Favorite opening lines

[redbird]

Sorry (as usual) if this sort of thread has been done to death before, but I thought I'd make a time-passer for your favorite opening lines of Mac songs. Songs from all eras are welcome though I don't have the time right now to mentally rifle through all seventeen albums ;) Anyway here's mine from the Rumours line-up

"Rhiannon rings like a bell through the night and wouldn't you love to love her?" - Rhiannon

"Have mercy, baby, on a poor girl like me" - Say You Love Me

"I took my love and I took it down" - Landslide

"Now here you go again, you say you want your freedom" - Dreams

"She broke down and let me in" - Never Going Back Again

"Loving you isn't the right thing to do" (and "How can I change things that I feel?") - Go Your Own Way

"Listen to the wind blow, watch the sunrise" - The Chain

"Sweet, wonderful you" - You Make Loving Fun

"Rock on, gold dust woman" - GDW :cool:

"Wait a minute baby, stay with me a while" - Sara

"What makes you think you're the one who can laugh without crying?" - WMYTYTO

"Sometimes the most beautiful things ... the most innocent things ..." - Angel

"You look at me with those brown eyes, what are you going to do?" Brown Eyes

"Why don't you ask him if he's going to stay, why don't you ask him if he's going away?" - Tusk

"Can't help it 'bout the shape I'm in" - Oh Well (I know, but they did perform it)

"Standing in the shadows of the man I used to be" - Can't Go Back

"Meet me down by the railway station" - That's Alright

"I'm out of my mind and it's only over you" - Only Over You (I'm not big on the whole song but that's a cool line)

"Looking out for love in the night so still" - Big Love

"Go on, save yourself" - Smile At You

"Well once again she steals away" - Bleed to Love Her

I feel like these lines are either really iconic or get to the point really quickly, or are just interesting ways to start a song. Like the opener of "Sara" places you immediately in the middle of a scene and introduces the element of fascination. Or, you know, some just sound really cool to me. If I didn't know the songs and was only reading the lyric sheet they'd make me want to know more.

[michelej1]

I know you're doing FM, but I love:


I'm tired. I'm thirsty. I'm wild eyed, in my misery. SN

Fire still burning, in awhile she'll make it rain. LB

Long and slender, altar in the sky. LB

My love sits like a curse, voodoo from the past. CM (well Dan, really)

I'm falling down inside myself, like a thousand times before. Dan again

Michele

[redbird]

I know you're doing FM, but I love:


I'm tired. I'm thirsty. I'm wild eyed, in my misery. SN

I love that one too. And anything vaguely FM related works for me, more to talk about.

[GypsySorcerer]

After the music ended, there was nowhere to go but down.

Temptation falls in your path.

Could you ever need me?

I hear your heart as you pass through.

If it's me that's driving you to this madness.

[MacShadowsBall]

"Have mercy, baby, on a poor girl like me" - Say You Love Me

"Now here you go again, you say you want your freedom" - Dreams

"Loving you isn't the right thing to do" (and "How can I change things that I feel?") - Go Your Own Way

"Listen to the wind blow, watch the sunrise" - The Chain

"Sweet, wonderful you" - You Make Loving Fun

Some of my fav's right there. :cool:

[michelej1]

I hear your heart as you pass through.

If it's me that's driving you to this madness.

These are great ones. I'm using FM lyrics in something I'm writing and I didn't think of Under the Skin, but now I will add it to the list.

Michele

[johnnystorms]

Step into the velvet of the morning

Every night that goes between, I feel a little less

If I could turn the page in time then i'd rearrange just a day or two

[redbird]

Step into the velvet of the morning

That reminds me, what does Stevie say in the opening line of her original version of "The Chain"? "Slipped into the ____ of my emptiness" -- is it also "velvet"? I thought I heard an "s" in there somewhere but I can't think of what the word could be. Maybe "dances"? (Pending that, I think "Stepped into the canyons of my loneliness" is a better line, that's a keeper.)

"Velvet of the morning" is a great one too, I've felt those kinds of mornings before.

[Dex]

I need to reiterate the love for "Wait a minute baby, stay with me a while". That's one of the few that I really get excited about on its own. I hear that line and think "OK guys, this is going to be awesome".

The only other one I can think of is probably "Woman of a thousand years, how are your sons of a time ago?" and maybe "When the white flame in us is gone, and we that lost the world's delight stiffen in darkness", although I know that Dust wasn't actually written by a FM member.

Maybe it's more to do with the fact those three songs are fantastic mood pieces, and the music that wraps around the words just hits me with more immediacy in that sort of song than in other FM songs, most of which are equally strong lyrically.

[redbird]

Sometimes I wonder what a band with Danny Kirwan and Stevie Nicks together would've been like, lots of hippie mysticism and lyrics nabbed from long dead poets. I also like "The magic of a blackened night, can go so far but not seem right" which I think is my favorite DK song.

[Dex]

Sometimes I wonder what a band with Danny Kirwan and Stevie Nicks together would've been like, lots of hippie mysticism and lyrics nabbed from long dead poets. I also like "The magic of a blackened night, can go so far but not seem right" which I think is my favorite DK song.

