Great opening lines

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: GUEST,Hendrix
Date: 07 Sep 12 - 01:35 PM

A-wop bop-a loo-mop, a-lop bam-boom

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Sep 12 - 01:33 PM

"F**k me she's got nice tits" said the judge as he observed the woman in the dock

The Day Of The Grocer by William Rushton

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: GUEST,PatrickH
Date: 07 Sep 12 - 12:26 PM

The rain falls on my yellow locks, and the dew wets my skin
My babe is cold in my arms, Lord Gregory let me in.


Long past the midnight curfew we sat starry-eyed

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 07 Sep 12 - 11:35 AM

Hey diddle diddle the cat and the fiddle, the cow jumped over the moon

Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water

Mary Mary quite contrary, how does your garden grow?

Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet

Little Polly Flinders sat among the cinders

Little Jack Horner sat in a corner

The Grand old Duke of York, he had ten thousand men

Hushabye baby on the tree top

Here we go looby loo, here we go looby light

Goosey Goosey Gander, whither do you wander?

One misty moisty morning when rainy was the weather

    ·································································

Within the purview of the topic of this thread, doesn't Mother Goose have it every time!...

~Michael~

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: Larry The Radio Guy
Date: 07 Sep 12 - 09:37 AM

"Well hello there!
It's been a long long time"

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: Kit Griffiths
Date: 07 Sep 12 - 08:33 AM

The mountain sheep are sweeter, but the valley sheep are fatter,
We therefore deemed it meeter to carry off the latter.

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: Wesley S
Date: 07 Sep 12 - 08:26 AM

Johnny's in the basement mixing up the medicine.

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: Micca
Date: 07 Sep 12 - 07:43 AM

"White founts falling in the Courts of the sun,
    And the Soldan of Byzantium is smiling as they run;
    There is laughter like the fountains in that face of all men feared,
    It stirs the forest darkness, the darkness of his beard;
    It curls the blood-red crescent, the crescent of his lips;
    For the inmost sea of all the earth is shaken with his ships....."
G K Chesterton "Lepanto"

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: Bert
Date: 07 Sep 12 - 07:32 AM

There's a storm across the valley, clouds are rollin' in
I sing a tale of a jealous male and a maid of sweet sixteen
In Scarlet town where I was born, There was a fair maid dwellin'
I won't sing of sherbert and water for sherbert and beer do not rhyme
Believe me if all those endearing young charms which I gaze on so fondly today
Who wipes me off when I get gravy on my shirt?
Bheir me o, horo van o
Salagadoola mechicka boola bibbidi-bobbidi-boo
To the town of Agua Fria rode a stranger one fine day
Now I taught the weeping willow how to cry,
In the twilight glow I see, Blue eyes cryin' in the rain
There was a troop of Irish dragoons Come marching down thru Fyvie, O
Bows and flows of angel hair
They are shifting Daddy's bones to build a sewer
Butterfingers, I let you go.
Cailin mo rùin-sa is leannan mo ghràidh,
In days of jade there lived a maid, a prostitute of low repute

Nah! there's just too many, I'm not through the letter 'C' yet.

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: kendall
Date: 07 Sep 12 - 07:14 AM

I'm surprised that there are so few of the classics.

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 07 Sep 12 - 06:21 AM

Sandra ~~ Lord Lytton beat Snoopy to it, alas...

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: Northerner
Date: 07 Sep 12 - 06:19 AM

In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 07 Sep 12 - 06:04 AM

Under Milkwood can only be followed by

It was a dark & stormy night ... (Snoopy)

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: GUEST,Blandiver
Date: 07 Sep 12 - 05:54 AM

To begin at the beginning:
It is spring, moonless night in the small town, starless and bible-black, the cobblestreets silent and the hunched, courters'-and-rabbits' wood limping invisible down to the sloeblack, slow, black, crowblack, fishboat-bobbing sea.

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: fat B****rd
Date: 07 Sep 12 - 05:42 AM

'It was the day my grandmother exploded' Iain Banks. The Crow Road.

