Battle Royale: Rock's Most Engaging Opening Couplet!
By Mr. Moderator on Aug 1, 2007
Caution: Sappy video clip!
What's that line from Jerry McGuire, "You had me at 'Hello'"? What rock song's lyrics had you at its opening couplet? Not necessarily "the best" couplet, but the "most engaging," the couplet that makes you - and perhaps any listener - sit up and take notice. Step into the squared circle and present your couplets!
14 comments
Comment from: BigSteve [Member] 
Elvis Costello, No Action:
"I don't want to kiss you. I don't want to touch.
I don't want to see you 'cause I don't miss you that much."
Especially because the first line is sung unaccompanied, and then the band kicks in furiously for the second line.
I don't know if this is the most engaging ever, but it came to mind partly because it's the opens the album, and it draws you in, giving you a taste of the attitude of the whole thing.
Another song whose opening that works in a similar way is the Kinks' From Morning Till the End of the Day:
[three ominous chords] "Baby I feel good"
[band kicks in}
"From the moment I rise"
Ok, maybe that's not a couplet, and it needs the title line right afterwards to work.
Similarly I had first thought of the opening couplet of My Aim Is True:
"Now that your picture's in the paper being rhythmically admired
and you can have anyone that you have ever desired"
But it requires the third line ("all you gotta tell me now is why, why, why, why") for its full effect.
"I don't want to kiss you. I don't want to touch.
I don't want to see you 'cause I don't miss you that much."
Especially because the first line is sung unaccompanied, and then the band kicks in furiously for the second line.
I don't know if this is the most engaging ever, but it came to mind partly because it's the opens the album, and it draws you in, giving you a taste of the attitude of the whole thing.
Another song whose opening that works in a similar way is the Kinks' From Morning Till the End of the Day:
[three ominous chords] "Baby I feel good"
[band kicks in}
"From the moment I rise"
Ok, maybe that's not a couplet, and it needs the title line right afterwards to work.
Similarly I had first thought of the opening couplet of My Aim Is True:
"Now that your picture's in the paper being rhythmically admired
and you can have anyone that you have ever desired"
But it requires the third line ("all you gotta tell me now is why, why, why, why") for its full effect.
08/01/07 @ 12:41
Comment from: sally_cinnamon [Member]
I have the perfect one - thank you Plurbie, this one always sticks in my head:
"A correspondence school
Gave your optometrist, his degree
He gave you the wrong prescription
And that explains why you can't see"
This hits me close to home because my mum has had a history of always yelling at me for losing my glasses or breaking them. She once historically said, and I quote, "See, if you had your glasses, then your life would be together! You don't have your glasses though - do you? Do you?!"
I had to agree. I definitely did NOT have my glasses. I think I got it together though. I think.
Oh mum.
"A correspondence school
Gave your optometrist, his degree
He gave you the wrong prescription
And that explains why you can't see"
This hits me close to home because my mum has had a history of always yelling at me for losing my glasses or breaking them. She once historically said, and I quote, "See, if you had your glasses, then your life would be together! You don't have your glasses though - do you? Do you?!"
I had to agree. I definitely did NOT have my glasses. I think I got it together though. I think.
Oh mum.
08/01/07 @ 12:55
Comment from: BigSteve [Member]
Sally, that's quatrain, not a couplet. (Sorry for the poetic pince nez.) And what does it come from?
08/01/07 @ 13:25
Comment from: the great 48 [Member]
One of the things I most admire about EC is that he worked in a very clever reference to beating off in the very first line of the very first song on his very first album. Kudos.
08/01/07 @ 14:42
Comment from: saturnismine [Member]
a blazing opening couplet:
people try to put us down
just because we get around
but of course, Lennon was the master of couplets
(hey, by the way, "master of couplets" is great album title for a collection of metallica lyrics read as poems):
anyway, back to Lennon, the master of couplets:
Here I stand
Head in Hand
or
here's a real nowhere man
sitting in his nowhere land
or
of all the loves i have won or have lost
this is one love i should never have crossed.
or
i get high
when i see her go by
my oh my.....
people try to put us down
just because we get around
but of course, Lennon was the master of couplets
(hey, by the way, "master of couplets" is great album title for a collection of metallica lyrics read as poems):
anyway, back to Lennon, the master of couplets:
Here I stand
Head in Hand
or
here's a real nowhere man
sitting in his nowhere land
or
of all the loves i have won or have lost
this is one love i should never have crossed.
or
i get high
when i see her go by
my oh my.....
08/01/07 @ 15:47
Comment from: hrrundivbakshi [Member]
Say, Saturnismine: wasn't "Nowhere Man" a McCartney song?
HVB
p.s.: and is it true your rocking teen combo is playing the Black Cat down in DeeCee in August?
HVB
p.s.: and is it true your rocking teen combo is playing the Black Cat down in DeeCee in August?
08/02/07 @ 00:37
Comment from: the great 48 [Member]
Lennon all the way. As a general rule, you can tell who wrote the song by who sings lead, and although Paul's harmonies on the verses are pretty prominent, Lennon sings the bridges alone.
Also, he babbles on about writing it in that Playboy interview. Something about he'd had writer's block and was thinking of himself as said NM.
Also, he babbles on about writing it in that Playboy interview. Something about he'd had writer's block and was thinking of himself as said NM.
08/02/07 @ 01:03
Comment from: hrrundivbakshi [Member]
Well, you tried it just for once, found it alright for kicks
But now you find out that it's a habit that sticks
But now you find out that it's a habit that sticks
08/02/07 @ 11:50
When the tape runs out
The music keeps playing
--Bevis Frond "He'd Be a Diamond"
The music keeps playing
--Bevis Frond "He'd Be a Diamond"
08/02/07 @ 11:58
Comment from: Mr. Moderator [Member]
I think Townsman Dr. John just grabbed the belt from Townsman Trolleyvox!
08/02/07 @ 14:04
Mr. Mod wrote: "I think Townsman Dr. John just grabbed the belt from Townsman Trolleyvox!"
Regarding which contest, exactly?
Regarding which contest, exactly?
08/02/07 @ 15:19
One of the things I most admire about EC is that he worked in a very clever reference to beating off in the very first line of the very first song on his very first album. Kudos.
Indeed, though I admit it took me quite a while to figure that out. EC actually employed the trick of opening not only My Aim is True and This Year's Model but Armed Forces as well with couplets that are not only brilliant, but completely unaccompanied as well. On "Accidents will Happen", of course, it's "Oh I just don't know where to begin", which now that I think about it, is also a clever way to begin a record. :-)
08/02/07 @ 16:16
Comment from: saturnismine [Member]
fritz,
48 and i are correct: "nowhere man" is a johnny, not a paulie.
the black cat schedule shouldn't say "photon band". i'm doing that gig solo. i'll put you on the list! know anything about the d.c. act on the bill? they're called the mantras.
48 and i are correct: "nowhere man" is a johnny, not a paulie.
the black cat schedule shouldn't say "photon band". i'm doing that gig solo. i'll put you on the list! know anything about the d.c. act on the bill? they're called the mantras.
08/03/07 @ 00:02
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