Yes! This thread made me realize that the songs of those two hit me in a very similar way. It's not a comparison I'd ever picked up on before. But I agree completely. DK is just brilliant. Did they ever meet?

[redbird]

I don't know, Kirwan wasn't at the hall of fame ceremony though and he seems pretty hard to track down. Maybe someone else knows.

[michelej1]

Tarantula passes by the window, no one takes it as a sign. LB

[Villavic]

At first I thought you meant live opening lines, then I recalled:

"This isa song about a Welsh witch"
‎

[fairydust75]

Your hands held mine......so few hours....but I'm not a child anymore...I'm not a child...oh no..

[PenguinHead]

Your hands held mine......so few hours....but I'm not a child anymore...I'm not a child...oh no..

Nice lyric, but not an opening line.

[PenguinHead]

Rhiannon rings like a bell through the night

Meet me down by the railway station

Loving you isn't the right thing to do

Could you ever need me, and would you know how?

Listen to the wind on the water

It's not home, and it's not Tara

So I'm back to the velvet underground

New York, open your eyes to me

All the saints and sinners, they pay handsomely

When the sun goes down and the moon shines bright

Dim and wavering on a wind-blown night

You can take me to paradise, then again, you can be cold as ice

Sliding down the karma slide

Step into the velvet of the morning

Sanity, we long to see you

[shackin'up]

tarantula.... Yes, Michelej !

For some reason, I've always liked:

Countin' on my fingers / Countin' on my toes / Slippin' thru your fingers / Watchin' how it grows.

[Ulpian]

"There's no use in crying, it's all over"

"Have mercy baby on a poor girl like me"

"Now there you go again you say you want your freedom"

"Loving you isn't the right thing to do"

"Listen to the wind on the water"

"Where are you darlin' when my moon is rising and your sun is shining down?"

:D

[michelej1]

In the beginning I believed in love and things. It happened like a hurricane. I could never really tell you what this did to me. I could never make it better for you, anyway.


I was just that old, that August dark, dark day. Swear that you never saw her face. Swear that you never heard her say.

[redbird]

Your hands held mine......so few hours....
Not an opening line but indeed very beautiful. Not a natural way of structuring the sentence but the best way to achieve the right effect.

Listen to the wind on the water
I forgot about this one, for me Tango in the Night doesn't quite come together but I think Lindsey pulls off a lot of very evocative imagery, reminds me of a later Fitzgerald novel.

Countin' on my fingers / Countin' on my toes / Slippin' thru your fingers / Watchin' how it grows.
Very quirky, although I could never tell if my favorite part of this opening was the words or the manic weird-ass chords.

"There's no use in crying, it's all over"
:thumbsup:

[chiliD]

"I can't help about the shape I'm in."

"Now when the day goes to sleep & the full moon looks." (kind of appropriate for this past weekend's "Super Moon")

"Don't look for no worries, worries & trouble come around"

"Let me tell you about my life, they say I'm a man of the world"

"Tell me anybody, now do you really give a damn for me?"

"Baby, if you wanna rock, I'll be your rockin' horse"

"Watch out for me, woman & don't mind nobody else"

Oh, and my favorite:

"............................"

(What do you mean, 'what's that?'....it's "Albatross" you ninny! :laugh:)

[michelej1]

I got a bad complication. I keep it to myself. I got some strange information. I can't think of nothin' else.

The lyrics that make you want to probe further for an explanation are the best openers.

Michele

[WildHearted]

I think "Sara" wins overall for me... it just kind of sets the mood, and I like it because you get the sense that the entire purpose of those lines is to draw you into the song - that section, musically, is never repeated again.

[Sleepless-Child]

I think "Sara" wins overall for me... it just kind of sets the mood, and I like it because you get the sense that the entire purpose of those lines is to draw you into the song - that section, musically, is never repeated again.

Absolutely. That's what i was going to say.
I remember when i first heard "Sara" and "Gypsy", i hated these songs, because i was too much into "Rhiannon" to hear anything else. But i remember that after a few days, these opening lines were stuck in my head (and "Gypsy"'s guitar riff). It is mysterious and beautiful, but i wonder if it's not the way Stevie sings those lyrics or the piano melody that make these opening lines unforgettable, instead of the lines themselves.

[WildHearted]

Absolutely. That's what i was going to say.
I remember when i first heard "Sara" and "Gypsy", i hated these songs, because i was too much into "Rhiannon" to hear anything else. But i remember that after a few days, these opening lines were stuck in my head (and "Gypsy"'s guitar riff). It is mysterious and beautiful, but i wonder if it's not the way Stevie sings those lyrics or the piano melody that make these opening lines unforgettable, instead of the lines themselves.

I definitely think it's a combination of the melody and the lyrics (as well as the various instrumental parts) that give it the mood that makes it so unforgettable. Especially in Sara. As Lindsey would say, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts..