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: GUEST,Don Wise
Date: 07 Sep 12 - 04:27 AM

"They're selling postcards of the hanging........."


"Everything starts somewhere, although many physicists disagree"

"The morris dance is common to all inhabited worlds in the multiverse."

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: GUEST,raymond greenoaken
Date: 07 Sep 12 - 04:25 AM

The Mississippi Delta was shining like a National guitar – Paul Simon

We're all still here, no-one has gone away – Robin Williamson

By the old Moulmein Pagoda, lookin' lazy on the sea – Rudyard Kipling

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 07 Sep 12 - 03:53 AM

Lars Porsena of Clusium, by the nine gods he swore

.,,.,.

I come from haunts of coot and hern

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 07 Sep 12 - 03:50 AM

If music be the food of love, play on

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 07 Sep 12 - 03:29 AM

"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again": Rebecca

"When a day that you happen to know is Wednesday starts off by sounding like Sunday, there is something seriously wrong somewhere.": The day of the Triffids"

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 07 Sep 12 - 03:15 AM

Here we go round the mulberry bush

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: gnomad
Date: 07 Sep 12 - 03:12 AM

"Listen to me. I will tell you the truth about a man's life. I will tell you the truth about his love for women. That he never hates them. Already you think I'm on the wrong track. Stay with me. Really - I'm a master of magic." More than a line, but a terrific short opening paragraph from Mario Puzo's 'Fools Die'

"When the girl came rushing up the steps, I decided she was wearing far too many clothes." Lindsey Davies 'The Silver Pigs'

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: GUEST,BobL
Date: 07 Sep 12 - 03:07 AM

Once upon a time, there was...

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: GUEST,Eliza
Date: 07 Sep 12 - 02:46 AM

"It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day..."

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: GUEST,Allen in Oz
Date: 07 Sep 12 - 02:39 AM

" Unemployed at last !" Such is Life. Tom Collins aka Joseph Furphy.

AD

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: Larry The Radio Guy
Date: 07 Sep 12 - 02:07 AM

Mama gripped onto the milkman's hand
And then she finally gave birth
Years go by still i don't know
Who shall inherit this earth

(Mark Oliver Everett (The Eels): Lucky Day in Hell.

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: ChanteyLass
Date: 06 Sep 12 - 11:27 PM

"It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife." Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: katlaughing
Date: 06 Sep 12 - 08:33 PM

You read my fine print like a scholar...

a song by a long ago friend, it ends with, "I love ya, honey. That's the bottom line."

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: Joe_F
Date: 06 Sep 12 - 08:08 PM

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord
Eh bien, mon prince,...
See what the boys in the back room will have
The young man walks by himself through the crowd that thins into the night streets; feet are tired from hours of walking; eyes greedy for warm curve of faces,...
Let it rain, let it pour
Eternal Father, strong to save
You must eat when you are hungry
Inch by inch, row by row
Hark! the herald angels sing

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: Spleen Cringe
Date: 06 Sep 12 - 06:54 PM

A green hunting cap squeezed the top of the fleshy balloon of a head.

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: Deckman
Date: 06 Sep 12 - 06:35 PM

"I haven't had so much fun since the time the hogs ate my kid sister!" ... bob nelson

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: SINSULL
Date: 06 Sep 12 - 06:35 PM

or
Last night I dreamed I was back at Manderlay



One of them is right.

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: SINSULL
Date: 06 Sep 12 - 06:32 PM

"Who is John Galt?"


"I dreamed I was back at Manderlay last night."

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: Acorn4
Date: 06 Sep 12 - 06:23 PM

"I like a good bum on a woman" -Jake Thackray.

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 06 Sep 12 - 06:11 PM

Well I'm most depressed and sad   When following a request for a happy song form a session attendee

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: Spleen Cringe
Date: 06 Sep 12 - 05:44 PM

"There used to be olive groves in Oldham till the government went and sold 'em"...

Opening line of "I Scream for Ice Cream" by late, lamented Manchester punk band, The Corleones.

