MERGED: Most Powerful Opening Lines To A U2 Song... + the ones that made me listen

[Michael Griffiths]

The Most Powerful Opening Lines To A U2 Song...(You Know, That Just Kind Of Grab You)

There are literally so many, but this one really caught my attention recently. You just kind of feel the honesty and truth behind the declaration in such a literal way...

Nobody else here baby
No one here to blame
No one to point the finger
It's just you and me and the rain...

There is just such an immediacy behind these lines, and the way Bono sings them...they just come out of nowhere and kind of put you in a place where you can't hide -- but, really, with your full blessing...as though you want to be found there.

 

[pax]

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[daisybean]

Is it getting better
or do you feel the same
will it make it easier on you now
you got someone to blame

 

[follower]

Never will forget the first time I heard Mothers of Disappeared, reading the lyrics...the lines below made me choke.

Midnight, our sons and daughters
Were cut down and taken from us
Hear their heartbeat
We hear their heartbeat

 

[MonaVox]

you're dangerous cause you're honest
you're dangerous you don't know what you want

 

[hippy]

The heart is abloom
Shoots up through the stony ground

Will probably always be the most arresting opening lines for me...for mostly personal reasons...and also because they are the first U2 words I ever heard and comprehended!

 

[adamswildhoney]

If u twist and turn away If u tear urself in two again

*runs to go listen to BAD*

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

i'm ready
ready for the laughing gas
i'm ready
ready for what's next...

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

Re: The Most Powerful Opening Lines To A U2 Song...(You Know, That Just Kind Of Grab You)

There are literally so many, but this one really caught my attention recently. You just kind of feel the honesty and truth behind the declaration in such a literal way...

Nobody else here baby
No one here to blame
No one to point the finger
It's just you and me and the rain...

There is just such an immediacy behind these lines, and the way Bono sings them...they just come out of nowhere and kind of put you in a place where you can't hide -- but, really, with your full blessing...as though you want to be found there.

I love that part of the song, too-those are some of my favorite lyrics from that song.

For me, these opening lines definitely catch my attention every time I hear this song:

I can't believe the news today
Oh, I can't close my eyes and make it go away

I just think that's a great way to open a song. You know how teachers will always tell kids who are making presentations to have an "attention-getter"? That's what I feel those first two lines to "Sunday Bloody Sunday" are-an attention-getter. And as I said in another topic somewhere, those first two lyrics are so relatable-they can apply to any situation where you hear bad news of some sort.

Angela

 

[u2loopy]

Gloria...in te domine

I try to sing this outloud
I try to stand up
But I can't find my feet

 

[pax]

It's falling, it's falling, and outside the buildings are tumbling down...
--"Rejoice"

 

[pinkfloyd]

New Year's Day

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAH....!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Swan269]

Something is about to give, I can feel it coming, I think I know what it is

"Kite"

the line speaks for itself

 

[souLnation2002]

In a little while
Surely you'll be mine
In a little while I'll be there

 

[Giant Lemon]

In the howling wind comes a stinging rain
See it driving nails
Into the souls on the tree of pain

Intense, powerful imagery for a rockin' song.


Tonight the moon is playing tricks again
I'm feeling sea sick again
The whole world could just dissolve
Into a glass of water

These lines (and the way Bono sings them) just really set the mood of the song.


Summer stretching on the grass
Summer dresses pass
In the shade of a willow tree
Creeps a crawling over me

I love these lines because they form a definite picture in my head: lying in the grass under a willow tree to get out of the hot summer sun, bugs crawling in the grass, etc.

 

[Jody]

We turn away to face the cold enduring chill
As the day begs the night for mercy
Your sun so bright it leaves no shadows, only scars
Carved in to stone on the face of Earth

One Tree Hill

 

[ishkash]

I saw a TV commercial which had the guitar solo from Even Better than the Real thing and got mad about it.I bought Achtung Baby only for EBTTRT and Msyterious Ways.So I used to put on EBTTRT and jupmed like frog, danced like monkey (I was 13 then).I repeated the song again and again, then mistaknely I skipped it and came the lines

"Is is getting better
or do you feel the same"

I sat like a man

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

jumped like frog, danced like monkey

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

Yep...

