can’t fill this void”
I Won’t Lie To You by Let’s Wrestle
Everything, everything, everything, everything….. in its right place.
Uh, Your bad self! Help me break this down from off the shelf. Here’s a music servin you so use it. Papas got a brand new funk!
I am an American aquarium drinker. I assassin down the avenue. I’m hiding out in the big city blinking. What was I thinking when I let go of you?
I’m a rollin thunder, pouring rain… I’m comin on like a hurricane.
Oh come on… you listen to AC/DC.
I could continue this list all night. These are just the first four game changers I could think of, 4 records I knew within 30 seconds changed everything
a) Radiohead – Kid A b) Public Enemy – Fear Of A Black Plane c) Wilco – Yankee Hotel Foxtrot d) AC/DC – Back In Black
There are times when I think Sal Paradise was right; Boys and Girls in America have such a sad time together.
Yes I am usually right….oh wait you aren’t talking about me?
“There is no culture is my brag,…”
“Fiction garden as you’re burning, Sudden motion. Falling under Cloudy Sky…”
“If you will suck my soul, I will lick your funky emotions…”
“Ha!”
Talking Heads – Remain In Light
“Ha!”
Talking Heads – Remain in Light
Classic, but classic for a reason. In no particular order, but these are without a doubt the big 3 for me:
“Once upon a time you dressed so fine
You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn’t you?
People’d call, say, “Beware doll, you’re bound to fall”
You thought they were all kiddin’ you”
“Screen door slams
Mary’s dress waves
Like a vision she dances across the porch
As the radio plays”
“It was 20 years ago today…”
Honorable mention. Kinda long because it was all in about one and a half breaths:
“Johnny’s in the basement
Mixing up the medicine
I’m on the pavement
Thinking about the government
The man in the trench coat
Badge out, laid off
Says he’s got a bad cough
Wants to get it paid off
Look out kid
It’s somethin’ you did
God knows when
But you’re doin’ it again”
Yes, I’m old, but like I said, classic for a reason.
London calling to the faraway towns
Now that war is declared-and battle come down
Standing on the beach
With a gun in my hand
Staring at the sea
Staring at the sand
This one will get rightfully get me clowned, but diggin deep for my high school/middle school faves:
“In the days of my youth, I was told what it means to be a man…”
For the hip hop folks here, this might just be my favorite rap verse of all time, and it just so happens to be the beginning of the first song on one of my favorite records:
Scientific, my hand kissed it
Robotic, let’s think optimistic
You probably missed it, watch me dolly dick it
Scotty watty cop it to me, big microphone hippie
Hit Poughkepsie crispy chicken verbs throw up a stone richie
Chop the O, sprinkle a lil’ snow inside a Optimo
Swing the John McEnroe, rap rock’n'roll
Tidy Bowl, gung-ho pro, Starsky with the gumsole
Hit the rump slow, parole kids, live Rapunzel
but Ton’ stizzy really high, the vivid laser eye guide
Jump in the Harley ride, Clarks I freak a lemon pie
I’m bout it, bout it – Lord forgive me, Ms. Sally shouted
Tracey got shot in the face, my house was overcrowded
You fake cats done heard it first
On how I shitted on your turf
at times, Cuban Link verse yo
Check out the rap kingpin, summertime fine jewelry drippin
Face in the box, I seen your ear twitchin
As soon as I drove off, Cap’ came to me with three sawed-offs
Give one to Rae’, let’s season they broth
Lightning rod fever heaters, knock-kneeder Sheeba for hiva
Diva got rocked from the receiver bleeder
Portfolio, lookin fancy in the pantry
My man got bigger dimes son, your shit is scampi
Base that, throw what’s in your mouth, don’t waste that
See Ghost lampin in the throne with King Tut hat
Straight off
A long time ago, I said to myself/
You, you are my daughter
How old are you? How young am I?
Let’s count the rings around my eyes
In France a skinny man died of a big disease with a little name
I don’t want a holiday in the sun
Punctured bicycle
on a hillside, desoate
Grr, make that “desolate.”
I saw her standin on her front lawn, just twirlin her baton
Me and her went for a ride sir and ten innocent people died.