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: Bill D
Date: 06 Sep 12 - 05:39 PM

"I've been in this world all I wanta be.."

old gospel/religious song "Bring My Savior to Me"
-----------------------------------------
"Climb aboard a butterfly, and take off on a breeze..."

1950s pop song.. "Dreamer's Holiday"
------------------------------------------

"Why does your brand sae drap wi' bluid?"

"Edward"...(and several of the following lines are kinda memorable, also)

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: GUEST,DTM
Date: 06 Sep 12 - 05:35 PM

"Sitting in the shade of a rain-soaked orange blossom" as recorded by Lulu, composed by Tony Hazzard.

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: GUEST,Guest TF.
Date: 06 Sep 12 - 05:20 PM

"When I think of all the crap I learned in High School" Paul Simon.

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: GUEST,Autoharper
Date: 06 Sep 12 - 05:19 PM

"Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice." G.G. Marquez _One Hundred Years of Solitude_

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 06 Sep 12 - 05:18 PM

'"Take my camel, dear", said my Aunt Dot, as she climbed down from this animal on her return from High Mass.' -- Rose Macaulay, The Towers Of Trebizond


'When men grow old and their balls turn cold...' -- Eskimo Nell

~M~

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: GUEST,999
Date: 06 Sep 12 - 05:07 PM

"When a Peacemaker's bullet hits you in, say, the leg, you don't curse, step into shelter, roll and light a cigarette one-handed then smartly shoot your assailant between the eyes. When the Peacemaker bullet hits your leg you fall to the ground unconscious, and if it hits the thigh-bone and you are lucky enough to survive the torn arteries and shock, then you will never walk again without crutches because a totally disintegrated femur leaves the surgeon with no option but to cut your leg off. And so I stood absolutely motionless, not breathing, for the Peacemaker Colt that had prompted this unpleasant train of thought was pointed directly at my right thigh."

Alistair MacLean, 'When Eight Bells Toll'.

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: Uncle Phil
Date: 06 Sep 12 - 04:44 PM

"Well I'll be damned, here comes your ghost again..." Diamonds and Rust, Joan Baez. The rest of the song drags on a bit, though.
- Phil

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: Wesley S
Date: 06 Sep 12 - 04:25 PM

Ten years ago on a cold dark night, someone was killed 'neath the town hall light

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: Don Firth
Date: 06 Sep 12 - 04:18 PM

"He was born with a gift of laughter and a sense that the world was mad."

The opening line of Scaramouche, by Rafael Sabatini. One of the most gripping historical novels I've ever read!

(Compared to Sabatini's original story, the movie version with Stewart Granger kinda stank a lot! The acting was fine, but the script must have been written by the legendary "infinite number of chimpanzees.")

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: GUEST,jonesnudger
Date: 06 Sep 12 - 04:14 PM

The wind is in from Africa, last night I couldn't sleep - Joni Mitchell

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: GUEST,Ed
Date: 06 Sep 12 - 04:05 PM

It was a bright cold day in April, and the clocks were striking thirteen."

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: frogprince
Date: 06 Sep 12 - 03:59 PM

I remembered this as the opening line of a cloak-and-dagger/espionage tale, and tried to google the correct book; what I got was a different book which uses it as the title .

"The last camel died at noon."

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: GUEST,kenny
Date: 06 Sep 12 - 03:57 PM

"Ever since the day mah dug ate Auntie Bella..........."
Sung by Iain MacIntosh [ RIP ]

Subject: RE: Great opening lines
From: GUEST,Blandiver
Date: 06 Sep 12 - 03:53 PM

My favourite opening:

Not everybody knows how I killed old Phillip Mathers, smashing his jaw in with my spade, but first it is better to speak of my friendship with John Divney because it was he who first knocked old Mathers down by giving him a great blow in the neck with a special bicycle-pump which he manufactured himself out of a hollow iron bar.

A close second:

The sweat wis lashing oafay Sick Boy; he wis trembling. Ah wis jist sitting thair, focusing oan the telly, tryin no tae notice the cunt. He wis bringing me doon.