Music: Opening Lines 3

Let me talk some more about Opening Lines. Some people who shell remain nameless think that means great lyrics that just happen to be at the start of a song. No.

A good opening lyric should, like a good opening line in a novel, grab our attention. It should be funny or moving or clever or intriguing or shocking or all of these.

It should also set up the rest of the song, so we know (roughly) what to expect. That is, it should introduce the tone and the attitude of the song.

If the song is going to tell a story, then the opening line should tell us the beginning of the story. And what better beginning than a birth? "A child arrived just the other day..." That's an odd way of putting it. "Came to the world in the usual way." A dispassionate, business-like description, so we're surprised to learn that the narrator is the child's father. "But there were planes to catch, and bills to pay. He learned to walk while I was away." Now the opening makes perfect sense, and we follow the story to its inevitable conclusion: "My boy was just like me."

More songs that start with birth:

• "I was born in a cross-fire hurricane, And I howled at my Ma in the driving rain."
  
• "I was born in the wagon of a travelin' show. My Mama used to dance for the money they'd throw."
  
• "I was born in a beauty salon. My father was a dresser of hair."
  
• "Born down in a dead man's town. The first kick I took was when I hit the ground."
  

We start each day by waking up, so that makes for a natural opening. "Wake up, Maggie..." "Wake up, Little Susie, wake up." "Wake me up, before you go-go." And Eric suggests:

"I woke up in a Soho doorway, a policeman knew my name."

(OK, as Eric acknowledges, the song actually starts with the hooting "Who are you? Who who, who who?") It probably helps to know that the song is autobiographical and that Soho is a sleazy part of London. So here's a famous rock musician waking up and bottoming out. Who doesn't want to hear how this turns out?

If the song is about a relationship, why not start by telling us how it started?

"I met her in a club down in old Soho where they drink champagne and it tastes just like Coca Cola."

(There's Soho again!) Ray Davies may have just been trying to find a rhyme for Lola, but a drink that isn't what it seems to be craftily foreshadows the "Crying Game" twist.

More meetings:

• "I met a gin-soaked, bar-room queen in Memphis. She tried to take me upstairs for a ride."
  
• "I met him on a Monday and my heart stood still."
  
• "When I first saw you standing there, just like The Beatles."
  

Maybe your song doesn't tell a story. Maybe it's just a mishmash of pretentious gibberish. Why not announce that fact from the git-go?

"I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together."

Yes, "Let the f*ckers work that one out" indeed.

More later.