Jimmy gave us the number
and Gerry gave us a place to stay
and Billy got a hold of a van
and man we moved in the very next day
to twenty-five fourty-one
big windows to let in the sun
twenty-five fourty-one
_________________________________________
Great opening. Within minutes, of course, things spiral downward:
_________________________________________
now everything is over
everthing is done
everthing’s in boxes
at twenty-five fourty-one
well things are so much different now
I’d say the situation’s reversed
and it’ll probably not be the last time
I’ll have to be out by the first
Another:
_________________________________
Farewell to this land’s cheerless marshes
Hemmed in like a boar between arches
Her very Lowness with a head in a sling
I’m truly sorry — but it sounds
like a wonderful thing
_________________________________
Ah, I’m a bit late to the proceedings on this thread.
And if the snow buries my,
my neighborhood.
And if my parents are crying
then I’ll dig a tunnel
from my window to yours,
yeah a tunnel from my window to yours.
and
By The Light of The Moon, I’m Comin’ Home
Howlin’ All The Way, I’m Comin’ Home
On My Hands and Knees, I’m Comin’ Home
I Know When I’ve Been Beat, Yea, I’m Comin’ Home
those two are probably the two that most immediately and powerfully made me aware that these records were worth snapping to attention for. at least, recently (in the last 5 years).
Follow me into a solo, get in the flow,
And you could picture, like a photo,
Music makes mellow, maintains to make,
Melodies for MCs, motivates the breaks.
I’m everlasting; I can go on for days and days,
With rhyme displays that engrave deep as x-rays.
[it's difficult not to reprint the entirety of that song]
-
Had we never come across the vastness of pavement
The barrenness of waves and the grayness of the sea
Never lost or never been misguided
We’d have ne’er reached seas so shining
-
This is the age of machinery,
A mechanical nightmare,
The wonderful world of technology,
Napalm hydrogen bombs biological warfare
-
I am a patient boy.
I wait, I wait, I wait, I wait.
Great game!
[Eric B & Rakim - Follow the Leader, Ted Leo & The Pharmacists - Biomusicology, The Kinks - 20th Century Man, Fugazi - Waiting Room]
These are all so, so, so great. Ok, just ONE MORE:
“EVERYTHING THAT’S KEEPING ME TOGETHER HAS FALLEN APART/I GOT THIS THING THAT I CONSIDER MY ONLY ART OF FUCKING PEOPLE OVER”
Hearing the uninspired-sounding, flat new single only made me miss this guy more.
It is a v. good thread. We should have a broader thread, tho, for the best lyrics in a rock/pop song ever. I say this ’cause I kept thinking of discs I wanted to list, but the great lyrics didn’t appear until mid-disc, out of nowhere, when they seared into my brain.
Asylumns with doors open wide/where people could pay to see inside/for entertainment they watch his body twist/behind his eyes he says ‘I still exist’
Just one of many a chirpy classic.
And what about:
Have you seen them/the words cut open/Your poor intestines cant deny/when the inky periods drip from your mailbox and blood flies dip and glide reach down inside/theres something living in these lines
Lyrics about lyrics? Nice.
@dpotta: Hey there, f*ckface!
Pulled into Nazareth, I was feeling about half past dead…
Inflammable material is planted in my head,
It’s a suspect device that’s left two thousand dead!
<>
Great song, but not an album opener.
Good call on the SLF, though.
@jonder: There are twelve people in the world, The rest are a waste…
I meant “The Weight” of course. Last song on side A.
“I was out late the other night/Fear and whiskey kept me going”
“When I got back home I found a letter on the door/Sweet Regina’s gone to China, cross-legged on the floor/Of a burning jet that’s smoothly flying”
“That’s a tape that we made/But I’m sad to say it never made the grade/That was me, third guitar/I wonder where the others are”
“Make a new cult every day to suit your affairs”
“Don’t believe a word I say/Not that you would, anyway/I may be insincere/But it’s all downhill from here”
sorry, that was a message on the door, not a letter.
Oh, and…
“They’re gonna find intelligent life up on there on the moon/And The Canterbury Tales/ Will shoot up to the top of the bestseller list/And stay there for 27 weeks”
I was dreamin’ when I wrote this
Forgive me if it goes astray.
___________________________________________
In France a skinny man
Died of a big disease with a little name
By chance his girlfriend came across a needle
And soon she did the same
___________________________________________
I aint got no money
I aint like those other guys you hang around
And its kinda funny
But they always seem to let you down
___________________________________________
You can pretty much make a good thread of Prince’s opening lines, alone (the “Sign O The Times” opening lyrics was quoted above, but I think it’s more powerful with the second line included, too).