They got a committee to get me off the block
Cause I play my jams loud and I play 'em nonstop
Beastie Boys
Cause I play my jams loud and I play 'em nonstop
Beastie Boys
Songs with the Greatest Opening Lines
- Thread starter cosmicfolklore
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Pull over, shithead. This is the cops!
Megadeth
Megadeth
Pappymac added the first line of The Battle of New Orleans.
Aresone replied with a reference to Cottonbalers.
In the 3rd stanza of that song, you'll find the following:
We looked down a river and we see'd the British come
And there must have been a hundred of 'em beatin' on the drum
They stepped so high and they made their bugles ring
We stood beside our cotton bales and didn't say a thing
The subsequent army unit became the 7th Infantry Regiment and became known as the Cottonbalers.
I was in the 7th, as I'm assuming @Aresone was.
The melody, therefore, is as follows:
Doctor, my eyes have seen the years
And the slow parade of fears without crying
Now I want to understand
I have done all that I could
To see the evil.
And the slow parade of fears without crying
Now I want to understand
I have done all that I could
To see the evil.
Start spreadin the news..
If some of ya'll never been down south too much
I'm gonna tell you a little bit about this
So that you'll understand what I'm talkin' about
Down there we have a plant that grows out in the woods
And in the fields looks somethin' like a turnip green
And everybody calls it polk salad, polk salad...
If some of ya'll never been down south too much
I'm gonna tell you a little bit about this
So that you'll understand what I'm talkin' about
Down there we have a plant that grows out in the woods
And in the fields looks somethin' like a turnip green
And everybody calls it polk salad, polk salad...
Get, aboard the A Train...
Dreamed I was an Eskimo
(Buh-buh-dah-dah-dah-dah-bah-duh-duh)
Frozen wind began to blow
(Buh-buh-dah-dah-dah-dah-bah-duh-duh)
Under my boots and around my toes
(Buh-buh-dah-dah-dah-dah-bah-duh-duh)
The frost that bit the ground below
(Buh-buh-ah-eh-ay-ay)
It was a hundred degrees below zero...
(Buh! Buh-buh-dah-dah-dah-dah-bah-duh-duh)
Dreamed I was an Eskimo
(Buh-buh-dah-dah-dah-dah-bah-duh-duh)
Frozen wind began to blow
(Buh-buh-dah-dah-dah-dah-bah-duh-duh)
Under my boots and around my toes
(Buh-buh-dah-dah-dah-dah-bah-duh-duh)
The frost that bit the ground below
(Buh-buh-ah-eh-ay-ay)
It was a hundred degrees below zero...
(Buh! Buh-buh-dah-dah-dah-dah-bah-duh-duh)
Guess who just got back today?
Them wild-eyed boys that'd been away.
Them wild-eyed boys that'd been away.
I've been drivin' all night, my hands wet on the wheel
And there's a voice in my head that drives my heel
It's my baby callin', sayin' I need you here
And it's a half past four and I'm shiftin' gear
And there's a voice in my head that drives my heel
It's my baby callin', sayin' I need you here
And it's a half past four and I'm shiftin' gear
OK, when did we stray from opening lines??
The Patsy Cline song a few pages back me me think of this Jackson Browne song:
The Patsy Cline song a few pages back me me think of this Jackson Browne song:
22 pages, but I don't think I've seen this one yet, perhaps the greatest opening line?
There is another thread that is just "Best Lines in a Song" but I haven't been discouraging any posts, because they've all been so great.
I sang Polk Salad Annie back a million years ago in my high school talent contest, but I was beaten by a football player in drag who lip synch'd a Madonna song.
There' no accounting for tastes.
One of the few Elvis songs that I like. My wife is the biggest Elvis fan in Maryland and drives me crazy constantly playing his songs. I have to continually remind her that he stole that song from Tony Jo White (RIP). But I guess Tony Jo made more money from that song than the rest of his catalog of own releases. I still prefer his version.I sang Polk Salad Annie back a million years ago in my high school talent contest, but I was beaten by a football player in drag who lip synch'd a Madonna song.
There' no accounting for tastes.
Tom Jones actually has a great version of this song also. He is about as great of a performer as Elvis, IMO. They both worked really hard at putting on a great show.
Didn't Clapton and Jerry Lee Lewis also do a version?
Didn't Clapton and Jerry Lee Lewis also do a version?
Listen to the wind blow… watch the sun rise… run in the shadows… damn your love, damn your lies…
Leonard Cohen:
Like a bird on a wire,
like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free.
Like a bird on a wire,
like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free.
Down in the park
where the machmen
meet the machines
and play 'kill by numbers'
down in the park
with a friend called 'five'
where the machmen
meet the machines
and play 'kill by numbers'
down in the park
with a friend called 'five'
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