Summer stretching on the grass
Summer dresses pass
In the shade of a willow tree
Creeps a crawling over me

I love these lines because they form a definite picture in my head: lying in the grass under a willow tree to get out of the hot summer sun, bugs crawling in the grass, etc.

. Exactly.

Angela

 

[Bonochick]

"I wanna run...I want to hide...I wanna tear down the walls that hold me inside..."

 

[walkon11]

The opening to MLK is chilling...especially the Super Bowl Performance version...
Kite and One have a great effect on me...I remember I wasn't crazy about the album version of Kite when I first heard it, but when I heard the first lines live...the emotions bubbled over.

 

[tackleberry]

"I wanna run...I want to hide...I wanna tear down the walls that hold me inside..."

DITTO!!!

 

[scatteroflight]

"I wanna run...I want to hide...I wanna tear down the walls that hold me inside..."

Definitely, but it has more to do with the music than the lyrics, overall, for me.

Some of my other ones:

"And you know it's time to go..."

"And if the darkness is to keep us apart..." (I'm a sucker for the "And" opening)

"I started a landslide in my ego"

"So she woke up, she woke up from where she was..."

"You turned away to face the cold enduring chill"

"You say you want diamonds on a ring of gold"

"We crossed the line..."

 

[Ali Rose]

Pretty much the whole song "so cruel"...

We crossed the line
Who pushed you over?
It doesn't matter to you....
It matters to me.

Were cut adrift, but still floating
I'm only hanging on to watch you go down, my love.

I disappeared in you
you disappeard from me
I gave you everything you ever wanted...
it wasn't what you wanted.

I hate when people can just walk away from things with no explanation and no responsiblity or balls to explain. Thats what these lyrics say to me.

Also, (though not opening lines)

Desperation is a tender trap
It gets you every time

So true.

The lyrics in this song are SOOO powerful. I honestly don't think a more emotional poem has ever been written. Thanks again, Bono & Edge.

 

[Ali Rose]

OMD i almost forgot.....

This is a close second for me:


Love is blindness
I don't wanna see

* falls on floor weeping*

 

[Moonlit_Angel]

Hey...

Here's another one, this one from "Exit":

You know he got the cure
But then he went astray
He used to stay awake
To drive the dreams he had away

The fact that Bono practically whispers those first few lines, and that they're barely audible, is enough to grab your attention right off the bat.

And then you're also curious as to what Bono's talking about in the song, which makes you listen even more.

That's it. Those first few lines and you've been drawn in.

Ali Rose, I know what you mean about "So Cruel". I that song. It's got some fantastic lyrics.

God, if I could only write a song half as good as some of the ones we've all mentioned in this thread...

Angela

 

[Zoocifer]

Okay - many different lines here.

"It's no secret that the stars
are falling from the sky.
It's no secret that our world
is in darkness tonight."
- The Fly

"All my life
I worshipped her"
- The Ground Beneath Her Feet

"Jesus, Jesus help me.
I'm alone in this world.
And a fucked-up world
it is too"
- Wake Up Deadman

"I've got no home in this world.
Just gravity, luck, and time.
I've got no home in this world.
Just you - and you are not mine"
- Stateless

Yeah. That's all that I can think of right now. ta ta.

- z -

 

[A Maaaaaaan]

i'm ready
ready for the laughing gas
i'm ready
ready for what's next...

 

[The Wanderer]

I don't know you, you don't don't know the half of it
I had a starring role,
I was the bad guy who walked out

~

the heart is a bloom
~

weather 'round here choppin' changin'
surgery in the air...
~

you're a precious stone
you're out on your own
you never every one in the world
but you feel alone

~

I can't believe the news today

~

is it getting better
or do you feel the same?
will it make it easier on you now
you've got someone to blame?

 

[mocool12]

i agree w/ pretty much everyone so far

I don't know you, you don't don't know the half of it
I had a starring role,
I was the bad guy who walked out

Yeah.

Sometimes I feel like I don't know
Sometimes I feel like checkin' out
I want to get it wrong
Can't always be strong
And love it won't be long...

----
Don't believe what you hear
Don't believe what you see
If you just close your eyes
You can feel the enemy
----
Ice
Your only rivers run cold
These city lights
They shine as silver and gold
Dug from the night
Your eyes as black as coal

I want to list 80 more..