[redbird]

I think "Wait a minute baby, stay with me a while" is a line that does a lot of work for its song, whereas "Said you'd give me life but you never told me about the fire" or "Drowning in a sea of love where everyone would love to drown" are more easy to isolate as poetic turns of phrases. "Wait a minute baby, stay with me a while" is not as overtly poetic, but it accomplishes a lot, it establishes a speaker and an audience, it invokes loneliness and fascination, it somehow for me evokes a very clear image of a woman reaching out, almost getting up from her position on the floor but not quite, because the person has stopped right in time (she's sure) to let her settle back in for the rest of the song. I can imagine when she's looking at this person and when she's looking elsewhere back in to her own ruminations. I'm not sure how but it strikes me as a deceptively hard-working opening line, I find it kind of remarkable.

The vocals and the instrumentation have a lot to do with why it's a great song but I think they take their cues from the relatively formless and free-flowing lyrics. I always thought it was a brilliant marriage of lyrics and sound.

[Sleepless-Child]

I definitely think it's a combination of the melody and the lyrics (as well as the various instrumental parts) that give it the mood that makes it so unforgettable. Especially in Sara. As Lindsey would say, the whole is greater than the sum of the parts..

Absolutely, again.

I think "Wait a minute baby, stay with me a while" is a line that does a lot of work for its song, whereas "Said you'd give me life but you never told me about the fire" or "Drowning in a sea of love where everyone would love to drown" are more easy to isolate as poetic turns of phrases. "Wait a minute baby, stay with me a while" is not as overtly poetic, but it accomplishes a lot, it establishes a speaker and an audience, it invokes loneliness and fascination, it somehow for me evokes a very clear image of a woman reaching out, almost getting up from her position on the floor but not quite, because the person has stopped right in time (she's sure) to let her settle back in for the rest of the song. I can imagine when she's looking at this person and when she's looking elsewhere back in to her own ruminations. I'm not sure how but it strikes me as a deceptively hard-working opening line, I find it kind of remarkable.

The vocals and the instrumentation have a lot to do with why it's a great song but I think they take their cues from the relatively formless and free-flowing lyrics. I always thought it was a brilliant marriage of lyrics and sound.

That was beautiful. Yes, "wait a minute baby, stay with me a while" also implies that she is going to tell us a secret story. It makes the song very...intimate?
Plus everytime i say "wait a minute" to someone i'm tempted to add "baby, stay with me a while". It'sb a very effective opening line.

[mitzo]

I may be in the minority, but in Love Is I find "do you know what this is? No, I don't" to be really compelling.

And, although it is technically the second line of Goodbye Baby: "Was I who was the hourglass and the sands of time like shattering glass went past me like a tunnel to the sea."

And, OK shoot me: "When I see you again, will it be the same?"

[aleuzzi]

Listen to the wind blow, watch the sun rise

Rock on gold dust woman, take your silver spoon, dig your grave

Have mercy baby, on a poor girl like me

Why don't you tell me what's going on?

Wait a minute baby, stay with me a while...

Can you understand me, baby don't you hand me a line

Meet me down by the railway station...

Blue blue days, long dark nights, lonesome tears you're gonna' cry for me

It's the same kind of story that seems to come down from long ago

If I could turn the page, the time that I'd rearrange

[moon]

My favourites:

- "Intense silence, as she walked in the room..."

- "What can I say this time, which card shall I play?"

[chiliD]

"It's the same kind of story that seems to come down from long ago..."

"I guess you've heard about the Bermuda Triangle, there's something going on..."

"He had all the rivers under his power, he had all the mountains under his command..."

"Now the wind that's blowing out of the southwest is telling me "Boy, you better beware"...."

"I did a thing last night, you know, those future games; turned off all the lights, oh, the future came..."

"Let me retell a story of old about a man named Moses who lived long ago. He prophecied good, he prophecied bad, now that prophecy's coming to pass..."

"Oh how I wish I was back in Georgia, maybe I want to be back in time..."

"Now the swamp is getting deeper all the time and the faces that I see don't seem to shine..."

"You don't know what she means, you see, she's a heart that beats close to me..."

[redbird]

"I guess you've heard about the Bermuda Triangle, there's something going on..."
(...)
"I did a thing last night, you know, those future games; turned off all the lights, oh, the future came..."
Love these. "I did a thing" is mysteriously off-kilter and I would've never thought up the phrase "future games" for anything, but it's just the phrase for it.

[TimeCastASpell]

Totally agree about "Sara" and Mitzo, I'm with you on "Love Is". I love the way her voice sounds, kind of soft and just ahh it does something for me for sure.

I have this weird obsession with Second Hand News lately. Its not the best but "I know I've got nothing to say. Someone had taken my place" I think its less the words but the really strong start with the way Lindsey sings the "I knoooow" (and I love love love the next lines "When times go bad, when times go rough wont you lay me down in the tall grass and let me do my stuff...")

I'm mostly chiming in though for Illume. I love the entire first verse really. "Illume says the candle I burn. A reflection in the window all the way to Point Dune. Illume like it's dancing..." I loved Say You Will and Illume even beyond the 9/11 stuff is so quintessential mystical Stevie. And maybe this sounds lame but how cool is the word Illume? I'm guessing Stevie had the same thought at some point!

[Ghosty]

I can't pick any favorites. This just makes me want to listen to FM all day and night right now.

I just got the EP and am all Mac'd up! :D