This blog, my friends, is a list.
You know my penchant for lists...referenced many times in past blogs, but none since my New Year's resolutions list (some of which I've still not broken)
http://pompatusofpete.blogspot.com/2011/12/take-five.html
Well, it's time for another one....and that was so last year. Literally.
I now present to you THE DEFINITIVE LIST OF THE 7 BEST OPENING LINES IN MUSIC.
Like my other lists, there is no disputing this list. You may have your own opinions, but they would be (like the other times) wrong.
Why seven do you ask ?...well because I started this out as twelve, but it was getting way to convoluted and became imminently clear to me that that I had to winnow it down a bit, hence the seven.
To avoid confusion (and because I like adding color to my blogs) my comments will be in red. The lyrics themselves will be in black. Got it?
Oh, I'll post a couple of the videos to a few of these, but mostly just the album covers (yes, albums...for crying out loud). Do yourself a favor...if any of these are unfamiliar to you, please, by all means, search them out and take a listen. Then thank me the next time you see me.
So, without further ado...
THE DEFINITIVE LIST OF THE BEST OPENING LINES IN MUSIC
7) Joe Jackson - Is She Really Going out with Him?
Pretty women out walking with gorillas down my street.
From my window I'm staring as my coffee grows cold.
What adolescent boy hasn't experienced these feelings, put so eloquently forth by Joe Jackson here? Christ, this practically brings back all three years of junior high for me in one line.
6). Dire Straits - Sultans of Swing
It's raining in the park but meantime
South of the river you stop and you hold everything
A band is blowing Dixie double four time
You feel alright when you hear that music ring.
I am SO there. Outside on a cold drizzly evening...walking along a riverbank. You hear this incredible sound off in the distance-(although, for the life of me, I'm not so sure about the "Dixie double four time"...I've got a feeling it don't sound nothing like this song, but I love the description).
Love this song. No way it's not making the list.
5) Bob Dylan - Watching the River Flow
What's the matter with me,
I don't have much to say,
Daylight sneakin' through the window
And I'm still in this all-night cafe.
Walkin' to and fro beneath the moon
Out to where the trucks are rollin' slow,
To sit down on this bank of sand
And watch the river flow.
Another river song (funny, I always thought I was more of an ocean guy??). It's the juxtaposition (there's that word again) between laziness and restlessness. What's it gonna be Bob..up all night in this cafe', walking aimlessly under the setting moon, or sitting on the riverbank and do nothing but watch the river going by? Can't you feel it? Can't you? At least a little bit? Sure you can!
4) Bruce Springsteen - Blinded By The Light
Madman drummers bummers and indians in the summer with a teenage diplomat
In the dumps with the mumps as the adolescent pumps his way into his hat
With a boulder on my shoulder feelin kinda older I tripped the merry-go-round
With this very unpleasing sneezing and wheezing the calliope crashed to the ground
Stop it. Now. I could have included all 50 lines to this song, the lyrics are so ridiculously convoluted and brilliant, but I have to stick to the premise of just the opening lines, I'm keeping my promise. I was going to tackle this one once in one of my "true meaning behind the lyrics blogs" similar to thishttp://pompatusofpete.blogspot.com/2011/10/why-didnt-he-just-say-that-in-first.html...but the lyrics were so incredibly obtuse that I couldn't even begin to come up with the requisite skewering of the lyrics to squeeze even one drop of humor out of it. It was way too tough. At least I didn't think I was up for the task at the time....but now that I've laid down the proverbial gauntlet, who knows?
3) Elvis Costello - Radio Radio
Doing anything my radio advised
With every one of those late night stations
Playing songs bringing tears to my eyes
I know some of you are too young to believe, or even relate to this, but there was a time when radio mattered. Music wasn't all accessible as it is now...no itunes, no digital downloads, no music floating above us in the stratosphere. There was a time when google didn't exist....we needed to use dictionaries, and even...I hope you're sitting down...ENCYCLOPEDIAS. No kidding, there used to be these vast volumes of books that you had to look through and research to get the answers to life's mysteries...these books were SO voluminous, that you couldn't even fit all of the information in one book...sometimes ONE LETTER wouldn't even fit into one book. Mind blowing I know, but true. Oh, and if you missed the one night Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer was on, that was it. You were SOL until next year. That sucked. That happened to me one year because we had to go see this house on Summit street in Portland that did his yard up in a BIG WAY at Christmas...it would pull people from all over Greater Portland to look at his plastic snowmen and inflated snowglobes and decorated trees and Charlie Brown figures and ...................................................
PHEW
Enough of the rant, I like this one because it brings me back to listening to the radio in bed at night , waiting for your favorite song to come on. That's all.
2) The Band - The Weight
I just need some place where I can lay my head
"Hey, mister, can you tell me where a man might find a bed?"
He just grinned and shook my hand, "no" was all he saidC'mon, what's not to love about this one? Don't you love the image of this meeting? That one line "He just grinned and shook my hand, "no" was all he said" might be my favorite line. EVER. IN ANY SONG. OF ALL TIME. Seriously.
Finally....down to number one. Per usual, these lists don't actually have much substance, in regard to what the list is supposed to be about, now, does it? That's not the point though...it's about the journey. Sometimes the journey is to nowhere, but one I hope you enjoy going along with me.
OK. Number one.1) The Beatles - In My Life
There are places I'll remember
All my life though some have changed
Some forever not for better
Some have gone and some remain
All these places had their moments
With lovers and friends I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life I've loved them all
No way I'm not going with a Beatles song as number one. This one does it for me.... Play this one at my funeral and I'll be smiling down on you (or, God forbid, smiling up at you)...play this one at my daughter's weddings...play this one at the local hopscotch tournament...play it loud...play it soft. Just play it. Repeatedly. Let it soak into your soul and be at one with your DNA. You'll be a better person because of it. Trust me. Would I lie to you ?
So that's it. My top seven opening lyrics of all time. No debating allowed. You'd be wrong and I am right.
....except I've already changed my mind about four of these...and it will be all seven by tomorrow.
Have fun.
